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Movies like Foreign Nights (1989)

The best movies like Foreign Nights (1989) are The Jazz Singer (1927), Footloose (1984) and The Goodbye Girl (1977). If Foreign Nights hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. The Jazz Singer (1927)

    A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

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  2. Footloose (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: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  3. The Goodbye Girl (1977)

    After being dumped by her live-in boyfriend, an unemployed dancer and her 10-year-old daughter are reluctantly forced to live with a struggling off-Broadway actor.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  4. What Maisie Knew (2013)

    In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  5. Hala (2019)

    Seventeen-year-old Pakistani American teenager Hala struggles to balance desire with her family, cultural, and religious obligations. As she comes into her own, she grapples with a secret that threatens to unravel her family.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  6. Another Cinderella Story (2008)

    A guy who danced with what could be the girl of his dreams at a costume ball only has one hint at her identity: the Zune she left behind as she rushed home in order to make her curfew. And with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in front of him, he sets out to find his masked beauty.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  7. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

    A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  8. Honey 3: Dare to Dance (2016)

    While attending college in Cape Town, Melea Martin feels constrained by the school's strict policies, and decides to set out on her own. Searching for a way to use her talents as a dancer and inspire the community around her, Melea rents a failing theater in order to put on a Hip-Hop Romeo and Juliet performance. But much like the Capulets and Montagues, conflicts between cast members threaten to bring the whole performance to a halt...

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

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  9. A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits (2016)

    A contemporary musical version of the classic Cinderella story in which the servant step daughter hope to compete in a musical competition for a famous pop star.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  10. Work It (2020)

    A brilliant but clumsy high school senior vows to get into her late father's alma mater by transforming herself and a misfit squad into dance champions.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  11. Honey: Rise Up and Dance (2018)

    Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  12. After the Ball (2015)

    After the Ball, a retail fairy tale set in the world of fashion. Kate's dream is to design for couturier houses. Although she is a bright new talent, Kate can't get a job. No one trusts the daughter of Lee Kassell, a retail guru who markets clothes "inspired" by the very designers Kate wants to work for. Who wants a spy among the sequins and stilettos? Reluctantly, Kate joins the family business where she must navigate around her duplicitous stepmother and two wicked stepsisters. But with the help of a prince of a guy in the shoe department her godmother's vintage clothes and a shocking switch of identities, Kate exposes the evil trio, saves her father's company -- and proves that everyone can wear a fabulous dress.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  13. Make Your Move (2013)

    A pair of star-crossed dancers in New York find themselves at the center of a bitter rivalry between their brothers' underground dance clubs.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

  14. Feel 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

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  15. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023)

    Stacy and Lydia are BFFs who've always dreamed about having epic bat mitzvahs. But things start to go comically awry when a popular boy and middle school drama threatens their friendship and their rite of passage.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  16. Shadows (1960)

    The relationship between Lelia, a light-skinned black woman, and Tony, a white man is put in jeopardy when Tony meets Lelia’s darker-skinned jazz singer brother, Hugh, and discovers that her racial heritage is not what he thought it was.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Son of Rambow (2007)

    Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  18. What a Girl Wants (2003)

    American Daphne Reynolds heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of finding a British version of her boho mother, she learns the love of her mom's life is an uptight politician. The only problem now is that her long-lost father is engaged to a fiercely territorial social climber with a daughter who makes Daphne's life miserable.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  19. 1 Chance 2 Dance (2014)

    When a 17-year old aspiring dancer is uprooted in her high school senior year, she finds herself divided between two boys, and she will have one last shot at making her dream a reality.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  20. Zapped (2014)

    Zoey is a talented dancer whose organized life is rudely disrupted when she moves in with her new step-dad and three step-brothers, until she discovers a dog-training app that can get boys to obey her every command. But she soon learns that it isn't the cure-all she had hoped for.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this

Like Foreign Nights and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Foreign Nights?

The closest matches to Foreign Nights are The Jazz Singer (1927), Footloose (1984) and The Goodbye Girl (1977). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Foreign Nights?

Start with The Jazz Singer (1927), the closest match to Foreign Nights.

What is the highest-rated movie like Foreign Nights?

Work It (2020), rated 7.5/10 by 1,235 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Foreign Nights?

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Foreign Nights?

Yes: The Jazz Singer (1927), Footloose (1984) and The Goodbye Girl (1977).

How are movies similar to Foreign Nights chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Foreign Nights, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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