Here are Cinephile Corner’s 10 recommendations for movies like Upgraded:
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Upgraded owes plenty to the story of a young assistant surviving a terrifying boss, so the return of Miranda Priestly is the obvious next watch. Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, and Emily Blunt step back into the halls of Runway as the magazine fights to stay relevant in a very different media landscape. It is a rare legacy sequel that understands why audiences loved the first film and still finds something new to say.
Anyone But You
Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell play two people who can’t stand each other but agree to fake a romance at a destination wedding in Australia. Will Gluck keeps the mood light and breezy, and the leads have more than enough chemistry to cover the predictable beats. Like Upgraded, it is a reminder that a well-cast rom-com built on a little white lie can still be a great time.
The Love Hypothesis
Another Prime Video romance built on a convenient deception, The Love Hypothesis stars Lili Reinhart as Olive Smith, a grad student who strikes up a fake relationship with Tom Bateman’s notoriously prickly Dr. Adam Carlsen. The literary adaptation trades gallery walls for lab benches, but the pleasure is the same: watching a pretend arrangement slowly turn into something real.
Materialists
Celine Song’s follow-up to Past Lives casts Dakota Johnson as a New York matchmaker torn between a wealthy suitor played by Pedro Pascal and a struggling ex played by Chris Evans. It doesn’t always find its footing, but its questions about money, status, and what we think we deserve in love make it a more thoughtful cousin to Upgraded’s first-class fantasy.
Voicemails for Isabelle
Streaming rom-coms are often disposable, which makes Voicemails for Isabelle such a pleasant surprise. Zoey Deutch and Nick Robinson are an easy pair to root for in Leah McKendrick’s Netflix romance, which wears its love for classics like Notting Hill and Sleepless in Seattle proudly. It is warm, funny, and sincere in a way the genre has been missing.
Rye Lane
If the London half of Upgraded was your favorite part, Rye Lane is essential. Raine Allen-Miller follows two twentysomethings, played by David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah, who meet in a bathroom and spend one long day wandering South London. It is bursting with color and personality, and it breathes new life into a genre that can feel stuck in formula.
Fly Me to the Moon
Scarlett Johansson plays a slick marketing whiz brought in to sell NASA to the public during the space race, and Channing Tatum is the by-the-book launch director who can’t stand her methods. Greg Berlanti’s period romance mixes workplace sparring with a dash of con-artist fun, and the two stars connect well enough to carry it.
Ticket to Paradise
George Clooney and Julia Roberts play bickering exes who fly to Bali to stop their daughter from making what they believe is the same mistake they did. Ticket to Paradise never strays far from the rom-com playbook, but two old pros trading barbs in a gorgeous setting is a perfectly pleasant way to spend an evening.
Anora
For a far grittier take on a whirlwind leap into a wealthier world, there is Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner. Mikey Madison is extraordinary as a Brooklyn stripper who impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, only for his family’s fixers to come calling. Anora is hilarious and heartbreaking, and one of the best movies of 2024.
The Christophers
Upgraded uses the art world as a glossy backdrop; Steven Soderbergh digs into its vanity and its money. Ian McKellen plays a narcissistic painter whose legacy becomes a battleground, with Michaela Coel as the artist pulled into his orbit. It is sharp, funny, and a step up in Soderbergh’s recent run.
READ MORE: Movies Like Anyone But You, Movies Like Materialists
