
Playing by Heart
In a vibrant tapestry of love and longing, nine interconnected souls navigate romance and heartbreak in L.A., where passions collide and truths unfold, revealing that the heart's desires often lead us where we least expect.
Movies Like Playing by Heart
Similar in style, tone, and themes — find your next watch.

California Suite
1978★ 5.8
The misadventures of four groups of guests at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

The Drama
2026★ 6.9
A happily engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.

Playing It Cool
2014★ 5.8
A young man meets and instantly falls in love with an engaged woman.

Unfaithful
2002★ 6.7
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.

Friends with Kids
2012★ 6.0
In the wake of their friends' marriages and eventual offspring, longtime pals Julie and Jason decide to have a child together without becoming a couple. By becoming "time-share" parents, they reason, they can experience the joys of parenthood without significantly curbing their personal freedom. However, when Julie and Jason both become involved with others, they discover that they secretly harbor romantic feelings for each other.

Cousins
1989★ 6.0
When Larry and Maria learn that their respective spouses are cheating on them, they try to turn the tables on them by pretending to have an affair. However, they soon find themselves falling in love.

The Best You Can
2025★ 7.0
Cynthia Rand is a buttoned-up New Yorker married to a brilliant professor 25 years her senior. She begins feeling the effects of her husband’s advancing age on their relationship, just as her world is turned upside down by the arrival of sharp but chronically underachieving security guard Stan Olszewski in this smart rom-com that reunites Bacon and Sedgwick on screen for the first time in 20 years.

Manhattan
1979★ 7.7
Manhattan explores how the life of a middle-aged television writer dating a teenage girl is further complicated when he falls in love with his best friend's mistress.

Young People Fucking
2007★ 5.8
On a Tuesday night, five couples have separate sexual adventures. Matt and Kris, friends for years, want to have an only-once, no-strings good time. Abby and Andrew, married, celebrate his birthday, but it's marred by angst and miscommunication. Mia and Eric are exes, making sure they are over each other. Jaime and Ken work together and this is a first date. Inez and Gord invite his roommate, Dave, to join them. By the time each couple has gone through a prelude, foreplay, sex, an interlude, orgasm, and afterglow, they've answered basic questions: can sex be anonymous, are we bored, is our marriage really finished, does anyone tell the truth, and how do we make someone happy?

Solitary Man
2009★ 5.9
A car magnate watches his personal and professional life hit the skids because of his business and romantic indiscretions.

Cyrus
2010★ 5.9
With John's social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcée finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life - her son. Before long, the two are locked in a battle of wits for the woman they both love-and it appears only one man can be left standing when it's over.

The Good Girl
2002★ 6.2
A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.

The Big Picture
1989★ 5.9
Hollywood beckons for recent film school grad Nick Chapman, who is out to capitalize on the momentum from his national award-winning student film. Studio executive Allen Habel seduces Nick with a dream deal to make his first feature, but once production gets rolling, corporate reality begins to intervene: Nick is unable to control a series of compromises to his high-minded vision, and it's all he can do to maintain his integrity in the midst of filmmaking chaos.

Romance & Cigarettes
2005★ 6.0
Ironworker Nick lives with his wife, Kitty, and three daughters. When he meets a significantly younger woman, Tula, he starts an affair with her, much to the chagrin of his wife, and his life is thrown into upheaval. Kitty kicks Nick out of the house, and he is forced to make some difficult decisions.

Enemies, a Love Story
1989★ 6.2
A ghostwriter finds himself romantically involved with his current wife, a married woman and his long-vanished wife.

St. Elmo's Fire
1985★ 6.1
Reluctant to let go of college life, a close-knit team of seven friends--irresponsible saxophone player Billy, young Republican Alec, his girlfriend Leslie, struggling journalist Kevin, drama queen Jules, lovesick waiter Kirby, and Wendy, a social worker with a heart of gold--realise the party is over. And as the burdens of maturity close in on the young dreamers, the complexities of adulthood and the daily struggle of growing up put their sacred friendship to the test. But everyone knows life is not a bed of roses. It won't be easy, but when all is said and done, what will it take for St. Elmo's clique to find its place in the real world?

Carnal Knowledge
1971★ 6.6
Two lifelong friends navigate complex sexual encounters and emotional entanglements, wrestling with societal norms and personal desires.

The Roses
2025★ 6.7
Life seems easy for picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo: successful careers, a loving marriage, great kids. But beneath the façade of their supposed ideal life, a storm is brewing – as Theo's career nosedives while Ivy's own ambitions take off, a tinderbox of fierce competition and hidden resentment ignites.

Sex and the City 2
2010★ 6.0
Carrie, Charlotte, and Miranda are all married now, but they're still up for a little fun in the sun. When Samantha gets the chance to visit one of the most extravagant vacation destinations on the planet and offers to bring them all along, they surmise that a women-only retreat may be the perfect excuse to eschew their responsibilities and remember what life was like before they decided to settle down.

Revolutionary Road
2008★ 7.0
A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.