Movies like Smiley (1956)
The best movies like Smiley (1956) are Short Time (1990), Airborne (1993) and See Spot Run (2001). If Smiley 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 Red Balloon (1956)7.7/10 from 463 votes
- NewestRunt (2024)Released 2024
Short Time (1990)
As a result of a misdiagnosis, Detective Burt Simpson is told he has just weeks to live. He gains a new respect for his life and loved ones but learns that in order for his wife, Carolyn, and son, Dougie, to collect any insurance money, he must be killed in the line of duty. He then becomes the most reckless man on the police force, volunteering for dangerous assignments over the objections of his by-the-book partner.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAirborne (1993)
Good-natured teen surfer Mitchell Goosen finds himself staying with his aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio when his parents head to Australia for work. There he meets his cousin, Wiley, and together they try to navigate the perils of high school—avoid the bullies, get the girl, and win a little respect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
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 comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDennis the Menace (1993)
Mr. Wilson's ever-present annoyance comes in the form of one mischievous kid named Dennis. But he'll need Dennis's tricks to uncover a collection of gold coins that go missing when a shady drifter named Switchblade Sam comes to town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisTimmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (2020)
An 11-year old boy believes that he is the best detective in town and runs the agency Total Failures with his best friend, an imaginary 1,200 pound polar bear.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCadet Kelly (2002)
Hyperactive teenager Kelly is enrolled into a military school when her new stepfather becomes the Commandant. At first she has problems fitting in and taking orders until she tries out for the drill team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022)
Decades since their successful television series was canceled, Chip has succumbed to a life of suburban domesticity as an insurance salesman. Dale, meanwhile, has had CGI surgery and works the nostalgia convention circuit, desperate to relive his glory days. When a former cast mate mysteriously disappears, Chip and Dale must repair their broken friendship and take on their Rescue Rangers detective personas once again to save their friend’s life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrandma's Boy (1922)
A meek young man must find the courage within when a rogue tramp menaces his hometown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestry Rides Again (1939)
Tom Destry, son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn’t believe in gunplay. Thus he becomes the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRookie of the Year (1993)
When the cast comes off his once broken arm, a 12-year-old boy can throw a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, and the Chicago Cubs want him as their new pitcher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrocodile Dundee II (1988)
Australian outback expert protects his New York love from gangsters who've followed her down under.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Willoughbys (2020)
When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their Old-Fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create something new: The Modern Family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
The maniacal baby of the Griffin family, Stewie, meets his future self. In doing this he discovers that his future image is not what he has anticipated because of a near death experience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 12 Days of Christmas Eve (2022)
When Brian Conway, a successful businessman whose family relationships have suffered, gets in a car accident on Christmas Eve, Santa gives him twelve chances to redo the day and repair the relationships in his life, including with his daughter Michelle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Eat Fried Worms (2006)
During the first day of his new school year, a fifth grade boy squares off against a bully and winds up accepting a dare that could change the balance of power within the class.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdventures in Public School (2018)
A socially-awkward, home-schooled kid forces his way into public school against his suffocating, but loving, mother's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Air Up There (1994)
Jimmy Dolan is a college basketball coach who wants a big promotion. To get it, he needs to make a dramatic find. He ends up deep in Africa, hoping to recruit Saleh, a huge basketball prodigy Jimmy glimpsed in a home movie. But Saleh is the chief's son and has responsibilities at home, since the tribe's land is threatened by a mining company with its own hotshot basketball team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNo Time for Sergeants (1958)
Georgia farm boy Will Stockdale is about to bust with pride. He’s been drafted. Will’s ready. But is Uncle Sam ready for Will?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRenegade (1987)
While on his travel across the Southwestern United States, with his Jeep CJ Renegade and his chestnut colt named Joe Brown, Luke meets Matt, son of a friend of his, Moose, who is in jail. Moose asks Luke to take care of Matt, and to help him to take possession of a piece of land. So starts their travel, full of adventures...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTurner & Hooch (1989)
Detective Scott Turner has three days left in the local police department before he moves to a bigger city to get some 'real' cases—not just misdemeanors. When Amos Reed is murdered, Scott sets himself on the case, but the closest thing to a witness to the murder is Reed's dog, Hooch, which Scott has to take care of—to avoid Hooch being 'put to sleep'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRunt (2024)
In the Australian town of Upson Downs, ten-year-old Annie and Runt, her stray dog, attempt to win the Agility Course Championship at the Krumpets Dog Show in London in order to save their family's farm from drought and misery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
K-9 (1989)
The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a dog named Jerry Lee (Officer Lewis), who has been trained to smell drugs. With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind the bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to. On the other hand, the dog is quite good at destroying Dooley's car, house and sex-life...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChildren of the Revolution (1996)
A man (Richard Roxburgh) the Australian government blames for 1990s political woes blames his mother (Judy Davis), a communist Stalin seduced in 1951.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Keep an Eye Out (2018)
Louis just found the corpse of a man in front of his apartment building. Taken in for custody by Captain Buron, he finds himself on the wrong end of a surreal interrogation. But how can you prove you are innocent when the cops are crazy?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky Miles (2007)
It's 1990 and an Indonesian fishing boat abandons Iraqi and Cambodian refugees in a remote part of the Western Australia. Although most are quickly caught by officials, three men with nothing in common but their misfortune and determination to escape arrest, begin an epic journey into the heart of Australia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Dallas Doll (1994)
Dallas, an American golf tutor, arrives in a quiet Sydney suburb to teach at the local school and sets about causing chaos with the family she stays with.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
All My Friends Are Leaving Brisbane (2008)
Anthea is 25, single, hates her job – and all her friends are leaving Brisbane. Should she follow the herd to Sydney or London? Is there anything worth staying for now that her best friend Michael finally has a girlfriend? This film tells a universal story about finding your place and yourself...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Red Balloon (1956)
A young boy discovers a stray balloon, which seems to have a mind of its own, on the streets of Paris. The two become inseparable, yet the world’s harsh realities finally interfere.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKath & Kim: 20 Preposterous Years (2022)
Friends and stars of the series explore the nooks and crannies of the Kath & Kim world, along with rarely-seen footage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Max Boyce Down Under (2004)
Rugby World Cups always amount to a good deal more than the sum of their games, or a list of winners and losers. They inevitably broaden, as their momentum builds into a celebration of the game itself - its vigour, its humour, its spirit and perhaps above all, its friendships. No-one knows how to celebrate these things better than Max. Max Boyce holds a unique place in the affections of rugby followers as someone whose love for the game – and for Welsh rugby in particular, however it happens to be faring - helps define the kind of entertainer he is and the very special world he invites us to enter. It’s a world audiences have embraced with total delight over three decades of best-selling albums, hit television shows and sell-out live performances. You name it and Max has done it. Now he can add the Sydney Opera House to his list of conquests.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like Smiley and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Smiley?
The closest matches to Smiley are Short Time (1990), Airborne (1993) and See Spot Run (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Smiley?
Start with Short Time (1990), the closest match to Smiley.
What is the highest-rated movie like Smiley?
The Red Balloon (1956), rated 7.7/10 by 463 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Smiley?
Runt (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Smiley?
Yes: Short Time (1990), Airborne (1993) and See Spot Run (2001).
How are movies similar to Smiley chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Smiley, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.




























