Movies like Local Band (2023)
The best movies like Local Band (2023) are School Dance (2014), Metal Lords (2022) and Power Ballad (2026). If Local Band hooked you with its comedy and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Blues Brothers (1980)7.7/10 from 4,756 votes
- NewestPower Ballad (2026)Released 2026
School Dance (2014)
High schooler Jason has found his dream girl—the gorgeous Anastacia. There’s just one problem: she doesn’t know he exists. If he can win a spot on the school’s hottest dance crew, Jason might have a shot. But before he does, he’ll have to overcome his battle-ax of a mother, survive Anastacia’s gangsta brother, and pass the crew’s initiation—in this fresh, sexy, and outrageously funny comedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMetal Lords (2022)
For teenage misfits Hunter and Kevin, the path to glory is clear: Devote themselves to metal. Win Battle of the Bands. And be worshipped like gods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPower Ballad (2026)
When Rick, a past-his-prime wedding singer, meets fading boy-band star Danny during a gig, the two bond over music and a late-night jam session. But when Danny turns one of Rick’s songs into the hit that reignites his career, Rick sets out to reclaim the recognition he believes he deserves - even if it means risking everything he cares about.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKrush Groove (1985)
Russell Walker is a young, successful manager of rap performers, handling acts for the Krush Groove label, including Run-DMC and The Fat Boys. When Run-D.M.C. has a hit record and Russell needs more money to press more copies, he borrows it from a street hustler and soon regrets his decision.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrumline: A New Beat (2014)
A girl from New York attends a college in Atlanta to join their once-famous marching band.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFeel the Beat (2020)
After failing to make it on Broadway, April returns to her hometown and reluctantly begins training a misfit group of young dancers for a competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSLC Punk (1998)
Two former geeks become 1980s punks, then party and go to concerts while deciding what to do with their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrace of My Heart (1996)
Philadelphia teenager Edna Buxton wins a talent contest during the early rock 'n' roll era, changes her name to Denise Waverly and moves to New York City to make it big. Though she flops as a recording artist, fast-talking record producer Joel Millner recognizes her songwriting talent and teams her with struggling songsmith Howard Caszatt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLadies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)
Corrine Burns retreats far into plans for her band, The Fabulous Stains, after her mother's death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Help the Girl (2014)
Eve is a catastrophe—low on self-esteem but high on fantasy, especially when it comes to music. Over the course of one Glasgow summer, she meets two similarly rootless souls: posh Cass and fastidious James, and together they form a band.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBandslam (2009)
A new kid in town assembles a fledgling rock band — together, they achieve their dreams and compete against the best in the biggest event of the year, a battle of the bands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisAirheads (1994)
The Lone Rangers have heavy-metal dreams and a single demo tape they can't get anyone to play. The solution: Hijack an FM rock radio station and hold the deejays hostage until they agree to broadcast the band's tape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCadillac Records (2008)
The story of sex, violence, race and rock and roll in 1950s Chicago, and the exciting but turbulent lives of some of America's musical legends, including Muddy Waters, Leonard Chess, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Etta James and Chuck Berry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFat Kid Rules The World (2012)
A dropout comes to the aid of a chubby and suicidal high-school kid by recruiting him as the drummer for his upstart punk-rock band.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rutles: All You Need Is Cash (1978)
The story of the rise and fall of the Pre-Fab Four.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuburbia (1984)
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House of Tomorrow (2019)
The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChloe and Theo (2015)
A young woman, Chloe, living by her wits on the streets of New York City, has a chance meeting with a wise Inuit Eskimo, Theo, who was sent to New York by his elders to provide a message to the people of the world – We either change our destructive was or be destroyed by them. Chloe, who has been searching for something to believe in, becomes inspired by Theo and , with the help of a kind lawyer, Monica, the three of them present Theo’s story to the United Nations in hopes of creating a better future for all of us.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSteve Martin and Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life (2018)
Comedians and writers Steve Martin and Martin Short perform a live comedy set with music by The Steep Canyon Rangers and jazz pianist, Jeff Babko, at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blues Brothers (1980)
Just released from prison, Jake Blues puts his old band back together with his brother Elwood to save the Catholic home where they were raised.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarbershop (2002)
A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Been Kissed (1999)
Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Santa Clause (1994)
On Christmas Eve, divorced dad Scott Calvin and his son discover Santa Claus has fallen off their roof. When Scott takes the reins of the magical sleigh, he finds he is now the new Santa, and must convince a world of disbelievers, including himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLIVE SANKARAS IN YOUR AREA (2026)
What happens when you take childhood friends turned Z-List celebrities, and lock them in a recording studio in the middle of nowhere with nothing but their instruments and insatiable ego's? You get LIVE SANKARAS IN YOUR AREA.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & music
John Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrass: The Sound of Free Speech (The Story of Reality Asylum) (2023)
The film dives into 1970's Britain; the birth of punk and the formation of Crass, with an in-depth look at their art, music and ethos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
My Best Friend's Wedding (1997)
When she receives word that her longtime platonic pal Michael O'Neal is getting married to debutante Kimberly Wallace, food critic Julianne Potter realizes her true feelings for Michael -- and sets out to sabotage the wedding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDerailed (2005)
When two married business executives having an affair are blackmailed by a violent criminal, they are forced to turn the tables on him to save their families.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwagger of Thieves (2018)
Over a decade in the making, Swagger of Thieves follows rock band Head Like a Hole from the top of the charts to the bottom of a needle. Staring down their age, two pals and the main guts of HLAH, frontman Nigel Booga Beazley and 'co- conspirator' Nigel Regan strut the hard road out of hell, fighting to reconnect and return their band to past glory, amidst disgruntled band mates, a changed music industry, and disappointed wives. Struggling to place past addictions and sabotaged dreams behind them in their continuing quest for rock music relevance, the ever-collapsing binary stars of any Head Like a Hole lineup, are certain (not) to polish their legacy here. Swagger of Thieves captures what it means to be in a band with a reputation. Unrelentingly raw, wild and honest, to the point of being one of the most insightful music documentaries ever made. Essential viewing. New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF), Melbourne International Documentary Film Festival (MIDFF)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Like Local Band and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Local Band?
The closest matches to Local Band are School Dance (2014), Metal Lords (2022) and Power Ballad (2026). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Local Band?
Start with School Dance (2014), the closest match to Local Band.
What is the highest-rated movie like Local Band?
The Blues Brothers (1980), rated 7.7/10 by 4,756 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Local Band?
Power Ballad (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Local Band?
Yes: School Dance (2014), Metal Lords (2022) and Power Ballad (2026).
How are movies similar to Local Band chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Local Band, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.