The show Dead to Me, created by Liz Feldman and starring Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, premiered on Netflix in 2019 and was an instant success. This dark comedy takes a look at grief and loss, female friendships, single parenting, murder, and does it all with a little bit of, sometimes inappropriate, humor.
The series has been a major hit for Netflix with the first season earning Applegate a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. The second season upped the stakes which paid off considering the show earned four Primetime Emmy Awards nominations including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Lead Actress nominations for both Applegate and Cardellini. While awards are nice, all fans really care about is finding more black comedies similar in tone to Dead to Me. While they might be hard to come by in the TV world, there are plent of hilarious black comedy movies out there.
Updated On December 3rd, 2022 by Danielle Bruncati: After years of delays due to COVID-19 and Christina Applegate’s health diagnosis, the third and final season of Dead to Me has hit Netflix. The series picks up on season 2’s major cliffhanger with Judy rushing Jen to the hospital after they’ve been the victim of a hit and run. Like the previous seasons, season 3 continues to follow these trauma bonded women as they work through grief and try to cover up the atrocities they’ve done while putting on a front that they’re wholesome American women. While fans are sad this is the final season of Dead to Me, there are plenty of hilarious and twisted black comedy movies out there that are similar in tone to binge-watch next.
Catfight (2016)
Stream On Netflix
After growing apart after college, Veronica and Lisa’s paths cross again at a fancy cocktail party. While things start out great, eventually their old hostilities begin to flourish and soon the two are caught up in a bloody fight in the hopes of proving who the better one is.
A black comedy, Catfight is similar in tone with Dead to Me as they both deal with hard life issues in comedic ways. Similarly, both explore the complex relationship between female friends — though Veronica and Lisa take on a more heated path toward friendship than Jen and Judy.
Do Revenge (2022)
Stream On Netflix
One of the best teen movies that isn’t a rom-com, Do Revenge centers on two unlikely teen girls who decide to team up to get revenge on each others’ bullies. Things get complicated though when a major twist occurs, revealing the truth that Drea is actually Eleanor’s bully though she doesn’t remember it.
Like Judy and Jen in Dead to Me, Eleanor and Drea have a complicated friendship because of the past lives they’ve led. However, they both end up uniting under hatred for a man and become determined to take him down once and for all.
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Stream On AMC+
The iconic Thelma & Louise is a classic and one of the best movies about friendship. The movie follows the two best friends as their weekend getaway turns into a runaway after Louise kills a man who tries to sexually assault Thelma.
If Dead to Me was a movie, it would be Thelma & Louise. Just like Louise, Jen risks her life to save Judy from Steve and his emotionally abusive ways. And just like Judy and Jen, Thelma and Louise’s relationship grows stronger as they run from the law, learning to rely on each other more than ever.
The Women (1939)
Available To Rent On Vudu
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Though The Women was remade in 2008, the 1939 original remains a favorite among audiences. The hilarious comedy centers on a group of women who find themselves interconnected through friendship and their husbands’ unfortunate affairs.
Like Judy and Jen, the ladies in The Women bond over less-than-ideal circumstances, largely due to the men in their lives. Both explore the highs and lows of female friendship while showing off the comedic talents of bright actors.
Wild Oats (2016)
Stream On Freevee
When her husband dies, Eva isn’t expecting anything more than a few casseroles but finds herself the accidental recipient of $5 million instead of his actual life insurance policy. She decides to capitalize on her luck and takes her best friend, whose husband has just left her, on a grand trip to the Canary Islands.
Unlike Eva, Jen struggles financially after the death of her husband though that doesn’t stop her from having some fun with her new friend Judy. Thus, Wild Oats and Dead to Me both explore the importance of female friendship in the wake of immense mourning.
Knives Out (2019)
Available To Rent On Apple TV
One of the most brilliant things about Dead to Me is the way it handles tragic circumstances and grief. Jen and Judy meet at a grief group, which Jen is attending because her husband was killed in a hit-and-run.
The critically acclaimed film, Knives Out, written and directed by Rian Johnson, also deals with death in an enlightening, and even humorous kind of way that makes it relatable and also more human and nuanced.
A Simple Favor (2018)
Available To Rent On Prime Video
More recently, audiences are seeing female-led productions and female duos starring on television and in films. Dead to Me has a wonderful group of powerful, creative females both in front of and behind the camera.
If you’re looking for a solid group of women to entertain you, A Simple Favor starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively should be at the top of your list. Kendrick and Lively, like Applegate and Cardellini, have terrific on-screen chemistry in this film.
Rough Night (2017)
Stream On PlutoTV
Like Dead to Me this female-led feature film makes audiences laugh at murder. Rough Night, starring Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKenna, Zoe Kravitz, Jillian Bell, and Ilana Glazer is about a group of girls who were best fiends in college and reunite ten years later for Scarlett Johansson’s character, Jess’ bachelorette party.
A male stripper comes to the party to entertain the women but ends up falling and hitting his head in a freak accident that kills him and sends the girls on a night full of adventure.
Bad Moms (2016)
Stream On Sling
In Dead to Me, Christina Applegate’s character, Jen finds herself suddenly a single parent after her husband’s tragic death. Jen is doing the best she can with a teenage son and another younger son, but she welcomes help from Judy once Judy moves in.
In Bad Moms, Applegate plays a picture-perfect parent to the point where it’s obnoxious and the “bad moms” in the film mock her and her type-A, judgmental personality, rightfully so.
Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead (1991)
Stream On Cinemax
For true blue Christina Applegate fans, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, is a classic. Christina Applegate has been acting for decades, getting her start at a very young age.
In this 1901 film, a young Applegate plays Sue Ellen or “Swell” for short, who must take care of her siblings while their mom is away from the summer and their elderly babysitter dies in her sleep. Swell steps up, gets a job, and learns all about responsibility in one wild summer.
Dead Man On Campus (1998)
Available To Rent On Apple TV
This is another film that gets audiences to laugh in the face of death, even when they know they really shouldn’t. In this film, Mark Paul Gosselaar and Tom Everett Scott play two failing college students, Cooper and Josh, who put an old rumor to the test.
They hear that if your roommate dies while you’re in school, you are automatically given straight A’s. Desperate to pass their classes, Cooper and Josh will do just about anything for good grades.
The Best Of Me (2014)
Stream On Hoopla
One of the best parts of Dead to Me is James Marsden. He plays Steve, Judy’s love interest, and a very wealthy man who Jen meets when she offers to sell his home.
Marsden is wonderfully charming in this series and his chemistry with Linda Cardellini is palpable. For fans who just want more James Marsden, check him out in The Best of Me a film based on a Nicholas Sparks novel that will make you swoon even harder for this heartthrob.
Death At A Funeral (2010)
Stream On Netflix
Death at a Funeral has been made twice. First, as a British comedy starring Matthew MacFayden and Andy Nyman, and then again in an American version directed by Neil Labute and starring Chris Rock.
This film pokes fun at a dysfunctional family and all of its elements, but takes place during a funeral, pushing the boundaries on comedy and the family dynamic all at the same time, which Dead to Me fans will definitely get a kick out of.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)
Stream On FXNow
Audiences and critics alike praise Dead to Me for its strong, well-written female characters and the creators behind them.
For those viewers, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri should be high on your queue, if only for the brilliant performance by the powerful and commanding Francis McDormand, who won an Oscar for her performance in this film. The film also deals with tragedy and the way a woman shows true strength in her most vulnerable moments.
Ghost (1990)
Stream On AMC+
This early ’90s feature film, starring Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze, has all the same themes as Dead to Me. It has love, loss, women helping women, and it will make you cry just as hard as it will make you laugh.
It’s one of the most well-rounded films which helps with its staying power and the way this film is able to gain new fans even thirty years after its initial release. Once you see this film, you wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up on Jen and Judy’s must-see list too.
