Movies like Emil and the Detectives (2001)
The best movies like Emil and the Detectives (2001) are The Punch Bowl (1944), Blank Check (1994) and Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). If Emil and the Detectives hooked you with its comedy and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPaddington 2 (2017)7.5/10 from 2,980 votes
- Newest2071 - Horoscopes and Psychotropics (2021)Released 2021
- In GermanThe Punch Bowl (1944)Also in German
The Punch Bowl (1944)
Writer Johannes Pfeiffer who goes undercover as a student in a high school after his friends told him that he missed out on a great life experience since he was home schooled.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlank Check (1994)
Bullied by his siblings and nagged by his parents, 11-year-old Preston Waters is fed up with his family — especially their frugality. But he gets his chance to teach them a lesson when a money-laundering criminal nearly bulldozes Preston with his car and compensates the boy with a blank check. Preston makes the check out for $1 million and goes on a spending spree he'll never forget.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
The eccentric and childish Pee-wee Herman embarks on a big adventure when his beloved bicycle is stolen. Armed with information from a fortune-teller and a relentless obsession with his prized possession, Pee-wee encounters a host of odd characters and bizarre situations as he treks across the country to recover his bike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDog Gone (2008)
A courageous boy battles a gang of bumbling thieves to rescue a dog carrying a fortune in stolen diamonds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSee Spot Run (2001)
A drug sniffing agent canine is a target for an assassin boss so the FBI calls Witness Protection to send him somewhere else. Meanwhile a single Mom puts her 6 year old boy James in the care of her irresponsible, mailman, neighbor, Gordon, when the babysitter bails on her. Meanwhile, an assassin mob boss hires 2 goons to kill Agent 11. But when 11 escapes from the van when they tried to kill him, he hides in Gordon's Mailtruck that James is in too. And guess what they name him. Spot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Big League (1994)
When the owner of the Minnesota Twins passes away, he bequeaths the team to his preteen grandson. The newly minted head honcho quickly appoints himself manager, causing unrest in an organization that struggles to take orders from a 12-year-old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPee-wee's Big Holiday (2016)
A fateful meeting with a mysterious stranger inspires Pee-wee Herman to take his first-ever holiday.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
Fred is cast as Ebenezer Scrooge in a stage adaption of the classic Christmas story, but is acting a bit stingy in real life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPatrick (2018)
A woman's chaotic life becomes more complicated when she inherits her grandmother's dog.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaddington 2 (2017)
Paddington, now happily settled with the Browns, picks up a series of odd jobs to buy the perfect present for his Aunt Lucy, but it is stolen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOcean's Eleven (1960)
Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ladykillers (1955)
Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne, Two, Three (1961)
In Cold War-era West Berlin, American Coca-Cola executive C.R. 'Mac' MacNamara is tasked with playing babysitter to his boss' spoiled 17-year-old daughter Scarlett, who proves more difficult than anticipated when she reveals that she is pregnant by a Communist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSmall Time Crooks (2000)
A loser of a crook and his wife strike it rich when a botched bank job's cover business becomes a spectacular success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGo for Zucker (2004)
Germany director Dani Levy filmed this comedy about Jewish life in today’s Germany along side the familiar east-west conflict. With it great success this film is a joyful comedy of humor and knowledge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwindle (2014)
A boy named Griffin finds a valuable multi-million dollar baseball card. After accidentally selling the card for a million dollar loss, he enlists the help of his best friend Ben and his colleagues to regain the baseball card.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipments of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTake the Money and Run (1969)
Virgil Starkwell is intent on becoming a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Virgil and his not-so-budding career, he is completely incompetent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWelcome to Collinwood (2002)
Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Producers (1968)
A conniving Broadway producer and his meek accountant plan to profit from charming wealthy old biddies to invest in an overbudget production, and then put on a sure-fire disaster, so nobody will ask for their money back — and what's more disastrous than a tasteless musical celebrating Adolf Hitler.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe League of Gentlemen (1960)
Involuntarily-retired Colonel Hyde recruits seven other dissatisfied ex-servicemen for a special project. Each of the men has a skeleton in the cupboard, is short of money, and is a service-trained expert in his field. The job is a bank robbery, and military discipline and planning are imposed by Hyde and second-in-command Race on the team, although civilian irritations do start getting in the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein (1999)
The Chipmunks work in an amusement park attraction. After Alvin drives a crazy tour group, they miss their next performance and are locked in the park after closing time. Little do they know that the real Dr. Frankenstein has been hired in a new attraction called, "Frankenstein's Castle"; figuring that the castle isn't scary enough, the mad scientist recreates the real Monster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFou comme François (1979)
Marseille. The director of a company offers a promotion to Francois (Michel Creton) if he accepts to help him fire all the staff from his office. If he refuses, he will himself be fired. Francois opts for the latter. He registers as unemployed and discovers what he has lacked so far in his life: a certain freedom. His habits are changing as well as his attitude towards the others changes ... Luce (Claude Jade), his wife, and Marquerite (Courtois Queen), her stepmother, are surprised: why he is not himself anymore?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
American Splendor (2003)
An original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYOYO (2017)
Caroline can't stand that she is a virgin...and then the world ends. In post-apocalyptic LA, after a dust storm has wiped out the planet, she is convinced that Francis was sent as the man to pop her cherry. YOYO is a heartfelt, dark comedy about finding meaning in life, even when life ceases to exist.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Damn Poverty! (2009)
Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace prize winner, is known in the whole world as the banker of the poor, because he pioneered and tested a funding system in Bangladesh: by lending little sums of money to the less well-off with no interest, and returning it by installments gained with their work, people are able to get free from extreme misery. Thus, what can happen if three boys, just graduated, who live in Naples, try to import this funding system that subverts every economic rule?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Letter to America (1999)
Two friends from Odesa try to compose a video message to their pals, emigrants to the United States. One of them rents his apartment to a tricky girl who invents various excuses not to pay the rent. An exceptional story about people on the verge of despair who nonetheless manage to enjoy life, even if these joys are beyond good and evil.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
2071 - Horoscopes and Psychotropics (2021)
It is a feature film in development and research. It tells the story of a pharmacopornographic treatment imposed on a woman after an attempted suicide. But it is the year 2071 that an alternative comes to her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Leroy räumt auf (2005)
Leroy is an Afro-German boy who is struggling with notorious bad luck and a national identity crisis. Leroy is cultured and well-mannered and, in a positive sense, more German than many Germans. His girlfriend Eva's brothers are skinheads and befriend him. Together with his best friend Dimmi, a Greek, he strolls through crowded and dirty Berlin to the sound of 70s soul grooves and ponders all the sore points of being German. And then he comes up with the idea of how to defeat fascism....
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Emil and the Detectives?
The closest matches to Emil and the Detectives are The Punch Bowl (1944), Blank Check (1994) and Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Emil and the Detectives?
People who watched Emil and the Detectives most often go on to The Punch Bowl (1944).
What is the highest-rated movie like Emil and the Detectives?
Paddington 2 (2017), rated 7.5/10 by 2,980 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Emil and the Detectives?
2071 - Horoscopes and Psychotropics (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Emil and the Detectives?
Yes: The Punch Bowl (1944) and Go for Zucker (2004).
How are movies similar to Emil and the Detectives chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Emil and the Detectives, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.