Film

My Best Friend

Name: My Best Friend
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2026
Cast: Ingrid Guimarães, Mônica Martelli, Giulia Benite, Gabi Amaral, Ricardo Pereira

Other titles called My Best Friend: the 2006 film.

Buddy comedy
Light-hearted

A Brazilian comedy about two women navigating midlife, empty nests, and the particular freedom that comes when your kids leave home. Julia and Clara decide to chase their daughters across the world, but the real journey is about rediscovering who they are when nobody needs them to be mothers anymore. Warm, funny, genuinely alive.

TMDb rating

4.3

If you liked this

Mamma Mia!2008

Two women finding joy and reinvention through travel and friendship, with the same infectious energy and refusal to be defined by age. It's pure pleasure—the kind of film that makes you want to book a ticket immediately.

But It's unabashedly feel-good and the plot is thin. If you need substance and darkness, the relentless positivity will exhaust you.

Calendar Girls2003

Real women, real bodies, real friendship—a British comedy that finds genuine humour and dignity in women refusing invisibility in midlife. It's sweet without being saccharine, and genuinely moving.

But The tone is softer and more understated than a Brazilian comedy might be. If you're after big laughs and chaos, this is more gentle.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants2005

Four women of different ages separated by distance but bound by friendship and self-discovery. It captures that specific ache of growing up while staying connected—and it's warmer than it has any right to be.

But It skews young and earnest. The magical-thinking elements (the pants) might feel too whimsical if you want realism.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from My Best Friend

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Dinner Party2023

Both are Brazilian comedies about women's lives that refuse the easy sentiment. They're interested in what women actually think, not what makes audiences comfortable.

A Brazilian comedy that uses a single evening—women gathering, talking, drinking—as a vehicle for honest conversation about desire, disappointment, and what women actually want. It's intimate where My Best Friend is expansive, but the emotional truth is identical.

But It's essentially a stage play: minimal plot, maximum conversation. If you need propulsive narrative and visual spectacle, the static setup will feel claustrophobic.

Thelma & Louise1991

Two women who refuse to shrink, who take their freedom as a radical act, who laugh and rage and live fully. It's the spiritual ancestor of every story about female friendship and reinvention.

But The ending is not what you want it to be. The tone shifts from comedy into something much darker and more serious.

Barfi!2012

An Indian film about friendship, travel, and the unexpected joy that comes when you stop living for other people's approval. Visually gorgeous and emotionally generous in ways that feel kindred to Brazilian cinema.

But It's a romance alongside the friendship story, and some find the sentimentality cloying. The runtime is substantial and the pacing leisurely.

Book Club2018

Four women in midlife who refuse to be invisible, who travel, who have sex, who laugh at themselves. It's trashy in the best way—unapologetic about pleasure and desire and friendship.

But The humour is broad and sometimes juvenile. Critics mostly hated it, and that matters to some people more than it should.

Bridesmaids2011

Female friendship as the emotional centre, with genuine laughs that come from character rather than setups. It proves comedy about women can be raucous and touching simultaneously.

But The story is still tied to a wedding and traditional female milestones. It's cynical about romance in ways you might find either refreshing or bleak.

Steel Magnolias1989

Southern women of different ages and lives, bound by genuine affection and brutal honesty. It moves between comedy and real sorrow without flinching, and the performances are magnificent.

But It pivots into genuine tragedy. If you want lightness throughout, this will catch you off guard and won't let you go.

Muriel's Wedding1994

An Australian film about female friendship as salvation, and about choosing your own life rather than the one expected of you. It's quirky, sad, and funnier than it should be given how much it hurts.

But The humour is oddly toned and sometimes uncomfortable. The protagonist is deeply flawed and not always likeable, even as you root for her.

No Passport Required2018

The engine is identical: women reclaiming their lives after decades of putting others first. Both ask what freedom looks like in midlife.

A documentary series where older people fulfil dreams they abandoned: learning to dance, traveling alone, falling in love again. It's pure joy and dignity without a scrap of sentimentality. Watching people become themselves again is genuinely moving.

But It's a documentary, not fiction. Some find the format slow. And it can be achingly sad in ways comedy sidesteps entirely.

Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles1976

Both centre a woman's right to her own life and her own time. One travels to find freedom; one discovers it never left her home. They're opposite answers to the same question.

A three-hour Belgian film where a middle-aged woman goes through her domestic routine. It sounds dull and it's radical: a portrait of female interiority and the small rebellions of everyday life. It's the inverse of travel comedy, and somehow asks the same questions.

But Three hours. Almost nothing happens. There is no conventional plot or narrative momentum. You have to sit with time itself, and most people find that unbearable.