Movies like The Beach Bum (2019)
The best movies like The Beach Bum (2019) are Half Baked (1998), Very Bad Things (1998) and Up in Smoke (1978). If The Beach Bum hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedVacation Friends (2021)7.0/10 from 944 votes
- Newest72 HOURS (2026)Released 2026
Half Baked (1998)
Three lovable party buds try to bail their friend out of jail. But just when the guys have mastered a plan, everything comes dangerously close to going up in smoke.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVery Bad Things (1998)
Kyle Fisher has one last night to celebrate life as a single man before marrying Laura, so he sets out to Vegas with four of his best buddies. But a drug and alcohol filled night on the town with a stripper who goes all the way, turns into a cold night in the desert with shovels when the stripper goes all the way into a body bag after dying in their bathroom. And that's just the first of the bodies to pile up before Kyle can walk down the aisle...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUp in Smoke (1978)
An unemployed pot-smoking slacker and amateur drummer, Anthony Stoner ditches his strict parents and hits the road, eventually meeting kindred spirit Pedro de Pacas. While the drug-ingesting duo is soon arrested for possession of marijuana, Anthony and Pedro get released on a technicality, allowing them to continue their many misadventures and ultimately compete in a rock band contest, where they perform the raucous tune "Earache My Eye."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow High (2001)
Jamal and Silas, two ordinary guys who smoke something magical, pass their college entrance exams with flying colors and end up at Harvard. Ivy League ways are strange but Silas and Jamal take it in a stride -- until their supply of supernatural smoke runs dry. That's when they have to start living by their wits and rely on their natural resources to make the grade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)
The story of best friends Barb and Star, who leave their small midwestern town for the first time to go on vacation in Vista Del Mar, Florida, where they soon find themselves tangled up in adventure, love, and a villain’s evil plot to kill everyone in town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNever Goin' Back (2018)
Angela and Jessie are best friends intent on taking a wild beach trip, but when their roommate loses all of their money in a drug scam, the girls -- blissfully stoned -- go to increasingly daring and absurd lengths to get it back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJohn Mulaney: Baby J (2023)
A chaotic intervention. An action-packed stay in rehab. After a weird couple of years, John Mulaney comes out swinging in his return to the stage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVacation Friends 2 (2023)
Newly married Marcus and Emily invite Ron and Kyla, who are also newly married with a baby, to join them at a Caribbean resort, where Marcus is meeting with the owners about a construction contract for a Chicago hotel. But when the party begins the couples' relaxing vacation quickly becomes a wild adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmiley Face (2007)
Jane, a struggling but perpetually stoned actress, has a busy day ahead. She has several important tasks on her list, including buying more marijuana. Even though she already has a good start on the day's planned drug use, she eats her roommate's pot-laced cupcakes and embarks on a series of misadventures all over Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCheech & Chong's Next Movie (1980)
Perennially stoned Cheech and Chong tear through the city of Los Angeles, causing trouble wherever they go. After Cheech loses his job, the two pot enthusiasts head to the welfare offices where Cheech's girlfriend, Donna, works. Instead of collecting unemployment, they find themselves thrown back on the streets, searching for a way to earn new income. But when Cheech's cousin, "Red" Mendoza, arrives, things get even crazier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Boys (1995)
Marcus Burnett is a henpecked family man. Mike Lowrey is a footloose and fancy free ladies' man. Both Miami policemen, they have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHead Above Water (1996)
Judge George brings his young wife, Nathalie, to a remote island for a vacation. But while George accompanies their only neighbor -- Nathalie's childhood friend Lance -- on a fishing trip, Nathalie spends time with her ex, Kent. When Kent ends up dead the next morning, Nathalie tries to hide the evidence before her husband gets home. After the body is found, the events of the previous night unravel, with unexpected revelations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMike and Dave Need Wedding Dates (2016)
Mike and Dave are young, adventurous, fun-loving brothers who tend to get out of control at family gatherings. When their sister Jeanie reveals her Hawaiian wedding plans, the rest of the Stangles insist that the brothers bring respectable dates. After placing an ad on Craigslist, the siblings decide to pick Tatiana and Alice, two charming and seemingly normal women. Once they arrive on the island, however, Mike and Dave realize that their companions are ready to get wild and party.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPineapple Express (2008)
A stoner and his dealer are forced to go on the run from the police after the pothead witnesses a cop commit a murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this72 HOURS (2026)
To save his career, a 40-year-old ad exec joins a crew of twentysomethings for a wild Miami bachelor party after they mistakenly add him to a group chat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSplitsville (2025)
After Ashley asks for a divorce, good-natured Carey runs to his friends, Julie and Paul, for support. He’s shocked to discover that the secret to their happiness is an open marriage, that is until Carey crosses the line and throws all of their relationships into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Murder Your Wife (1965)
Stanley Ford is a successful cartoonist and happily single. That is, until he gets drunk at a friend's bachelor party and impulsively proposes to the beautiful woman who pops out of the cake. Once sober, he regrets the decision, but she won't agree to a divorce. Stanley jokingly vents his frustrations in his comic strip by having the main character kill his wife. But when his actual wife goes missing and Stanley is arrested for her murder, he has a change of heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVacation Friends (2021)
When a straight-laced couple that has fun with a rowdy couple on vacation in Mexico return to the States, they discover that the crazy couple they met in Mexico followed them back home and decide to play tricks on them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPizza Movie (2026)
A group of college students go downstairs to their dorm lobby to get a delivery pizza. There's only one issue: They're insanely high on a homemade drug, turning their simple journey down two sets of stairs into a mind-bendingly transformative quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wedding Year (2019)
A commitment-phobic 27-year old’s relationship is put to the test when she and her boyfriend attend 7 weddings in the same year.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Old Man and the Parrot (2026)
With a taxidermy parrot and pistol in hand, Praxi, breaks into the home of a mute spiritual guru who trapped his lover’s soul inside the parrot years ago. Praxi must convince the guru’s estranged daughter to guide her father in freeing his lover’s soul in this darkly comedic tale of love and the afterlife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Cinderella (1947)
In the fairy kingdom live stepmother, her evil daughters — Anna and Maryana, a limp husband-forester and his daughter from his first marriage — Cinderella. The stepmother exploits the poor girl as a housekeeper. With the help of her godmother-fairy, Cinderella gets to the royal ball, where a beautiful and very kind prince falls in love with her. At midnight, the magic ends, and poor Cinderella has to return to her former life. But on the crystal shoe that Cinderella lost while fleeing the palace to the battle of the palace chimes, the prince searches for the bride.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRide the Wild Surf (1964)
A group of friends go to Hawaii during the height of surfing season, to compete with other surf bums and find girlfriends along the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Top End Wedding (2019)
Lauren and Ned are engaged, they are in love, and they have just ten days to find Lauren’s mother who has gone AWOL somewhere in the remote far north of Australia, reunite her parents and pull off their dream wedding.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ten Commandments of Banquet Serving (2023)
Jim, a banquet server at a banquet hall in new Hampshire, tries to follow the "Ten Commandments of Banquet Serving" to make it through a hectic wedding full of violent florists, mindless old geezers, and a homicidal Mother of the Bride.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Where the Boys Are (1960)
Good girls Merritt, Melanie, Tuggle and Angie - all students at mid-western Penmore University - are planning on going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break to get away from the mid-western snow despite not having much money to spend once there. On the drive down, they admit their real purpose is to go where the boys are.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The House of Terrible Scandals (1917)
Henry Lehrman and Billie Ritchie, as the result of a gay night, are visited by a joint nightmare which shows them the horrors of their present life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Christmas in Miami (2005)
In Christmastime Miami, heartbroken divorcée Giorgio invites himself to stay at his best friend Mario's — unaware that the latter is having an affair with his ex-wife — and ends up pursued by Mario's barely-of-age daughter; nosy and out-of-touch Ranuccio crashes his son's sex-themed holidays before ending up in a series of mishaps with Giorgio.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisLovers and Other Strangers (1970)
Mike Vecchio and Susan Henderson are preparing for their upcoming wedding. However, they seem to be the only two people at the wedding that are happy. Mike's brother Richie and his wife Joan are going through a divorce, which is upsetting his overly devout Catholic mother Beatrice. Also, Susan's father is carrying on an affair and her sex starved older sister Wilma is going through her troubles with her husband Johnny. All this is going on while Mike's best friend Jerry is trying to bed the maid of honor, Susan's cousin Brenda.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Owl and the Pussycat (1970)
Meek, owlish Felix and strident, catty Doris live in the same apartment building. His incessant typing bothers her; her gentlemen callers bother him. Felix informs the landlord of her activities, so Doris moves in on Felix. When they both get thrown out, they move in with Barney... until they drive him out! That's when Felix and Doris finally decide to put theory into practice. But do opposites attract?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Beach Bum and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Beach Bum?
The closest matches to The Beach Bum are Half Baked (1998), Very Bad Things (1998) and Up in Smoke (1978). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Beach Bum?
Start with Half Baked (1998), the closest match to The Beach Bum.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Beach Bum?
Vacation Friends (2021), rated 7.0/10 by 944 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Beach Bum?
72 HOURS (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Beach Bum?
Yes: Half Baked (1998), Very Bad Things (1998) and Up in Smoke (1978).
How are movies similar to The Beach Bum chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Beach Bum, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.