Movies like Pennies from Heaven (1936)
The best movies like Pennies from Heaven (1936) are God Help the Girl (2014), Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Feel the Beat (2020). If Pennies from Heaven hooked you with its comedy and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe King of Comedy (1982)7.8/10 from 2,720 votes
- NewestLoving forever (2026)Released 2026
God 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 thisSunshine on Leith (2013)
Davy and Ally have to re-learn how to live life in Edinburgh after coming home from serving in Afghanistan. Both struggle to learn to live a life outside the army and to deal with the everyday struggles of family, jobs and relationships. Sunshine on Leith is based on the sensational stage hit of the same name, featuring music by pop-folk band The Proclaimers.
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 thisThe Ballad of Wallis Island (2025)
An eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island tries to make his fantasies come true by getting his favourite musicians to perform at his home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThat Thing You Do! (1996)
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager. But behind the scenes, the group’s sudden fame tests their strength, their maturity and responsibility, and their ability to resist the temptations that money and notoriety always make possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Big Store (1941)
A detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing Creole (1958)
Delinquent Danny Fisher flunks out of high school, quits his job as a nightclub busboy, and one night gets the chance to perform. Success is imminent and local crime boss Maxie Fields wants to hire him to perform at The Blue Shade. Danny declines, but Fields won't take no for an answer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFight for Your Right Revisited (2011)
Fight for Your Right Revisited stars Danny McBride, Seth Rogen, and Elijah Wood as the "young" Beastie Boys from the past and Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and Will Ferrell as the "old" Beastie Boys from the future. The story begins where the video for "Fight for Your Right (1987)" ended. It features music from the band's album Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSneakerella (2022)
When El, an aspiring sneaker designer from Queens, meets Kira King, the fiercely independent daughter of legendary basketball star and sneaker tycoon Darius King, sparks fly as the two bond over their mutual affinity for sneakers. With a little nudge from his best friend and a sprinkle of Fairy Godfather magic, El finds the courage to use his talent to pursue his dream of becoming a ‘legit’ sneaker designer in the industry.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisCurly Top (1935)
Wealthy Edward Morgan becomes charmed with a curly-haired orphan and her pretty older sister Mary and arranges to adopt both under the alias of "Mr. Jones". As he spends more time with them, he soon finds himself falling in love with Mary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Day at the Races (1937)
Doctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's sanitarium by winning a big race with a finicky horse owned by Judy's boyfriend Gil. There are a few problems. Hackenbush, who was recently put in charge of the sanitarium, isn't really a doctor, he's a veterinarian.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnnie (1982)
An orphan in a facility run by the mean Miss Hannigan, Annie believes that her parents left her there by mistake. When a rich man named Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks decides to let an orphan live at his home to promote his image, Annie is selected. While Annie gets accustomed to living in Warbucks' mansion, she still longs to meet her parents. So Warbucks announces a search for them and a reward, which brings out many frauds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnnie (2014)
Annie is a young, happy foster kid who's also tough enough to make her way on the streets of New York in 2014. Originally left by her parents as a baby with the promise that they'd be back for her someday, it's been a hard knock life ever since with her mean foster mom Miss Hannigan. But everything's about to change when the hard-nosed tycoon and New York mayoral candidate Will Stacks—advised by his brilliant VP and his shrewd and scheming campaign advisor—makes a thinly-veiled campaign move and takes her in. Stacks believes he's her guardian angel, but Annie's self-assured nature and bright, sun-will-come-out-tomorrow outlook on life just might mean it's the other way around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
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 thisI Can Only Imagine (2018)
Growing up in Greenville, Texas, Bart Millard suffers physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father, Arthur. When Arthur becomes terminally ill, he finds redemption by embracing his faith and rediscovering his love for his son. Years later, Bart's troubled childhood and mended relationship with his dad inspires him to write the hit song "I Can Only Imagine" as singer of the Christian band MercyMe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe King of Comedy (1982)
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUptown Girls (2003)
Molly Gunn, the freewheeling daughter of a deceased rock legend, is forced to get a job when her manager steals her money. As nanny to Ray - the precocious, oft-ignored daughter of a music executive - she learns what it means to be an adult while teaching Ray how to be a child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe Great Gilly Hopkins (2015)
Young and feisty Gilly Hopkins devises a scheme to escape from her new foster home and reunite with her birth mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFoster (2011)
Looking to adopt a child and unable to conceive a child of their own, the Morrisons' lives are turned upside down when a seven-year-old boy unexpectedly shows up on their doorstep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSister Act (1992)
When lively lounge singer Deloris sees her mobster beau commit murder, she is relocated for her protection. Set up in the guise of a nun in a California convent, she proceeds to upend the quiet lives of the resident sisters.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViva Las Vegas (1964)
Lucky Jackson arrives in Las Vegas with his car literally in tow ready for the first Grand Prix — once he has the money for an engine. He gets the cash easily enough but mislays it when the pretty pool manageress takes his mind off things. It seems he'll lose both race and girl, problems complicated by rivalry from womanizing fellow racer Elmo Mancini.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConnie and Carla (2004)
After accidentally witnessing a mafia hit in the Windy City, gal pals Connie and Carla skip town for L.A., where they go way undercover as singers working the city's dinner theater circuit ... disguised as drag queens. Now, it's not enough that they become big hits on the scene; things get extra-weird when Connie meets Jeff -- a guy she'd like to be a woman with.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat's Love Got to Do with It (1993)
Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLa Vie en Rose (2007)
From the mean streets of the Belleville district of Paris to the dazzling limelight of New York's most famous concert halls, Edith Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Raised in her grandmother's brothel, Piaf was discovered in 1935 by nightclub owner Louis Leplee, who persuaded her to sing despite her extreme nervousness. Piaf became one of France's immortal icons, her voice one of the indelible signatures of the 20th century.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLoving forever (2026)
Edoardo Iaschi (known as Eddie Brock) is an Italian indie singer born and raised in Rome. When his song “Non è mica te” unexpectedly goes viral on TikTok, Edo is thrust into the spotlight and forced to confront the realities of adulthood, fame, and a world far bigger than he ever imagined…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
The Doors (1991)
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
Agnès Varda eloquently captures Paris in the sixties with this real-time portrait of a singer set adrift in the city as she awaits test results of a biopsy. A chronicle of the minutes of one woman’s life, Cléo from 5 to 7 is a spirited mix of vivid vérité and melodrama, featuring a score by Michel Legrand and cameos by Jean-Luc Godard and Anna Karina.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpirit World (2025)
Legendary singer Claire Emery flies to Japan for a final sold-out concert. But when the show ends, so does Claire’s life on earth. However, an unexpected new life in the spirit world - where she will be guided by Yuzo, one of her biggest fans - awaits.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Serge Gainsbourg, les meilleures chansons (2021)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
Like Pennies from Heaven and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Pennies from Heaven?
The closest matches to Pennies from Heaven are God Help the Girl (2014), Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Feel the Beat (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Pennies from Heaven?
Start with God Help the Girl (2014), the closest match to Pennies from Heaven.
What is the highest-rated movie like Pennies from Heaven?
The King of Comedy (1982), rated 7.8/10 by 2,720 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Pennies from Heaven?
Loving forever (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Pennies from Heaven?
Yes: God Help the Girl (2014), Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Feel the Beat (2020).
How are movies similar to Pennies from Heaven chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Pennies from Heaven, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.