Movies like Sparkler (1997)
The best movies like Sparkler (1997) are Melvin and Howard (1980), Magic Mike XXL (2015) and Magic Mike (2012). If Sparkler 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 ratedTokyo Godfathers (2003)7.9/10 from 1,593 votes
- NewestSummer of 69 (2025)Released 2025
Melvin and Howard (1980)
The story of hard-luck Melvin Dummar, who claimed to have received a will naming him an heir to the fortune of Howard Hughes. Inspired by real events.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagic Mike XXL (2015)
Three years after Mike bowed out of the stripper life at the top of his game, he and the remaining Kings of Tampa hit the road to Myrtle Beach to put on one last blow-out performance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagic Mike (2012)
Mike, an experienced stripper, takes a younger performer called The Kid under his wing and schools him in the arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Men Can't Jump (2023)
Seemingly opposite street hoopers, Jeremy, an injury prone former star, and Kamal, a has-been prodigy, team up to take one final shot at living out their dreams.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDemolition (2016)
An emotionally desperate investment banker finds hope through a woman he meets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSummer of 69 (2025)
In an effort to land the guy she's been pining after since grade school, Abby hires a local stripper named Santa Monica to teach her everything she needs to know about confidence and sex.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTransamerica (2005)
A transgender woman takes an unexpected journey when she learns that she had a son, now a teenage runaway hustling on the streets of New York.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFlawless (1999)
An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEverybody's Talking About Jamie (2021)
Jamie New is 16 and doesn’t quite fit in—instead of pursuing a "real" career he dreams of becoming a drag queen. Uncertain about his future, Jamie knows one thing for sure: he is going to be a sensation. Supported by his loving mom and his amazing friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisZola (2021)
A waitress agrees to accompany an exotic dancer, her put-upon boyfriend, and her mysterious and domineering roommate on a road trip to Florida to seek their fortune at a high-end strip club.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVery Bad Things (1998)
Kyle Fisher has one last night to celebrate life as a single man before marrying Laura, so he sets out to Vegas with four of his best buddies. But a drug and alcohol filled night on the town with a stripper who goes all the way, turns into a cold night in the desert with shovels when the stripper goes all the way into a body bag after dying in their bathroom. And that's just the first of the bodies to pile up before Kyle can walk down the aisle...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)
Double-crossed and left without water in the desert, Cable Hogue is saved when he finds a spring. It is in just the right spot for a much needed rest stop on the local stagecoach line, and Hogue uses this to his advantage. He builds a house and makes money off the stagecoach passengers. Hildy, a prostitute from the nearest town, moves in with him. Hogue has everything going his way until the advent of the automobile ends the era of the stagecoach.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMidnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997)
A visiting city reporter's assignment suddenly revolves around the murder trial of a local millionaire, whom he befriends.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightmare Alley (2021)
An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisExotica (1994)
In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, the club's MC, Eric, still jealously pines for her even as he introduces her onstage, but Eric is having his own relationship problems with the club's female owner. Thomas, a mysterious pet-shop owner, is about to become unexpectedly involved in their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome to the Rileys (2010)
Years after their teenage daughter’s death, Lois and Doug Riley, an upstanding Indiana couple, are frozen by estranging grief. Doug escapes to New Orleans on a business trip. Compelled by urgencies he doesn’t understand, he insinuates himself into the life of an underage hooker, becoming her platonic guardian.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoy Ride (2001)
Three young people on a road trip from Colorado to New Jersey talk to a trucker on their CB radio, then must escape when he turns out to be a psychotic killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Honey (2016)
A restless teenager escapes her troubled home and joins a traveling crew of young drifters selling magazines across the American Midwest. Immersed in a world of reckless partying, risky hustles, and fleeting romances, she searches for freedom and belonging on the open road.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Roads - Secret Love (1969)
Long-haul driver Hannes picks up a young hitchhiker, Herb, who had a falling-out with his parents after dropping out of college and now travels around doing odd jobs. After a series of adventures, they are joined by Johanna and her child, who missed their bus and need a ride to Berlin. Johanna has left her husband so that he can reflect on their broken relationship and both men gradually begin to fall in love with her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
North Beach (2000)
San Francisco comes alive in this amusing chronicle of urban life. When Tyler has a drunken one night stand with a local stripper, his secret precedes him all over town. Now amidst a haze of springtime revelry, he must make amends to his fiance before she dumps him for good.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Marta and Surroundings (2000)
A group of friends, all about in their thirties, gather at Julio's home, one of them, to help him paint the walls. During the hours they are together, their problems, their envy, their failures, their quarrels come to light. Around them, Marta will find how they really are.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Feeling Minnesota (1996)
Sam Clayton's marriage to ex-stripper Freddie comes about when she's strong-armed into the match by Red, a club proprietor who once did her a favor. But Freddie falls in love with Jjaks, Sam's brother, and the pair tries to escape the situation together. It isn't long before both Sam and Red catch up with them, resulting in threats against the two of them -- although tension also starts to build between Sam and Red.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Curiosity of Chance (2006)
It’s the ‘80s once again, new wave angst and genderbending fashion are all the rage, but new kid at school, Chance Marquis, is trying to find new ways to stand out. Being an odd and somewhat awkward teenager makes him the target of the school bully. To deal with this dilemma, Chance turns to the opposite ends of the high school spectrum for help. On one side is the flamboyant drag queen and at the other, the varsity jock, Levi Sparks with whom Chance develops a unique friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFinding Amanda (2008)
A television producer with a penchant for drinking and gambling is sent to Las Vegas to convince his troubled niece to enter rehab.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTokyo Godfathers (2003)
On Christmas Eve, three homeless people living on the streets of Tokyo discover a newborn baby among the trash and set out to find its parents.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMoscow, Belgium (2008)
‘Moscou’ is a densely populated working class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Ghent, Belgium. Matty, mother of three, bumps her car into a truck on the parking lot of a supermarket. Johnny climbs down from the cabin. He is infuriated by the dent in his front bumper and yells at Matty. Although impressed by the accident, Matty fights back with sharp words. Their discussion turns into a row, and the police have to intervene. Matty goes home, the trunk of her car dancing up and down. Back in her apartment, Matty takes a hot bath to recover from the afternoon’s emotionswhen the phone rings. It’s Johnny, apologizing for his behaviour on the parking lot. Matty tells him to stay out of her life. A dramatic comedy begins about a woman whose soul is full of dents and bruises.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Me Again (TBA)
Ewa and Halina are forcibly separated from each other by Ewa’s father in their youth because of their love for each other. When Ewa’s father dies 13 years later, the women meet again through the initiative of their husbands, who want to make a deal with each other. Ewa and Halina can no longer hide their love, which they thought had been forgotten, from themselves and from each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Wrestler (2008)
Aging wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson is long past his prime but still ready and rarin' to go on the pro-wrestling circuit. After a particularly brutal beating, however, Randy hangs up his tights, pursues a serious relationship with a long-in-the-tooth stripper, and tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter. But he can't resist the lure of the ring and readies himself for a comeback.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sparkler?
The closest matches to Sparkler are Melvin and Howard (1980), Magic Mike XXL (2015) and Magic Mike (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sparkler?
Start with Melvin and Howard (1980), the closest match to Sparkler.
What is the highest-rated movie like Sparkler?
Tokyo Godfathers (2003), rated 7.9/10 by 1,593 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sparkler?
Summer of 69 (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Sparkler?
Yes: Melvin and Howard (1980), Magic Mike XXL (2015) and Magic Mike (2012).
How are movies similar to Sparkler chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sparkler, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.