Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Don’t Say Good Luck:
Voicemails for Isabelle
Netflix’s track record with romantic comedies has been a bit rough over the last decade, to put it mildly. More often than not, they feel cheaply assembled, half-written, or filmed entirely in front of green screens and sound stages that never quite convince you anyone actually occupied the same room together. It’s gotten to the point where I find myself skipping most of them unless they’ve either been recommended by multiple people I trust or have performers and filmmakers attached that I already enjoy. Voicemails for Isabelle lands in the latter category.
Roommates
You could certainly do way worse when it comes to straight-to-streaming teenage comedies than Happy Madison’s latest Netflix release Roommates, Sadie Sandler’s first turn as a starring actress in a feature film following smaller roles and cameos in a handful of her father Adam Sandler’s movies over the last few years. Both Sadie and Sunny Sandler have had their shots at Netflix projects in recent years, and the results, while still leaning into cameos and low-hanging jokes that I usually roll my eyes at in both Netflix and Happy Madison movies, have been rather promising.
Suncoast
Writer and director Laura Chinn crafts a few moments of emotional heft, but there isn’t enough tonal consistency to pull all the themes of Suncoast together. At times, it’s a rather powerful mother-daughter cancer drama, but it’s constantly followed up by tacky teenage dialogue or unfunny comedic writing. Woody Harrelson stars in an overly volatile movie for Hulu.
Sacramento
Sacramento is a good-not-great entry into the buddy road trip genre. It won’t blow you away, but if you’re a fan of its cast—Michael Cera, Michael Angarano, and Kristen Stewart included—there’s enough charm here to make it worth the ride.
We Live in Time
A movie like We Live in Time really shouldn’t work. The overly sentimental cancer drama is a well-trodden path, with its fair share of genuinely touching entries but even more bogged down by predictability and melodrama. We Live in Time doesn’t completely avoid these familiar pitfalls, as it leans into some of the same cheesy tropes that often plague this subgenre.
You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
My skepticism was high for Adam Sandler’s new teen comedy on Netflix, You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah, but the movie is genuinely funny and surprisingly endearing. Sandler enlists his whole family for this take on adolescence and the Jewish community.
Read our full review of You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah
The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums not only stands as one of Wes Anderson’s best movies of his career, but also a defining work of the independent filmmaking scene in the early 2000s. It’s dripping with color and visual intensity, masking a story with deep themes of broken families.
Spoiler Alert
I could see some thinking Spoiler Alert is a bit too emotionally manipulative and calculated, but seeing Jim Parsons finally get to be in a good movie that lets him show a different side than Sheldon Cooper was enough of a refreshing spin to suck me in. Ben Aldridge as his significant other Kit delivers a role that only deepens as it goes on. The movie does a beautiful job at telling a somber and heartbreaking tale with the utmost care that it deserves, one that I’m sure Michael Ausiello must be proud of.
Nonnas
Nonnas is a reminder that charm, good casting, and a touch of sincerity can elevate a standard script into something enjoyable, if not exactly essential. It’s not destined for rewatchability or critical acclaim, but for a streaming comedy in 2025, that’s probably enough.
The People We Meet on Vacation
Netflix has built a steady assembly line of soft rom-coms over the past few years, and People We Meet on Vacation fits the template almost too cleanly. It is an adaptation of Emily Henry’s novel, glossy and travel-poster pretty, with luxurious vacation spots doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Brett Haley has made sweeter, more grounded work in Hearts Beat Loud and All the Bright Places, but this one feels Netflix-ified into something airless and mechanical, like it is engineered to be left on in the background rather than actually watched.
READ MORE: Movies Like Roommates, Movies Like We Live in Time
