Movies like The Captain (1972)
The best movies like The Captain (1972) are Much Ado About Nothing (2013), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Thunderstruck (2012). If The Captain hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedJohn Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018)7.9/10 from 259 votes
- NewestLouis C.K.: Ridiculous (2026)Released 2026
Much Ado About Nothing (2013)
A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)
Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLouis C.K.: Ridiculous (2026)
From a bee getting shot in New York City to paying strangers to take his aging father, Louis C.K. unleashes the ridiculous thoughts in his mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)
86-year-old Irving Zisman is on a journey across America with the most unlikely companion: his 8 year-old grandson, Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeau Hunks (1931)
Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion after Ollie's sweetheart rejects him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018)
John Mulaney relays stories from his childhood and "SNL," eviscerates the value of college and laments getting older in this electric comedy special.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRookie of the Year (1993)
When the cast comes off his once broken arm, a 12-year-old boy can throw a 100-mile-an-hour fastball, and the Chicago Cubs want him as their new pitcher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEddie Murphy Raw (1987)
Eddie Murphy delights, shocks and entertains with dead-on celebrity impersonations, observations on '80s love, sex and marriage, a remembrance of Mom's hamburgers and much more.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill (2020)
Jerry Seinfeld takes the stage in New York and tackles talking vs. texting, bad buffets vs. so-called "great" restaurants and the magic of Pop Tarts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trouble with Angels (1966)
Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaking Care of Business (1990)
An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSarah Silverman: A Speck of Dust (2017)
In her first comedy special post-health scare, Sarah Silverman shares a mix of fun facts, sad truths and yeah-she-just-went-there moments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJerry Seinfeld: I'm Telling You for the Last Time (1998)
Taped for HBO in August 1998, on the final date of Jerry Seinfeld's tour appearances at New York City's Broadhurst Theater, I'm Telling You for the Last Time presents the standup comedian's so-called "final" standup, or at least his final tour with the standup material that made him famous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGabriel Iglesias: I'm Sorry for What I Said When I Was Hungry (2016)
Hawaiian-shirt enthusiast Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias finds the laughs in racist gift baskets, Prius-driving cops and all-female taco trucks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRicky Gervais: Humanity (2018)
In his first special in seven years, Ricky Gervais slings his trademark snark at celebrity, mortality and a society that takes everything personally.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Big League (1994)
When the owner of the Minnesota Twins passes away, he bequeaths the team to his preteen grandson. The newly minted head honcho quickly appoints himself manager, causing unrest in an organization that struggles to take orders from a 12-year-old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBill Burr: Drop Dead Years (2025)
In what might be his most personal and introspective hour yet, Bill offers hilarious takes on everything from male sadness to dating advice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Vitelloni (1953)
Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this30 Days in Prison (1959)
Amshir works as a bodyguard in the cabaret owned by his Medhat al-Shamshiri, and a court sentences Medhat to a month in prison after he burned the mustache of a wealthy Upper Egyptian named al-Najawi. Amshir goes to prison instead of Medhat for money. in meanwhile Medhat relation with Azhar (al-Najawi girl) is revealed to Sohair (Medhat Fiance).
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007)
Broke and alone on New Year's Eve, Wilson just wants to spend the rest of a very bad year in bed. But, when his best friend convinces him to post a personal ad, he meets a woman bent on finding the right guy to be with at midnight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJosh's Suicide (1911)
Josh doesn't like the way things go at home and decides to quit and get out. Later, his wife gets what purports to be his farewell letter, which is intended to lead her to believe he has committed suicide. He, however, goes to New York to have a good time, and he does, "by gosh." The wife, believing herself a widow, makes a trip to New York with her admirer. Well, you may guess the rest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Road to Singapore (1940)
Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore – until they meet a beautiful dancer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas in Connecticut (1945)
While recovering in a hospital, war hero Jefferson Jones grows familiar with the "Diary of a Housewife" column written by Elizabeth Lane. Jeff's nurse arranges with Elizabeth's publisher, Alexander Yardley, for Jeff to spend the holiday at Elizabeth's bucolic Connecticut farm with her husband and child. But the column is a sham, so Elizabeth and her editor, Dudley Beecham, in fear of losing their jobs, hasten to set up the single, childless and entirely nondomestic Elizabeth on a country farm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Man Godfrey (1936)
Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is more forgotten than Godfrey Park, who resides in a dump by the East River. Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia, who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFremont (2023)
Donya, a lonely Afghan refugee and former translator, spends her twenties drifting through a meager existence in Fremont, California. Shuttling between her job writing fortunes for a fortune cookie factory and sessions with her eccentric therapist, Donya suffers from insomnia and survivor's guilt over those still left behind in Kabul as she desperately searches for love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTen Pickaninnies (1908)
Imagine ten pickaninnies turned loose and on mischief bent. Farmer catches one leaving but Nine. Nine Happy Snowballs on a Swing elate. One gets knocked out then there are Eight. Eight Black Cherubs, swimming at "Eleven," Mammy catches "Rastus," that leaves Seven. Seven Jolly Coons on a Tramp play tricks. Tramp wakes up and nabs one vamoose the Six. Six Bad "Chillun" fooling 'round a Hive, Bees get busy now there's only Five. Five Inky Kids crawl thro' a hencoop door, Farmer scares one away that leaves Four. Four Smoky Kids hunting up a Tree. Gun explodes, whiz! "Skiddo" the Three. Three Black Lambs nothing else to do. Investigate a deep Well now there's Two. Two Cute Ebonites with Auntie having fun. "Mandy" gets a ducking all gone but One. One Chubby Coonlet with a toy Pop-gun. Monkeyed 'round a 'gaitor now there's None.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like The Captain and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Captain?
The closest matches to The Captain are Much Ado About Nothing (2013), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950) and Thunderstruck (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Captain?
Start with Much Ado About Nothing (2013), the closest match to The Captain.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Captain?
John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018), rated 7.9/10 by 259 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Captain?
Louis C.K.: Ridiculous (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Captain chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Captain, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.