Movies like Ernest Goes to Jail (1990)
The best movies like Ernest Goes to Jail (1990) are Quick Change (1990), Getting Even with Dad (1994) and Three Fugitives (1989). If Ernest Goes to Jail hooked you with its comedy and family, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy Cousin Vinny (1992)7.5/10 from 2,025 votes
- NewestHow to Rob a Bank (2007)Released 2007
- Same seriesErnest Goes to Camp (1987)Ernest
Quick Change (1990)
With the aid of his girlfriend, Phyllis Potter, and best friend, Loomis, Grimm enters a Manhattan bank dressed as a clown, creates a hostage situation and executes a flawless robbery. The only thing left for the trio to do is make their getaway out of the city and to the airport. It sounds simple enough, but it seems that fate deserts them immediately after the bank heist. One mishap after another conspires to keep these robbers from reaching freedom.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGetting Even with Dad (1994)
Con man Ray is going after one last heist – a stash of rare coins – when his estranged son Timmy unexpectedly shows up. Ray is too preoccupied with his robbery to spend time with his son, so Timmy blackmails him into acting like a father, hiding the coins and promises to return them only after Ray takes him to amusement parks and baseball games.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThree Fugitives (1989)
On his first day after being released from jail for 14 armed bank robberies, Lucas finds himself caught up in someone else's robbery. Perry has decided to hold up the local bank to raise money so that he can keep his daughter, Meg, and get her the treatment she needs. Dugan, a detective, assumes Lucas helped plan the robbery, and hence Lucas, Perry and Meg become three fugitives.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWeekend at Bernie's II (1993)
Everybody's favorite stiff is back! Working fools Larry Wilson and Richard Parker have uncovered a dirty, little secret: Their former boss, Bernie Lomax, embezzled $2 million and placed it in a safe deposit box in the Caribbean. Now, the boys are ready to go after the loot, but they can't do it alone -- they need poor Bernie's help. Can the buddies give their ex-boss new life?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisUncle Buck (1989)
Buck Russell, a lovable but slovenly bachelor, suddenly becomes the temporary caretaker of his nephew and nieces after a family emergency. His freewheeling attitude soon causes tension with his older niece Tia, loyal girlfriend Chanice, and just about everyone else who crosses his path.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoing Ape! (1981)
When his father - who owned a circus - dies, Oscar inherits 5 million dollars - and 3 orangutans. However there's a condition connected to the money: if he gives away the apes or just one gets sick or dies during the next 3 years, the zoologic society will get all the money. So he not only has to deal with 3 apes and an annoyed girlfriend, but also with a greedy zoologic society's president.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
The Toy (1982)
On one of his bratty son Eric's annual visits, the plutocrat U.S. Bates takes him to his department store and offers him anything in it as a gift. Eric chooses a black janitor who has made him laugh with his antics. At first the man suffers many indignities as Eric's "toy", but gradually teaches the lonely boy what it is like to have and to be a friend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Cousin Vinny (1992)
Two carefree pals traveling through rural Alabama on their way back to college are mistakenly arrested and charged with murder. Fortunately, one of them has a cousin who's a lawyer - Vincent Gambini, a former auto mechanic from Brooklyn who has just passed his bar exam after his sixth try. When he arrives with his leather-clad girlfriend to try his first case, it's a real shock - for him and the Deep South!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Fans watch both · both family & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Beverly Hillbillies (1993)
Mild-mannered dirt-poor hill-dweller Jed Clampett strikes it rich when oil is discovered on his property. At cousin Pearl's insistence, he moves his family to Beverly Hills to better enjoy his newfound wealth.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAce Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
He's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The Ace is on the case to find the Miami Dolphins' missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino. He goes eyeball to eyeball with a man-eating shark, stakes out the Miami Dolphins and woos and wows the ladies. Whether he's undercover, under fire or underwater, he always gets his man… or beast!
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCops & Robbersons (1994)
When the police discover that a mob hitman has moved in next door to the Robbersons, they set up a stakeout in the Robbersons' home. Hard-nosed, tough-as-nails Jake Stone and his young partner Tony Moore are assigned to the stakeout, but now it is a question of whether Jake can last long enough to capture the bad guys. The Robbersons want to help, and by doing so, drive Jake crazy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlank Check (1994)
Bullied by his siblings and nagged by his parents, 11-year-old Preston Waters is fed up with his family — especially their frugality. But he gets his chance to teach them a lesson when a money-laundering criminal nearly bulldozes Preston with his car and compensates the boy with a blank check. Preston makes the check out for $1 million and goes on a spending spree he'll never forget.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Blue Heaven (1990)
FBI agent Barney Coopersmith is assigned to protect former Mafia figure turned informant Vincent Antonelli. In the witness protection program one is supposed to keep a low profile, but that is something that Antonelli has trouble doing. Coopersmith certainly has his hands full keeping Antonelli away from the Mafia hitmen who want to stop him testifying, not to mention the nightclubs...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Olsen Gang Never Surrenders (1979)
Egon plans to exploit knowledge gained during his latest term of incarceration. By stealing the unmanipulated financial records of DanInvest he obtains the majority of the stocks in the department store Magasin du Nord, just in time for their closing sale. The attempt to get the red suitcase that will save the day they rob the main vault at the EEC headquarters in Brussels and end up hijacking a tank.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWe're No Angels (1989)
Two escaped cons' only prayer to escape is to pass themselves off as priests and pass by the police blockade at the border into the safety of Canada.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisErnest Goes to Camp (1987)
Ernest, a lovable loser who works as a summer camp handyman and dreams of becoming a guidance counselor, must find a way to inspire a group of juvenile delinquents while stopping a shady strip mining company from closing the camp as well.
Why it matches: Same series: Ernest · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisErnest Saves Christmas (1988)
When Santa Claus decides to retire and pass on his magic bag of Christmas surprises to a new Saint Nick, he enlists the aid of a hilarious assortment of characters. A perky teen runaway and hapless taxi driver Ernest P. Worrell must convince a skeptical kiddie-show host to take over the post of Father Christmas.
Why it matches: Same series: Ernest · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisMrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Loving but irresponsible dad Daniel Hillard, estranged from his exasperated spouse, is crushed by a court order allowing only weekly visits with his kids. When Daniel learns his ex needs a housekeeper, he gets the job -- disguised as a British nanny. Soon he becomes not only his children's best pal but the kind of parent he should have been from the start.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProblem Child (1990)
Ben Healy and his social climbing wife Flo adopt fun-loving seven year old Junior. But they soon discover he's a little monster as he turns a camping trip, a birthday party and even a baseball game into comic nightmares.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Streak (1999)
Miles Logan is a jewel thief who just hit the big time by stealing a huge diamond. However, after two years in jail, he comes to find out that he hid the diamond in a police building that was being built at the time of the robbery. In an attempt to regain his diamond, he poses as an LAPD detective.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisErnest Goes to Africa (1997)
Ernest gifts Renee a yo-yo made with two jewels, unaware that they are the precious Eyes of Igoli. Things take a turn when Renee gets kidnapped and Ernest sets out to rescue her.
Why it matches: Same series: Ernest · both comedy & family
SnoozefestMovies like thisProblem Child 2 (1991)
Junior and his father, Ben, move from Cold River to Mortville. Junior becomes threatened by Ben's desire to date again and find a new mother for Junior, and sabotages each of his dates.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCurly Sue (1991)
Bill is a penniless drifter who scams strangers out of just enough money to feed himself and his partner in crime, an orphan girl known as Curly Sue. Bill and Curly Sue target Grey, a yuppie lawyer, but their con takes an unexpected turn when the successful woman begins to like the ramshackle duo. But there's one problem—Grey's jealous, conniving boyfriend, Walker.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Super (1991)
Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies 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: Fans watch both · both family & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBandits (2001)
After escaping from prison, Joe and Terry go on a crime spree, robbing banks through Oregon and California in order to finance their scheme for a new life south of the border. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when they meet Kate, who runs into them with her car. She joins the bandits on their cross-country spree, and eventually she steals something, too: their hearts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStir Crazy (1980)
New Yorkers Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe have no jobs and no prospects, so they decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, landing jobs wearing woodpecker costumes to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment — they're sent to prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Rob a Bank (2007)
Caught in the middle of a bank robbery, a slacker and a bank employee become the ones who arbitrate the intense situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisNaked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)
Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he has to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for when he escapes. Adding to his problems, Frank's wife, Jane, is desperate for a baby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ernest Goes to Jail?
The closest matches to Ernest Goes to Jail are Quick Change (1990), Getting Even with Dad (1994) and Three Fugitives (1989). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ernest Goes to Jail?
People who watched Ernest Goes to Jail most often go on to Quick Change (1990), Getting Even with Dad (1994) and Three Fugitives (1989).
What is the highest-rated movie like Ernest Goes to Jail?
My Cousin Vinny (1992), rated 7.5/10 by 2,025 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ernest Goes to Jail?
How to Rob a Bank (2007) is the most recent release on this list.
Is Ernest Goes to Jail part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to Ernest, which includes Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) and Ernest Goes to Africa (1997).
Are there English movies like Ernest Goes to Jail?
Yes: Quick Change (1990), Getting Even with Dad (1994) and Three Fugitives (1989).
How are movies similar to Ernest Goes to Jail chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ernest Goes to Jail, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.