Movies like A Mad Idea (1932)
The best movies like A Mad Idea (1932) are A Castle for Christmas (2021), Room Service (1938) and Four Rooms (1995). If A Mad Idea hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBarton Fink (1991)7.5/10 from 1,988 votes
- NewestSpa Weekend (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanSissi (1955)Also in German
A Castle for Christmas (2021)
To escape a scandal, a bestselling author journeys to Scotland, where she falls in love with a castle -- and faces off with the grumpy duke who owns it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoom Service (1938)
Broke Gordon Miller tries to land a backer for his new play while he has to deal with with the hotel manager trying to evict him and his cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFour Rooms (1995)
It's Ted the Bellhop's first night on the job...and the hotel's very unusual guests are about to place him in some outrageous predicaments. It seems that this evening's room service is serving up one unbelievable happening after another.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBuddy Buddy (1981)
During a high-profile Mafia testimony case in Riverside County, a hired killer checks into a hotel room near the courthouse, while his depressed neighbor contemplates suicide over marital problems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Flintstones Meet Rockula and Frankenstone (1979)
The Flintstones and the Rubbles win a trip on "Make a Deal or Don't" to Count Rockula's castle in Rocksylvania, where they have an unpleasant meeting with the Count and his servant, Frankenstone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGuest House Paradiso (1999)
Richie and Eddie are in charge of the worst hotel in the UK, Guest House Paradiso, neighbouring a nuclear power plant. The illegal immigrant chef has fled and all the guests have gone. But when a famous Italian filmstar, Gina Carbonara, who is in hiding from a fiance she doesn't want to marry, arrives at the hotel, things get very interesting!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost (2018)
The Scooby gang visits a culinary resort run by Fred's uncle, Bobby Flay. While enjoying the sights, a ghost attacks the guests and destroys the resort, leaving the gang to put a stop to its threat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Bellboy (1960)
Stanley is a bellboy at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach, where he performs his duties quietly and without a word to anyone. All he displays are facial expressions and a comedic slapstick style. And anything that can go wrong, does go wrong when Stanley is involved. One day, Jerry Lewis arrives at the hotel and some of the staff notice the striking resemblance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEloise at the Plaza (2003)
Eloise is a precocious but lovable six-year-old girl who lives in New York's Plaza Hotel. Her caretaker "Nanny" watches over her while her mom is away. Then one day, while trying to figure out how to get invited to a fancy ball as well as how to meet a visiting prince, Eloise makes a new friend around her age! So she decides to take him on a tour of the city - and all while plotting some matchmaking hijinks for her other friends too!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCul-de-sac (1966)
On the run and in search of help, two wounded gangsters find refuge in the secluded castle of a feeble man and his wife; however, under the point of a gun, nothing is what it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCedar Rapids (2011)
A naive Midwesterner insurance salesman travels to a big-city convention in an effort to save the jobs of his co-workers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHotel Transylvania (2012)
Welcome to Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up and no humans are allowed. One special weekend, Dracula has invited all his best friends to celebrate his beloved daughter Mavis's 118th birthday. For Dracula catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem but the party really starts when one ordinary guy stumbles into the hotel and changes everything!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMystery Train (1989)
In Memphis, Tennessee, over the course of a single night, the Arcade Hotel, run by an eccentric night clerk and a clueless bellboy, is visited by a young Japanese couple traveling in search of the roots of rock; an Italian woman in mourning who stumbles upon a fleeing charlatan girl; and a comical trio of accidental thieves looking for a place to hide.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoald Dahl's The Witches (2020)
In late 1967, a young orphaned boy goes to live with his loving grandma in the rural Alabama town of Demopolis. As the boy and his grandmother encounter some deceptively glamorous but thoroughly diabolical witches, she wisely whisks him away to a seaside resort. Regrettably, they arrive at precisely the same time that the world's Grand High Witch has gathered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cocoanuts (1929)
During the Florida land boom, the Marx Brothers run a hotel, auction off some land and thwart a jewel robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpa Weekend (2026)
Four lifelong friends escape to a luxury spa retreat to reconnect, unwind and rediscover themselves, but their weekend of relaxation soon turns into a series of wild adventures and bad decisions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Canterville Ghost (1944)
The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Business (1988)
In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family just passing through. The dizzy nurse on duty accidentally mixes the twins unbeknown to the parents. Our story flashes forward to the 1980s where the mismatched sets of twins are about to cross paths.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Bad Idea Gone Wrong (2017)
Two would-be thieves forge a surprising relationship with an unexpected housesitter when they accidentally trap themselves in a house they just broke into.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohnny English Strikes Again (2018)
Disaster strikes when a criminal mastermind reveals the identities of all active undercover agents in Britain. The secret service can now rely on only one man - Johnny English. Currently teaching at a minor prep school, Johnny springs back into action to find the mysterious hacker. For this mission to succeed, he’ll need all of his skills - what few he has - as the man with yesterday’s analogue methods faces off against tomorrow’s digital technology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHi, Inspector (1985)
A street cop is picked by the national security service in order to carry out an important and delicate task. His mission is to go undercover and infiltrate a dangerous international cabal of homosexuals.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
And the First Matakias (1982)
An unruly voyeurism, Simos, works in a hotel as a bourgeois. A gang of burglars has put in the eye of the hotel's safe. The members of the gang - five in number and very pretty women - are staying at the hotel, waiting for the proper opportunity for the burglary. Meanwhile, the hotel's daughter, Myrto, seeing that the hotel is not doing well, and believing that some people sabotage the business, represents the receptionist, in order to learn from the inside exactly what is happening. The passion of Simos makes him a companion of the five women's gang's plans, both to frustrate the burglary and to win the hand of Myrto, who has fallen in love with him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Italian for Beginners (2000)
Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarton Fink (1991)
A renowned New York playwright is enticed to California to write for the movies and discovers the hellish truth of Hollywood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPart-Time Divorce (1986)
While heading to Spain to spend their honeymoon there, Siniša and Svetlana find themselves at Montenegrin coast due to mistake made by travel agency. They get back disappointed to Belgrade, where new problems expect them: Svetlana applied for an apartment, but divorced mothers with children are those who have advantage. Svetlana and Siniša decide to divorce for a part-time period so they could trick the housing board and get an apartment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Sissi (1955)
The young Bavarian princess Elisabeth, who all call Sissi, goes with her mother and older sister Néné to Austria where Néné will be wed to an emperor named Franz Joseph, Yet unexpectedly Franz runs into Sissi while out fishing and they fall in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCould This Be Love? (2007)
Lucas, a wealthy, 43 year-old divorced businessman, is irresistibly attracted to Elsa, a 38 year old renowned sculptor from whom he has commissioned a piece to decorate the reception at his office.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Siegfried (2005)
The tale of Siegfried, a fearless dragon slayer who wins the heart of Celtic beauty Kriemhild.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisCharlie & Louise - Das doppelte Lottchen (1994)
The two twelve-year-old girls Charlotte Palfy and Louise Kröger meet on a language trip to Scotland and discover that they are twins who were separated shortly after birth. Charlotte, the daughter of a music hall composer, is cool, self-confident and cheeky, dresses accordingly and listens to techno music. Louise, who grew up with her mother, an advertising executive, wears more "old-fashioned" clothes, is shy and reserved, but conscientious and orderly. Determined to play fate, the two swap roles - at the end of the journey, Louise travels as Charlie to her father, who works as a composer in Berlin-Kreuzberg, while Charlie travels as Louise to her mother in Hamburg, where she works in an advertising agency. The girls realize that getting their parents back together is not as easy as they thought.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Blue-Stars Hotel (1985)
A famous producer agrees to contract with director Imran and author Fathi for a movie, on the condition that they finish writing it within two weeks, so the director and author decide to go to one of the deserted places to write the movie. On their way to Fayoum, they were caught by a hotel called "Locanda Blue Stars", and the director was impressed by the name, and decided that they should stay in it. To find mystery and excitement surrounding the guests, while they find themselves involved in a murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like A Mad Idea and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Mad Idea?
The closest matches to A Mad Idea are A Castle for Christmas (2021), Room Service (1938) and Four Rooms (1995). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Mad Idea?
Start with A Castle for Christmas (2021), the closest match to A Mad Idea.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Mad Idea?
Barton Fink (1991), rated 7.5/10 by 1,988 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Mad Idea?
Spa Weekend (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like A Mad Idea?
Yes: Sissi (1955), Siegfried (2005) and Charlie & Louise - Das doppelte Lottchen (1994).
How are movies similar to A Mad Idea chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Mad Idea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.