Movies like A Mug's Life
The best movies like A Mug's Life are King of the Hill (1993), Rounders (1998) and Let It Ride (1989). If A Mug's Life hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Hustler (1961)7.7/10 from 1,138 votes
- NewestSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)Released 2025
King of the Hill (1993)
Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRounders (1998)
Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best friend Lester 'Worm' Murphy, just out of prison and owing lots of money to the wrong kind of people. McDermott becomes his co-guarantor and now there's only one way to raise the money, the pair have to get back into the game.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLet It Ride (1989)
An average kind of guy who has a slight problem with gambling goes to the track, and mystically, it seems as though he can't lose, no matter how he bets; and he has an incredible day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hustler (1961)
Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEasy Money (1983)
To inherit his mother-in-law's colossal fortune, a hard living gambling addict must change his unhealthy ways before it gets the best of him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023)
A rich man learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes. He sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCalifornia Split (1974)
Carefree single guy Charlie Waters rooms with two lovely prostitutes, Barbara Miller and Susan Peters, and lives to gamble. Along with his glum betting buddy, Bill Denny, Charlie sets out on a gambling streak in search of the ever-elusive big payday. While Charlie and Bill have some lucky moments, they also have to contend with serious setbacks that threaten to derail their hedonistic betting binge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUncut Gems (2019)
A charismatic New York City jeweler always on the lookout for the next big score makes a series of high-stakes bets that could lead to the windfall of a lifetime. Howard must perform a precarious high-wire act, balancing business, family, and encroaching adversaries on all sides in his relentless pursuit of the ultimate win.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUHF (1989)
The eccentric new manager of a UHF television channel tries to save the station from financial ruin with an odd array of programming.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rainmaker (1997)
Fresh out of law school and desperate for work, idealistic rookie Rudy Baylor takes on a powerful insurance company accused of denying a dying boy’s claim. Teaming up with a scrappy, unlicensed paralegal, he finds himself in a David-versus-Goliath courtroom battle that tests his ethics, courage, and belief in justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLight Sleeper (1992)
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something more acute — and dangerous — when he re-encounters an old flame while a string of seemingly drug-related murders rocks the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hangover Part III (2013)
This time, there's no wedding. No bachelor party. What could go wrong, right? But when the Wolfpack hits the road, all bets are off.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpringsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)
Bruce Springsteen, a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fountainhead (1949)
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this13 (2010)
A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Station Agent (2003)
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWake in Fright (1971)
A young schoolteacher descends into personal moral degradation after finding himself stranded in a brutal, menacing town in outback Australia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisQuiz Show (1994)
Herbert Stempel's transformation into an unexpected television personality unfolds as he secures victory on the cherished American game show, 'Twenty-One.' However, when the show introduces the highly skilled contestant Charles Van Doren to replace Stempel, it compels Stempel to let out his frustrations and call out the show as rigged. Lawyer Richard Goodwin steps in and attempts to uncover the orchestrated deception behind the scenes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
A rebellious youth, sentenced to a boy’s reformatory for robbing a bakery, rises through the ranks of the institution by impressing its Governor through his prowess as a long distance runner. He is encouraged to compete in an upcoming race, but faces ridicule from his peers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Mug's Life?
The closest matches to A Mug's Life are King of the Hill (1993), Rounders (1998) and Let It Ride (1989). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Mug's Life?
Start with King of the Hill (1993), the closest match to A Mug's Life.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Mug's Life?
The Hustler (1961), rated 7.7/10 by 1,138 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Mug's Life?
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Mug's Life?
Yes: King of the Hill (1993), Rounders (1998) and Let It Ride (1989).
How are movies similar to A Mug's Life chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Mug's Life, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.