Movies like Bowfinger (1999)
The best movies like Bowfinger (1999) are S.O.B. (1981), Big Fat Liar (2002) and Nickelodeon (1976). If Bowfinger hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Kid (1921)8.1/10 from 2,484 votes
- NewestTom & Jerry (2021)Released 2021
S.O.B. (1981)
A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes her top off.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Fat Liar (2002)
After one of his class papers is stolen and turned into a movie, a young student and his best friend exact a hilarious, slapstick revenge on the Hollywood hot shot who has taken credit!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisNickelodeon (1976)
In the silent film era, attorney Leo Harrigan and gunslinger Buck Greenway are hired to stop an illegal film production. However, they soon team up with the filmmakers and become important players in the show business industry. Leo learns he has a talent for directing, and Buck's cowboy persona quickly earns him leading-man status — but both men fall for beautiful starlet Kathleen Cooke, leading to a heated personal rivalry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018)
All the major DC superheroes are starring in their own films, all but the Teen Titans, so Robin is determined to remedy this situation by getting over his role as a sidekick and becoming a movie star. Thus, with a few madcap ideas and an inspirational song in their hearts, the Teen Titans head to Hollywood to fulfill their dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSmile (1975)
It's time again for California's "Young American Miss" beauty pageant, the biggest event of the year for Big Bob Freelander and Brenda DiCarlo, who give their all to put on a successful pageant. But Brenda is having marital difficulties and Bob's son is up to some mischief. Could this year's pageant be in jeopardy?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGabriel Iglesias: I'm Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry (2016)
Hawaiian-shirt enthusiast Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias finds the laughs in racist gift baskets, Prius-driving cops and all-female taco trucks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBroadway Danny Rose (1984)
A hapless talent manager named Danny Rose, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. His story is told in flashback, an anecdote shared amongst a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli. Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged tap dancer, and one slightly talented one: washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova, whose career is on the rebound.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Muppet Movie (1979)
The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp to pursue a career in Hollywood. On his way there, he meets a bear, a pig, a whatever (his future Muppet crew), and some special celebrity guest stars, while being chased by the desperate owner of a frog-leg restaurant!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Three Stooges (2012)
Left on the doorstep of an orphanage run by nuns, three newborn knuckleheads grow up to be finger-poking, nyuk-nyuking janitors named Larry, Curly and Moe. When they learn that financial problems will soon force the only home they've ever known to close, the trio sets out to raise $830,000 in one month. Out in the world for the very first time, the three innocent bumblers become embroiled in a murder plot and find stardom on a TV reality show.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisScooby Goes Hollywood (1979)
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo quit their Saturday morning TV series in pursuit of Hollywood stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAirplane II: The Sequel (1982)
A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the sun, and man-with-a-past Ted Striker must save the day and get the shuttle back on track – again – all the while trying to patch up his relationship with Elaine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPitch Perfect 3 (2017)
After the highs of winning the world championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren't job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTom & Jerry (2021)
Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse get kicked out of their home and relocate to a fancy New York hotel, where a scrappy employee named Kayla will lose her job if she can’t evict Jerry before a high-class wedding at the hotel. Her solution? Hiring Tom to get rid of the pesky mouse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFired Up! (2009)
Popular high schoolers and best friends Shawn and Nick decide to ditch football camp for cheerleader camp. For the girls and for the glory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Silencers (1966)
Matt Helm is called out of retirement to stop the evil Big O organization who plan to explode an atomic bomb over Alamagordo, NM, and start WW III.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello Ladies: The Movie (2014)
When Stuart learns that his British ex-girlfriend is planning to visit Los Angeles with her husband, he sets out to impress them with his glamorous lifestyle, enlisting a flaky Russian model he’s just met to play the role of his beautiful girlfriend. What could go wrong?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHooper (1978)
Legendary stunt man Sonny Hooper remains one of the top men in his field, but due to too many stressful impacts to the spine and the need to pop painkillers several times a day, he knows he should get out of the industry before he ends up permanently disabled.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEddie Murphy: Delirious (1983)
Taped live and in concert at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. in August, 1983, Eddie Murphy: Delirious captures Eddie Murphy's wild and outrageous stand-up comedy act, which he performed in New York and eighteen other cities across the U.S. to standing-room-only audiences. Eddie's comedy was groundbreaking, completely new, razor sharp and definitely funny.Eddie Murphy pontificates in his own vulgarly hilarious fashion on everything from bizarre sexual fantasies to reliving the family barbecue, and is peppered with Eddie's one-of-a-kind wit. Laugh along as Eddie reminiscences of hot childhood days and the ice cream man intermixed with classic vocal parodies of top American entertainers.Experience Eddie Murphy at his best, live and red hot! Delirious! Uncensored and Uncut!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFather of the Bride (1991)
George Banks is an ordinary, middle-class man whose 22 year-old daughter Annie has decided to marry a man from an upper-class family, but George can't think of what life would be like without his daughter. His wife tries to make him happy for Annie, but when the wedding takes place at their home and a foreign wedding planner takes over the ceremony, he becomes slightly insane.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDown and Out in Beverly Hills (1986)
Beverly Hills couple Barbara and Dave Whiteman find their lives altered by the arrival of a vagrant who tries to drown himself in their swimming pool.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMajor League (1989)
When Rachel Phelps inherits the Cleveland Indians from her deceased husband, she's determined to move the team to a warmer climate—but only a losing season will make that possible, which should be easy given the misfits she's hired. Rachel is sure her dream will come true, but she underestimates their will to succeed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMan Bites Dog (1992)
The activities of rampaging, indiscriminate serial killer Ben are recorded by a willingly complicit documentary team, who eventually become his accomplices and active participants. Ben provides casual commentary on the nature of his work and arbitrary musings on topics of interest to him, such as music or the conditions of low-income housing, and even goes so far as to introduce the documentary crew to his family. But their reckless indulgences soon get the better of them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharles Band's Evil Bong (2006)
Straight-laced nerd Alistair moves into a college dorm with hardcore marijuana users, who order an old giant bong that proves to have strange magical powers, which sends people to a bizarre drugged-out alternate realm from which there is no easy escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Kid (1921)
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Golden Child (1986)
After a Tibetan boy, the mystical Golden Child, is kidnapped by the evil Sardo Numspa, humankind's fate hangs in the balance. On the other side of the world in Los Angeles, the priestess Kee Nang seeks the Chosen One, who will save the boy from death. When Nang sees social worker Chandler Jarrell on television discussing his ability to find missing children, she solicits his expertise, despite his skepticism over being "chosen."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisDirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Con artist Lawrence Jamieson is a longtime resident of a luxurious coastal resort, where he enjoys the lavish fruits of his deceptions -- that is, until a competitor, Freddy Benson, shows up. When the new guy's lowbrow tactics impinge on his own sophisticated work and believing him to be the infamous conman 'The Jackal', Lawrence resolves to get rid of him. Confident of his own duplicitous talents, he challenges Freddy to a winner-takes-all competition: whoever swindles their latest mark, American heiress Janet Colgate, out of $50,000 first can stay, while the other must leave town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Santa (2003)
You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa grande menzogna (2007)
1957. ANNA MAGNANI is in America, invited to the ceremony of awarding the Oscars, and BETTE DAVIS does not miss the opportunity to meet her and invite her to her home for tea. With the help of an interpreter the two actresses exchange compliments and Davis, who is in possession of some films they have interpreted, proposes to Magnani to look at them together. The evening, however, will take an unexpected turn ... ANNA MAGNANI and BETTE DAVIS, they really met and exchanged confidant letters for years. Their meeting is the starting point for LA GRANDE MENZOGNA, to then become a bittersweet comedy about the life of the anomalous and “difficult” artists, shot partly in color and partly in black and white, in a perfect quote from the photography of the years films '50.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Happy Gilmore (1996)
Failed hockey player-turned-golf whiz Happy Gilmore — whose unconventional approach and antics on the green courts the ire of rival Shooter McGavin — is determined to win a PGA tournament so he can save his granny's house with the prize money. Meanwhile, an attractive tour publicist tries to soften Happy's image.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bowfinger?
The closest matches to Bowfinger are S.O.B. (1981), Big Fat Liar (2002) and Nickelodeon (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bowfinger?
Start with S.O.B. (1981), the closest match to Bowfinger.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bowfinger?
The Kid (1921), rated 8.1/10 by 2,484 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bowfinger?
Tom & Jerry (2021) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Bowfinger?
Yes: S.O.B. (1981), Big Fat Liar (2002) and Nickelodeon (1976).
How are movies similar to Bowfinger chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bowfinger, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.