Movies like The Witness (1979)
The best movies like The Witness (1979) are Desperate Living (1977), They Cloned Tyrone (2023) and Sleeper (1973). If The Witness hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)8.1/10 from 7,530 votes
- NewestRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)Released 2025
Desperate Living (1977)
After killing her husband, Peggy Gravel and her murderous maid Grizelda wind up in the crazy town of Mortville, where Queen Carlotta presides over a sleazy collection of misfits.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Cloned Tyrone (2023)
A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy lurking directly beneath their neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleeper (1973)
Miles Monroe, a clarinet-playing health food store proprietor, is revived out of cryostasis 200 years into a future world in order to help rebels fight an oppressive government regime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bed Sitting Room (1969)
In the hazy aftermath of World War III, the fallout from a 'nuclear misunderstanding' is producing strange mutations amongst the survivors, and the noble Lord Fortnum finds himself transforming into a bed sitting room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisDuplex (2003)
When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRicky Gervais: Armageddon (2023)
Ricky Gervais dishes out controversial takes on political correctness and oversensitivity in a taboo-busting comedy special about the end of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBill Burr: Why Do I Do This? (2008)
One of America's fastest-rising comedians, Bill Burr wields his razor-sharp wit with rare skill. In this brand-new stand-up performance, Bill takes aim at the stuff that drives us crazy, political correctness gone haywire, and girlfriends, or as he calls them: relentless psycho robots. A keenly observant social commentator, Bill Burr is also one of the funniest voices in comedy today.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBill Burr: Paper Tiger (2019)
Comedian Bill Burr talks male feminists, outrage culture, robot sex, and cultural appropriation in this standup comedy special shot in London.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmazon Women on the Moon (1987)
Centered on a television station which features a 1950s-style sci-fi movie interspersed with a series of wild commercials, wacky shorts and weird specials, this lampoon of contemporary life and pop culture skewers some of the silliest spectacles ever created in the name of entertainment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBritannia Hospital (1982)
Britannia Hospital, an esteemed English institution, is marking its gala anniversary with a visit by the Queen Mother herself. But when investigative reporter Mick Travis arrives to cover the celebration, he finds the hospital under siege by striking workers, ruthless unions, violent demonstrators, racist aristocrats, an African cannibal dictator, and sinister human experiments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeau Is Afraid (2023)
Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic odyssey back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisFun with Dick and Jane (1977)
When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
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 thisThe Mouse That Roared (1959)
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBugonia (2025)
Two conspiracy obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBarbie (2023)
Barbie and Ken are having the time of their lives in the colorful and seemingly perfect world of Barbie Land. However, when they get a chance to go to the real world, they soon discover the joys and perils of living among humans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnthony Jeselnik: Thoughts and Prayers (2015)
There's no subject too dark as the comedian skewers taboos and riffs on national tragedies before pulling back the curtain on his provocative style.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Distinguished Gentleman (1992)
A Florida con man uses the recent death of the long time Congressman from his district, who he just happens to share a last name with, to get elected to his version of paradise, the U.S. Congress, where the money flows from lobbyists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnatch (2000)
Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookies, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewellers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Big Lebowski (1998)
Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCharlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaul Mooney: A Piece of My Mind - God Bless America (2014)
The venomous, no holds barred style of standup comedy legend Paul Mooney is on full display in this concert special. The vitriolic funnyman spares no politician or pop icon from his scathing wit, throwing jabs at Sarah Palin, Mel Gibson, Tiger Woods and many others. Defiant, socially relevant and always hilarious, it’s a legendary Mooney performance, taped live at the Cobb Energy Centre in Atlanta, Georgia.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
In China They Eat Dogs (1999)
Arvid is an ordinary bank clerk who lives a rather unassuming life with his dear girlfriend. But his life is turned completely upside down when he bravely manages to avert a robbery against the bank where he works.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTo Be or Not to Be (1942)
During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrazil (1985)
Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMars Attacks! (1996)
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they claim, "come in peace." U.S. President James Dale receives assurance from science professor Donald Kessler that the Martians' mission is a friendly one. But when a peaceful exchange ends in the total annihilation of the U.S. Congress, military men call for a full-scale nuclear retaliation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGroundhog Day (1993)
A cynical TV weatherman, along with his idealistic producer and his sardonic cameraman, is sent to report on Groundhog Day in the small town of Punxsutawney, where he finds himself repeating the same day over and over.
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 The Witness?
The closest matches to The Witness are Desperate Living (1977), They Cloned Tyrone (2023) and Sleeper (1973). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Witness?
Start with Desperate Living (1977), the closest match to The Witness.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Witness?
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), rated 8.1/10 by 7,530 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Witness?
Ricky Gervais: Mortality (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Witness chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Witness, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.