Movies like Harlem Shake (2003)
The best movies like Harlem Shake (2003) are You Got Served (2004), Take the Lead (2006) and Too Late Blues (1961). If Harlem Shake hooked you with its music and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)7.3/10 from 326 votes
- NewestVestigial (2025)Released 2025
You Got Served (2004)
At Mr. Rad's Warehouse, the best hip-hop crews in Los Angeles compete for money and respect. But when a suburban crew crashes the party, stealing their dancers — and their moves — two warring friends have to pull together to represent the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTake the Lead (2006)
A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisToo Late Blues (1961)
Ghost is an ideological musician and leader of a jazz band who would rather play his blues in the park to the birds than compromise himself. His peripatetic performances lead him to cross paths with a singer, while his masculinity is thrown into question following a violent brawl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrace Unplugged (2013)
A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Vibrations (2012)
The story of music legend Terri Hooley, a key figure in Belfast's punk rock scene. Hooley founded the Good Vibrations store from which a record label sprung, representing bands such as The Undertones, Rudi and The Outcasts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jazz Singer (1927)
A young Jewish man is torn between tradition and individuality when his old-fashioned family objects to his career as a jazz singer. This is the first full length feature film to use synchronized sound, and is the original film musical.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeat Street (1984)
An aspiring DJ, from the South Bronx, and his best friend, a promoter, try to get into show business by exposing people to hip-hop music and culture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoneydripper (2007)
In 1950s Alabama, the owner of the Honeydripper juke joint finds his business dropping off and against his better judgment, hires a young electric guitarist in a last ditch effort to draw crowds during harvest time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
SnoozefestMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWWE Crown Jewel 2021 (2021)
The 2021 Crown Jewel was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the third Crown Jewel and took place on October 21, 2021, at Mohammed Abdu Arena on The Boulevard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as part of Riyadh Season. The event aired via pay-per-view and livestreaming, marking the first Crown Jewel to air on Peacock in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLet It Shine (2012)
A teenage rapper must use his musical talent to help a friend and win the girl of his dreams while overcoming self-doubt and the expectations of his strict religious parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMake Mine Music (1946)
In the tradition of Fantasia, Make Mine Music is a glorious collection of musically charged animated shorts featuring such fun-filled favorites as "Peter and the Wolf", narrated by the beloved voice behind Winnie the Pooh. In addition you'll enjoy such classic cartoon hits as "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met" and "Johnnie Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music
SnoozefestMovies like thisHouse of Bamboo (1955)
Eddie Kenner is given a special assignment by the Army to get the inside story on Sandy Dawson, a former GI who has formed a gang of fellow servicemen and Japanese locals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHungry Hearts (2015)
The relationship of a couple who meet by chance in New York City is put to the test when they encounter a life or death circumstance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Assault (2014)
After a cheerleader is sexually assaulted by the high school football team, she must overcome her shame and use the evidence gathered from the subsequent social media firestorm to piece together the night that she can't remember in her fight for justice. Based on the true story of the Steubenville, Ohio rape case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Red Fern Grows (1974)
Billy Coleman works hard and saves his earnings for two years to achieve his dream of buying two red-bone coonhound pups. He develops a new trust in life as he faces overwhelming challenges in adventure and tragedy roaming the river bottoms of Cherokee country with his dogs, Old Dan and Little Ann.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDance Dance (2017)
A woman and her husband Jackson welcome their baby boy the same day the King of Pop Michael Jackson died. A dance enthusiast, she names her son Michael, making his full name Michael Jackson. Michael goes on to become a great dancer, winning a reality show title. Owing to this, he becomes very famous in his college as well. However, one day, he mysteriously goes missing from college, leading to a string of unexpected events.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Ninth Life (2024)
A predominantly non-verbal drama series exploring the interconnections of a group of young BIPOC creatives in London.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
As played out by a theatre troupe, the last days of Jesus Christ are depicted from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. As Jesus' following increases, Judas begins to worry that Jesus is falling for his own hype, forgetting the principles of his teachings and growing too close to the prostitute Mary Magdalene.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSoviet Fantasia (2024)
A surreal exploration of queer identity in the face of immigration; following teenager Hajnal as they grapple with the demands of leaving behind their post-Soviet country in favour of a new life in England.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Oops! (2003)
Jagan, Akash and Nisha belong to a dance club. Their ambition is to become big in the dancing profession. Jagan and Nisha are lovers. Jagan is a middle-class man who dreams of becoming a millionaire over night. In the process he meets an actress named Sonia who offers him a ridiculously large amount of money for a 3 hours strip tease show to be done among a group of ten high society women who are bored with their husbands. Jagan asks his best buddy Akash to accompany him in the job. That show becomes a big hit and Jagan gets another call from Sonia for another strip show. Akash, however, is not comfortable with that profession. Jagan does the solo strip tease. There he meets a sexy older women named Savitha who has a secret identity that will end up compromising Jagan's world. - Written by gavin
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vestigial (2025)
Vestigial challenges the culturally constructed hierarchical notions humans have about non-human life, blurring epistemological boundaries. The dancing body moves between the human, the animal, and the machine, mapping traces of past existences, experiencing the scene as an imaginative space for new realities. Dance and audiovisual elements are articulated as layers of the same sensitive perception, jointly investigating movement, accompanied by the musical compositions of the sound wizard, Hermeto Pascoal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pop, Lock 'n Roll (2017)
Loaded with a love story and set in the club scene in Cape Town, it’s a feel good rags to riches film about Raps, a gifted young dancer from the Cape Flats who thinks all he needs is fame and money. However, it all gets complicated when he falls in love with the gorgeous young wife of the gangster-cum-producer who’s making his career happen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music
How Can You Stay In The House All Day And Not Go Anywhere? (2010)
A multimedia performance including film, live narration and dance, How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere? explores loss and transcendence experienced in human partnerships. Reflecting on his relationship with 102-year-old former sharecropper, carpenter and gardener Walter Carter as well as Andrei Tarkovsky’s science fiction classic, Solaris, Lemon and 6 dancers create a performance which arcs from turbulent physicality to restorative grace.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Harlem Shake and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Harlem Shake?
The closest matches to Harlem Shake are You Got Served (2004), Take the Lead (2006) and Too Late Blues (1961). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Harlem Shake?
Start with You Got Served (2004), the closest match to Harlem Shake.
What is the highest-rated movie like Harlem Shake?
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), rated 7.3/10 by 326 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Harlem Shake?
Vestigial (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Harlem Shake?
Yes: You Got Served (2004), Take the Lead (2006) and Too Late Blues (1961).
How are movies similar to Harlem Shake chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Harlem Shake, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.