Movies like The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980)
The best movies like The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980) are Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Naughty or Nice (2012) and My Dinner with Hervé (2018). If The Hustler of Muscle Beach 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 ratedRaise the Red Lantern (1991)8.0/10 from 888 votes
- NewestRicky Gervais: Mortality (2025)Released 2025
Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
F. Ross Johnson decides to buyout his own tobacco firm RJR Nabisco after the plans of the launch of his new product, a smokeless cigarette Premier, fail on account of market rumours.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNaughty or Nice (2012)
Krissy Kringle receives a delivery intended for Santa Claus. A magical book that shows if a person has been naughty or nice. She uses the book's power to find out about those around her, which leads to some very unusual and unintended results. Krissy realizes that everyone has some good and some not so good in them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young kids of Harlem. 1996 was the 25th anniversary of the first tournament named after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCheaters (2000)
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs (2023)
In a rowdy stand-up set, Shane Gillis riffs on his girlfriend's Navy SEAL ex, touring George Washington's house and being bullied by an Australian Goth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSubUrbia (1997)
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Dog Year (2009)
Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answers his phone. A kennel sends him a border collie that's undisciplined because of abuse. Despite a series of mishaps, Jon decides to keep trying with the dog, and he rents a dilapidated farm house to give the dog room to run. A local handyman refers Jon to a woman who might be able to help him train the dog. Reluctantly, Jon gives her a try. Is the dog the problem, or the owner?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIron Jawed Angels (2004)
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCocaine Godmother (2017)
At the age of 17, Griselda Blanco, made her way to the U.S. with a fake passport with her first husband Carlos. Living in Queens with her three sons, Griselda became enticed by the money the drug world offered, and quickly became embroiled with local drug runners. Griselda masterminded the use of beautiful women, the elderly and children as the mules and created false-bottom suitcases to smuggle cocaine from Colombia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House of Tomorrow (2019)
The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trailer Park Boys Xmas Special (2004)
In this holiday prequel, it’s 1997 and Sunnyvale Trailer Park is getting ready for the holiday season. Julian’s got a great idea to make money this Christmas, Ricky gets confused between God and Santa, and Bubbles tries to get the Boys together for an annual Christmas bonfire. Meanwhile, Mr. Lahey is thrilled because Christmas is the only day of the year that his wife Barb allows him to have a few drinks. Directed by series creator Mike Clattenburg, this hour-long special takes place before Jamie was J-Roc, before Randy and Lahey were a couple, and before the Shitmobile was missing a door.
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 thisKilling Bono (2011)
The true story of Neil and Ivan McCormick, two Irish brothers who attempt to become rock stars but can only look on as their high school friends U2 become the biggest band in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNormal (2003)
A Midwestern husband and father announces his plan to have a sex change operation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLying to Be Perfect (2010)
Nola Devlin is an unassuming, frumpy magazine editor who is overlooked and teased by her coworkers. Though, when she is behind the glow and anonymity of her computer screen, she becomes the famous advice columnist Belinda Apple. Nola’s friends, tired of being overworked and overweight, band together to create the Cinderella Pact, vowing to lose pounds by following the advice of Belinda Apple. When her secret identity is threatened, Nola is forced to take her own alter ego’s advice. But, as the group of friends drops dress sizes, their real issues are exposed, and better-than-expected life changes begin to blossom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmergency (2022)
Ready for a night of legendary partying, three college students must weigh the pros and cons of calling the police when faced with an unexpected situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrozen Hot Boys (2025)
Driven by her personal agenda, a teacher at a juvenile detention center convinces a crew of teenage misfits to enter an snow sculpting contest in Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Pure Air of the Mountain: For All and None (2023)
In the heart of the mountain, an elusive and invisible observer witnesses an infamous spectacle. His voice comments on the sequence of events in the words of Nietzsche. In this splendid mountain landscape, a couple appears. Spenta, the man, and Angra, the woman, climb a steep peak. They wear similar clothes, their resemblance is amazing, their relationship is strange. To outsmart boredom Angra drags Spenta, initially unenthusiastic, into a game that he eventually gives in. From the top, the couple watches a marathon event that takes place in the valley. Angra, who is looking for an object of entertainment, has her sights set on a woman running through the crowd. Possessed, she courted the unknown and obtained her favors. She then manages to drag Spenta into her game. In this game, there will be no winner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Summer Storm (2004)
Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteorological.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Road to Wellville (1994)
An unhappy young couple visit the infamous Kellogg spa in Battle Creek, Michigan while a young hustler tries get into the breakfast-cereal business and compete against John Kellogg's corn flakes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSoviet Submarine (2021)
On March 26th, 2020, seven boys locked themselves in a house for 48 hours, with only potatoes, bread, and red light for survival. Watch the chaos unfold and tension rise between the comrades as they struggle to find a cure before it's too late.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Garfield (2004)
Garfield, the fat, lazy, lasagna lover, has everything a cat could want. But when Jon, in an effort to impress the Liz - the vet and an old high-school crush - adopts a dog named Odie and brings him home, Garfield gets the one thing he doesn't want. Competition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHaikyu!! The Movie: Talent and Sense (2017)
A compilation film depicting the match against Aoba Johsai High School in the second season of the anime series. It will also include new scenes portraying what happened after the match.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Haikyu!! The Movie: Battle of Concepts (2017)
A recap film depicting the match against Shiratorizawa Academy in the third season of the anime series.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Cheese-loving eccentric Wallace and his cunning canine pal Gromit run a business ridding the town of garden pests. Using only humane methods, which turns their home into a halfway house for evicted vermin, the pair stumble upon a mystery involving a voracious vegetarian monster that threatens to ruin the annual veggie-growing contest.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRaise the Red Lantern (1991)
In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete with his three wives for the privileges gained.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Hustler of Muscle Beach?
The closest matches to The Hustler of Muscle Beach are Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Naughty or Nice (2012) and My Dinner with Hervé (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Hustler of Muscle Beach?
Start with Barbarians at the Gate (1993), the closest match to The Hustler of Muscle Beach.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Hustler of Muscle Beach?
Raise the Red Lantern (1991), rated 8.0/10 by 888 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Hustler of Muscle Beach?
Ricky Gervais: Mortality (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Hustler of Muscle Beach?
Yes: Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Naughty or Nice (2012) and My Dinner with Hervé (2018).
How are movies similar to The Hustler of Muscle Beach chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Hustler of Muscle Beach, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.