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Movies like Amateur (1994)

The best movies like Amateur (1994) are Henry Fool (1998), Dream with the Fishes (1997) and The Unbelievable Truth (1990). If Amateur hooked you with its crime and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks

  1. Henry Fool (1998)

    An egocentric bum transforms the lives of a shy New Jersey garbageman and his sister.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

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  2. Dream with the Fishes (1997)

    Terry is a suicidal voyeur who treats a dying addict to a final binge, but Terry will only do this if he promises to kill him.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

  3. The Unbelievable Truth (1990)

    After serving time for murder, Josh Hutton returns to his home town where he meets Audry Hugo. No one can remember exactly what Josh did...

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

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  4. Simple Men (1992)

    Two diametrically opposite brothers set off on a journey to reunite with their estranged father but when their motorcycle breaks down while passing through a small town, they become entangled in local life.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama

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  5. Ned Rifle (2015)

    Henry’s and Fay's son Ned sets out to find and kill his father for destroying his mother's life. But his aims are frustrated by the troublesome Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even his arrival in the lives of the Grim family.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama

  6. The Book of Life (1998)

    New Year's Eve takes on new meaning when the Devil, Jesus Christ, and Christ's assistant Magdalena discuss and debate the End of the World.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy

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  7. Fay Grim (2007)

    Many years after her notorious husband, Henry Fool, fled after killing a neighbor, Fay Grim receives a visit from CIA agent Fulbright, who tells her that Henry is dead, but that some of his journals have been unearthed in France. She sets forth on a globe-trotting odyssey that soon leads to the discovery that he is alive, and his journals are more than they appear to be.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy

  8. Palookaville (1996)

    Jerry and his two pals, Russ and Syd, are just looking for some easy money to help them break out of their nowhere lives in their nowhere town. Despite a bungled jewelry store heist which exposes their incompetence as criminals, a fateful event (and an old black-and-white film) convinces them that they can pull off an armored-truck robbery. While they are busy plotting their caper, their dysfunctional families spin out of control, all around them.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime

  9. Spanking the Monkey (1994)

    Bright young student Raymond Aibelli is forced to sidetrack an important medical internship because his mother, Susan, is recovering from a broken leg. When he isn't tasked with the most mundane aspects of Susan's recuperation, Raymond finds distraction in a neighborhood girl, Toni Peck. But, as Susan begins relying on her son for both physical and emotional needs, Raymond starts developing disturbing and unwanted new yearnings.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

  10. In the Soup (1992)

    An aspiring young filmmaker gets involved with an eccentric gangster for the financing of his first film.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

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  11. Smoke (1995)

    Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

    Worth the HypeMovies like this
  12. Life During Wartime (2010)

    Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

  13. How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog (2002)

    The story of Peter McGowan, a chain-smoking, impotent, insomniac playwright who lives in Los Angeles. Once very successful, he is now in the tenth year of a decade-long string of production failures. He finds himself bonding with a new neighbor's lonely young daughter who has mild cerebral palsy; and during one of his middle-of-the-night strolls, he encounters his oddball doppelgänger.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

  14. Trust (1990)

    After being thrown away from home, pregnant high school dropout Maria meets Matthew, a highly educated and extremely moody electronics repairman. The two begin an unusual romance built on their sense of mutual admiration and trust.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy

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  15. Sleep with Me (1994)

    Six different writers wrote a scene each of this romantic comedy featuring the marriage and turbulent relationship of Joseph and Sarah, with Joseph's best friend Frank trying hard to cope with letting the love of his life marry his best friend.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

  16. Still Breathing (1997)

    Two lost souls: she a con-artist in L.A.; he a puppeteer in San Antonio have the same dream linking each with the other. He travels to L.A. to find this woman he has become obsessed with. She resists, afraid of his kooky ideas until she travels with him to San Antonio and meets his wise grandmother. Story of two disparate people linked by "fate" gets increasingly interesting as it rolls along.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  17. Barfly (1987)

    Downtrodden writer Henry and distressed goddess Wanda aren't exactly husband and wife: they're wedded to their bar stools. But, they like each other's company—and Barfly captures their giddy, gin-soaked attempts to make a go of life on the skids.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

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  18. Nurse Betty (2000)

    What happens when a person decides that life is merely a state of mind? If you're Betty, a small-town waitress and soap opera fan from Fair Oaks, Kansas, you refuse to believe that you can't be with the love of your life just because he doesn't really exist. After all, life is no excuse for not living. Traumatized by a savage event, Betty enters into a fugue state that allows -- even encourages -- her to keep functioning... in a kind of alternate reality.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & crime

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  19. Storytelling (2001)

    College and high school serve as the backdrop for two stories about dysfunction and personal turmoil.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

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  20. The Chumscrubber (2005)

    The Chumscrubber is a dark comedy about the lives of people who live in upper-class suburbia. It all begins when Dean Stiffle finds the body of his friend, Troy. He doesn't bother telling any of the adults because he knows they won't care. Everyone in town is too self consumed to worry about anything else than themselves. And everybody is on some form of drug just to get through their days.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  21. Imaginary Heroes (2004)

    Matt Travis is good-looking, popular, and his school's best competitive swimmer, so everyone is shocked when he inexplicably commits suicide. As the following year unfolds, each member of his family struggles to recover from the tragedy with mixed results.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

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  22. Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse (2007)

    Originally a roughly eight-minute short comedy film. It was adapted into a feature film, This Is the End. It follows the two friends and actors who have shut themselves in their apartment and argue over their predicament during some unspecified end-of-the-world event.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy

  23. Trouble in Mind (1985)

    The lives of an ex-con, a coffee-shop owner, and a young couple looking to make it rich intersect in the hypnotic Rain City.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama

  24. Love Liza (2002)

    Following the unexplained suicide of his wife Liza, website designer Wilson Joel turns to huffing gasoline fumes and remote control gaming while avoiding an inevitable conflict with his mother-in-law.

    Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  25. Where the Money Is (2000)

    Henry Manning has come up with a new way to break out of prison: fake a stroke and get transferred to a nursing home. It's a perfect plan, except for one thing: the woman assigned to take care of him at the nursing home, Carol Ann McKay, has a plan of her own.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime

  26. Intermission (2003)

    A raucous story of the interweaving lives and loves of small-town delinquents, shady cops, pretty good girls and very bad boys. With Irish guts and grit, lives collide, preconceptions shatter and romance is tested to the extreme. An ill-timed and poorly executed couple's break-up sets off a chain of events affecting everyone in town.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  27. Small Apartments (2012)

    When a clumsy deadbeat accidentally kills his landlord, he must do everything in his power to hide the body, only to find that the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother, and a crew of misfit characters force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime

  28. Breaking News in Yuba County (2021)

    An overlooked pencil-pusher catches her husband in bed with another woman, the shock of which causes him to die of a heart attack. So she buries his body and takes advantage of the growing celebrity status that comes from having a missing husband. But she quickly finds herself in over her head, dodging cops and criminals, all while trying to keep the truth from her sister, a local news anchor who’s desperate for a story.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama

  29. Things Change (1988)

    Jerry, a misfit Mafia henchman, is assigned the low-level job of keeping an eye on Gino, a shoe repairman fingered by the Mob to confess to a murder he didn't commit. But Gino's mistaken for a Mafia boss, and the two are suddenly catapulted to the highest levels of mobster status. Only friendship will see them through this dangerous adventure alive!

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this
  30. One Last Thing... (2005)

    Sixteen-year-old Dylan is dying of cancer. When a charitable organization offers to grant Dylan his final wish, the teen has a surprising request: to meet supermodel Nikki Sinclair. Much to his mother's dismay, Dylan, with the help of his best friends, goes to New York to fulfill his dream.

    Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime

    Popcorn FlickMovies like this

Like Amateur and something else?

Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.

Frequently asked questions

What are the best movies like Amateur?

The closest matches to Amateur are Henry Fool (1998), Dream with the Fishes (1997) and The Unbelievable Truth (1990). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.

What should I watch after Amateur?

People who watched Amateur most often go on to Henry Fool (1998), Dream with the Fishes (1997) and The Unbelievable Truth (1990).

What is the highest-rated movie like Amateur?

Smoke (1995), rated 7.2/10 by 563 TMDB users.

What is the newest movie like Amateur?

Breaking News in Yuba County (2021) is the most recent release on this list.

Are there English movies like Amateur?

Yes: Henry Fool (1998), Dream with the Fishes (1997) and The Unbelievable Truth (1990).

How are movies similar to Amateur chosen?

First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Amateur, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.

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