Movies like Modern Times (1936)
The best movies like Modern Times (1936) are Still Breathing (1997), City Lights (1931) and The Other Sister (1999). If Modern Times 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 Great Dictator (1940)8.3/10 from 3,872 votes
- NewestThe Baltimorons (2025)Released 2025
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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity Lights (1931)
A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Other Sister (1999)
A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to college.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baltimorons (2025)
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Circus (1928)
Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOther People's Money (1991)
When a corporate raider threatens a hostile takeover of a 'mom and pop' company, the patriarch of the company enlists the help of his wife's attractive daughter—who is a lawyer—to stop the takeover. However, the raider soon becomes infatuated with her, and enjoys the legal manoeuvring as he tries to win her heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmart People (2008)
Professor Lawrence Wetherhold might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFools Rush In (1997)
After a one night stand with Alex, Isabel realizes that she is pregnant and they decide to get married. However, along with the marriage comes compromise of one's own cultural traditions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kid (1921)
A tramp cares for a boy after he's abandoned as a newborn by his mother. Later the mother has a change of heart and aches to be reunited with her son.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCorner Office (2023)
In this office satire, Orson, a straight-laced employee, retreats to a blissfully empty corner office to get away from his lackluster colleagues. But why does this seem to upset them so much?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl on a Bicycle (2013)
Paolo, an Italian tour bus driver living in Paris, has just summoned up the courage to propose marriage to his German girlfriend Greta. However, a chance encounter with a French woman on a bicycle the very next day turns Paolo's life upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Cable Guy (1996)
When recently single Steven moves into his new apartment, cable guy Chip comes to hook him up—and doesn't let go. Initially, Chip is just overzealous in his desire to be Steven's pal, but when Steven tries to end the 'friendship', Chip shows his dark side. He begins stalking Steven, who's left to fend for himself because no one else can believe Chip's capable of such behaviour.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBringing Up Baby (1938)
David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWatching the Detectives (2007)
Neil, a self-proclaimed film geek and owner of Gumshoe video, has always been content to live vicariously through his favorite films noir. But when he meets Violet, a real-life femme fatale, his mundane world gets turned upside down and the line between reality and the movies quickly begins to blur.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagnificent Obsession (1954)
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator while a local hero, Dr. Phillips, dies waiting for the life-saving device. Merrick then tries to right his wrongs with the doctor’s widow, Helen, falling in love with her in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWicked Little Letters (2024)
When the denizens of Littlehampton – including conservative Edith – begin receiving letters full of hilarious profanities, rowdy Irish migrant Rose is charged with the crime. Suspecting something amiss, the town's women band together to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this50 First Dates (2004)
Henry is a player skilled at seducing women. But when this veterinarian meets Lucy, a girl with a quirky problem when it comes to total recall, he realizes it's possible to fall in love all over again…and again, and again. That's because the delightful Lucy has no short-term memory, so Henry must woo her day after day until he finally sweeps her off her feet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)
Luther Heggs, a typesetter for the town newspaper, pitches an idea for a story about a local haunted house where a famous murder/suicide occurred 20 years earlier. After the editor assigns Luther to spend one night alone in the mansion, Heggs has a number of supernatural encounters and writes a front page story that makes him a hometown hero...until the nephew of the deceased sues him for libel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady and the Tramp (2019)
The love story between a pampered Cocker Spaniel named Lady and a streetwise mongrel named Tramp. Lady finds herself out on the street after her owners have a baby and is saved from a pack by Tramp, who tries to show her to live her life footloose and collar-free.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPandora's Box (1929)
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe General (1926)
During America’s Civil War, Union spies steal engineer Johnnie Gray's beloved locomotive, 'The General'—with Johnnie's lady love aboard an attached boxcar—and he single-handedly must do all in his power to both get The General back and to rescue Annabelle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Gold Rush (1925)
A gold prospector in Alaska struggles to survive the elements and win the heart of a dance hall girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931)
On the South Pacific island of Bora Bora, a young couple's love is threatened when the tribal chief declares the girl a sacred virgin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChimes at Midnight (1965)
Henry IV usurps the English throne, sets in motion the factious War of the Roses and now faces a rebellion led by Northumberland scion Hotspur. Henry's heir, Prince Hal, is a ne'er-do-well carouser who drinks and causes mischief with his low-class friends, especially his rotund father figure, John Falstaff. To redeem his title, Hal may have to choose between allegiance to his real father and loyalty to his friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Great Dictator (1940)
Dictator Adenoid Hynkel tries to expand his empire while a poor Jewish barber tries to avoid persecution from Hynkel's regime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDead Man (1995)
On the run after committing murder, an accountant encounters a strange Native American man who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDo the Right Thing (1989)
Sal is the Italian owner of a pizzeria in Brooklyn. A neighborhood local, Buggin' Out, becomes upset when he sees that the pizzeria's Wall of Fame exhibits only Italian actors. Buggin' Out believes a pizzeria in a black neighborhood should showcase black actors, but Sal disagrees. The wall becomes a symbol of racism and hate to Buggin' Out and to other people in the neighborhood, and tensions rise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGremlins (1984)
After receiving an exotic small animal as a Christmas gift, a young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet, which unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous creatures on a small town.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Modern Times?
The closest matches to Modern Times are Still Breathing (1997), City Lights (1931) and The Other Sister (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Modern Times?
Start with Still Breathing (1997), the closest match to Modern Times.
What is the highest-rated movie like Modern Times?
The Great Dictator (1940), rated 8.3/10 by 3,872 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Modern Times?
The Baltimorons (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Modern Times?
Yes: Still Breathing (1997), City Lights (1931) and The Other Sister (1999).
How are movies similar to Modern Times chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Modern Times, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.