Movies like Hairspray (1988)
The best movies like Hairspray (1988) are Grease 2 (1982), Grease (1978) and Hairspray (2007). If Hairspray hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)7.5/10 from 451 votes
- NewestHairspray Live! (2016)Released 2016
Grease 2 (1982)
It's 1961, two years after the original Grease gang graduated, and there's a new crop of seniors and new members of the coolest cliques on campus, the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Michael Carrington is the new kid in school - but he's been branded a brainiac. Can he fix up an old motorcycle, don a leather jacket, avoid a rumble with the leader of the T-Birds, and win the heart of Pink Lady Stephanie?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisGrease (1978)
Australian good girl Sandy and greaser Danny fell in love over the summer. But when they unexpectedly discover they're now in the same high school, will they be able to rekindle their romance despite their eccentric friends?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHairspray (2007)
Pleasantly plump teenager Tracy Turnblad auditions to be on Baltimore's most popular dance show - The Corny Collins Show - and lands a prime spot. Through her newfound fame, she becomes determined to help her friends and end the racial segregation that has been a staple of the show.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHairspray Live! (2016)
A teenage girl living in Baltimore in the early 1960s dreams of appearing on a popular TV dance show.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHair (1979)
Upon receiving his draft notice and leaving his family ranch in Oklahoma, Claude heads to New York and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to boot camp.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCry-Baby (1990)
A prim and proper schoolgirl goes against her society grandmother's wishes when she dates a motorcycle-riding juvenile delinquent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Hawaii (1961)
Just discharged GI Chad Gates returns to Hawaii, where he becomes a tour guide, defying his mother's wishes for him to join the family business.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEarth Girls Are Easy (1988)
In this musical comedy, Valerie is dealing with her philandering fiancé, Ted, when she finds that a trio of aliens have crashed their spaceship into her swimming pool. Once the furry beings are shaved at her girlfriend's salon, the women discover three handsome men underneath. After absorbing the native culture via television, the spacemen are ready to hit the dating scene in 1980s Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThat Thing You Do! (1996)
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBang Bang Baby (2014)
A small town teenager in the 1960s believes her dreams of becoming a famous singer will come true when her rock star idol gets stranded in town. But a leak in a nearby chemical plant that is believed to be causing mass mutations threatens to turn her dream into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
The In Crowd (1988)
A young man of the rock and roll generation is in his senior year of high school. When one day he successfully gets on a popular teen dance television show he becomes a star. The plot follows him as he lives his new life in his new world. What he finds are adoring fans, jealous rivals, bitter friends left behind, and the girl of his dreams...his dance partner.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Victor/Victoria (1982)
A struggling female soprano finds work playing a male female impersonator, but it complicates her personal life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Five Heartbeats (1991)
In the early 1960s, a quintet of hopeful, young African-American men form an amateur vocal group called The Five Heartbeats. After an initially rocky start, the group improves, turns pro, and rises to become a top flight music sensation. Along the way, however, the guys learn many hard lessons about the reality of the music industry.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
If they miss The Beatles' first appearance in the U.S.A., they will hate themselves for the rest of their lives - so four young girls from New Jersey set off even though they don't have tickets for the show! The journey is full of surprises and misfortunes but the young ladies are determined to reach their idols.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnder the Cherry Moon (1986)
Two friends from Miami are in the French Riviera enjoying life by scamming money off of rich women. One day, they read about a young woman set to inherit $50 million from her father. At first, Tricky has Christopher Tracy talked into romancing her for her money, but in getting to know her, Christopher falls in love with her. This love comes between the brothers, and Tricky tells about the plan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisFemale Trouble (1976)
Teenage delinquent Dawn Davenport, incensed after her parents do not give her the cha-cha heels she wanted for Christmas, runs away from home. After an illegitimate child and hairstylist husband bring her more misery, she's enticed into a life of crime when the owners of her husband's salon promise her fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
After getting a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, newly engaged couple Brad and Janet encounter the eerie mansion of the flamboyant, seductive Dr Frank-N-Furter and a variety of eccentric characters. Through elaborate dance and rock music, the mad scientist unveils his latest creation: a perfect, muscular man.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirls Just Want to Have Fun (1985)
Janey is new in town. She soon meets Lynne, a classmate who shares her passion for the local show 'Dance TV'. When a competition is announced to find new Dance TV performers, Janey and Lynne are determined to audition. The only problem is that Janey's father doesn't approve of that kind of thing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPitch Perfect (2012)
College student Beca knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
When a Conservative TV crusader threatens to shut down beloved brothel The Chicken Ranch, proprietress Miss Mona Stangley and her girls won't go down without a fight.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRock 'n' Roll High School (1979)
A group of rock-music-loving students, with the help of the Ramones, take over their school to combat its newly installed oppressive administration.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoyote Ugly (2000)
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPink Flamingos (1972)
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive".
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVoyage of the Rock Aliens (1984)
Aliens land in the mythical town of "Speelburgh, U.S.A" searching for the source of rock & roll. What they find is a gang of teenagers, led by Dee Dee and Frankie, along with Frankie's posse/rock band, the Pack. The leader of the aliens takes a shine to Dee Dee and all sorts of trouble breaks out.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBack to the Beach (1987)
A former beach boy and his wife go to California to visit their daughter and become part of the new beach scene.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThank God It's Friday (1978)
It's Friday and everyone is going to the hottest new disco in Los Angeles. The Commodores are scheduled to play if Floyd shows up with the instruments and Nicole dreams of becoming a disco star. Other characters are there to win the dance contest, or to put a little excitement into a fifth anniversary.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Raised a boy in East Berlin, Hedwig undergoes a personal transformation in order to emigrate to the U.S., where she reinvents herself as an 'internationally ignored' but divinely talented rock diva, inhabiting a 'beautiful gender of one'.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisXanadu (1980)
Kira, a Greek muse incarnated on Earth to inspire people, helps Dan McGuire and an artist named Sonny Malone to meet. She inspires them to build a huge disco roller rink called Xanadu.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
SnoozefestMovies like thisFootloose (1984)
When teenager Ren and his family move from big-city Chicago to a small town in the West, he's in for a real case of culture shock after discovering he's living in a place where music and dancing are illegal.
Why it matches: Fans watch both
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCar Wash (1976)
This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar's Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers -- including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict -- while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hairspray?
The closest matches to Hairspray are Grease 2 (1982), Grease (1978) and Hairspray (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hairspray?
People who watched Hairspray most often go on to Grease 2 (1982), Grease (1978) and Hairspray (2007).
What is the highest-rated movie like Hairspray?
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), rated 7.5/10 by 451 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hairspray?
Hairspray Live! (2016) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Hairspray?
Yes: Grease 2 (1982), Grease (1978) and Hairspray (2007).
How are movies similar to Hairspray chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hairspray, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.