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Mary and Max poster

Movies that feel likeMary and Max (2009)

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

If you loved Mary and Max, the closest films we have are Frances Ha (2013), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and A Man Called Otto (2022). All three share Mary and Max's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Together (2000).

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If Mary and Max hit the spot, these will too

Frances Ha poster
Frances Ha
2013 · dir. Noah Baumbach
🍅 92%★ 7.4comedy · dramaNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: loneliness

The difference: Trades the melancholy of Mary and Max for an angle of its own

An aspiring dancer moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown poster
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
1988 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 94%★ 7.5comedy · drama

One thread runs through both: suicide attempt

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 1980s show

After being dumped by her lover, Pepa finds her life and the lives of those around her spiraling out of control in a deliciously chaotic series of events.

A Man Called Otto poster
A Man Called Otto
2022 · dir. Marc Forster
🍅 70%★ 7.5comedy · dramaHulu

Common ground: suicide attempt

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

When a lively young family moves in next door, grumpy widower Otto Anderson meets his match in a quick-witted, pregnant woman named Marisol, leading to an unlikely friendship that turns his world upside down.

Castaway on the Moon poster
Castaway on the Moon
2009 · dir. Lee Hae-jun
★ 7.9drama · comedy · romance

Both are built on the same subject: loneliness

The difference: Sits closer to romance than Mary and Max does

Mr. Kim is jobless, lost in debt and has been dumped by his girlfriend. He decides to end it all by jumping into the Han River – only to find himself washed up on a small, mid-river island. He soon abandons thoughts of suicide or rescue and begins a new life as a castaway. His antics catch the attention of a young woman whose apartment overlooks the river. Her discovery changes both their lives.

The Edge of Seventeen poster
The Edge of Seventeen
2016 · dir. Kelly Fremon Craig
🍅 94%★ 7.3comedy · dramaPrime Video

Witty where it counts, playful underneath

Two high school girls are best friends until one dates the other's older brother, who is totally his sister's nemesis.

Julieta poster
Julieta
2016 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 84%★ 7.1drama · romance

Contemplative and warm in the same breath

The film spans 30 years in Julieta’s life from a nostalgic 1985 where everything seems hopeful, to 2015 where her life appears to be beyond repair and she is on the verge of madness.

Sunshine Cleaning poster
Sunshine Cleaning
2009 · dir. Christine Jeffs
🍅 74%★ 6.8comedy · dramaMax

Melancholy comedy, and it commits to that

A single mother and her slacker sister find an unexpected way to turn their lives around in this off-beat dramatic comedy. In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school the mom starts an unusual business – a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service.

The DUFF poster
The DUFF
2015 · dir. Ari Sandel
🍅 72%★ 6.4romance · comedy

Both lean on loneliness more than on animation

Bianca's universe turns upside down when she learns that her high school refers to her as a ‘DUFF' (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). Hoping to erase that label, she enlists the help of a charming jock and her favorite teacher. Together they'll face the school's mean girl and remind everyone that we are all someone's DUFF… and that's totally fine.

August: Osage County poster
August: Osage County
2013 · dir. John Wells
🍅 67%★ 7.2comedy · dramaPrime Video

Drama built on wit, twice over

An intense look at the lives of the strong-willed daughters of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional mother who raised them.

Good Bye, Lenin! poster
Good Bye, Lenin!
2003 · dir. Wolfgang Becker
🍅 91%★ 7.7comedy · drama

Comedy with a pulse of play, in both cases

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

Toni Erdmann poster
Toni Erdmann
2016 · dir. Maren Ade
🍅 93%★ 7.3comedy · drama

Contemplative drama in both cases

Convinced that his daughter has forgotten how to laugh, a father shows up unannounced while she's living abroad and bombards her with outrageous jokes.

Together poster
Together
2000 · dir. Lukas Moodysson
🍅 90%★ 7.4drama · comedy · romance

Animation built on loneliness, twice over

Elisabeth leaves her abusive and drunken husband Rolf, and goes to live with her brother, Göran. The year is 1975 and Göran lives in a commune called Together. Living in this leftist commune Elisabeth learns that the world can be viewed from different perspectives.

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The best-reviewed films that share Mary and Max’s defining feeling.