Movies like The Matinee Idol (1928)
The best movies like The Matinee Idol (1928) are Let's Make Love (1960), What's Love Got to Do with It? (2023) and Christmas with You (2022). If The Matinee Idol hooked you with its romance and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Circus (1928)7.9/10 from 928 votes
- NewestLove Is in the Air (2023)Released 2023
Let's Make Love (1960)
When billionaire Jean-Marc Clement learns that he is to be satirized in an off-Broadway revue, he passes himself off as an actor playing him in order to get closer to the beautiful star of the show, Amanda Dell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat's Love Got to Do with It? (2023)
Two childhood friends now in their thirties must decide whether to follow their heads or their hearts once the man decides to follow his parents' advice and enter into an arranged marriage in Pakistan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChristmas with You (2022)
Feeling career burnout, pop star Angelina escapes to grant a young fan's wish in small-town New York, where she not only finds the inspiration to revitalize her career but also a shot at true love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisLove Is in the Air (2023)
A fiercely independent pilot fighting to keep her family business afloat starts to fall for the man sent by corporate to ground her operation forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoliday Harmony (2022)
A likeable and talented underdog gets momentarily sidelined from chasing her musical dreams when her van breaks down in a welcoming small town just before Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhisky Galore (2016)
The story of the inhabitants of the isolated Scottish island of Todday, in the Outer Hebrides, where gloom sets in as their wartime rationing of whisky runs out. When cargo ship the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground the shrewd islanders run rings around the buffoonish English Home Guard commander Captain Waggett and conspire to hide away cases of the precious amber nectar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Prince & Me 4: The Elephant Adventure (2010)
One year after their royal wedding, King Edvard and Queen Paige of Denmark receive an invitation to attend the wedding of Princess Myra of Sangyoon. Upon their arrival, Paige finds Myra is unhappy with her arranged marriage to the brooding and sinister Kah and is secretly in love with a young elephant handler named Alu.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEasy Virtue (2008)
A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Love You Again (1940)
Boring businessman Larry Wilson recovers from amnesia and discovers he's really a con man...and loves his soon-to-be-ex wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThis Little Love of Mine (2021)
Laura Price is a successful San Francisco lawyer on the cusp of promotion – a far cry from her childhood growing up on a tropical island with best friends Chip and Gem. When the firm’s biggest client – Chip’s grandfather – asks Laura to travel to the island and deliver a contract to make Chip his heir, she leaves behind her practice and fiancé Owen to convince her childhood friend to sign a contract that will make him a billionaire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl on a Bicycle (2013)
Paolo, an Italian tour bus driver living in Paris, has just summoned up the courage to propose marriage to his German girlfriend Greta. However, a chance encounter with a French woman on a bicycle the very next day turns Paolo's life upside down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisIt's Always Fair Weather (1955)
Three World War II buddies promise to meet at a specified place and time 10 years after the war. They keep their word only to discover how far apart they've grown. But the reunion sparks memories of youthful dreams that haven't been fulfilled -- and slowly, the three men reevaluate their lives and try to find a way to renew their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDesk Set (1957)
A computer expert tries to prove his electronic brain can replace a television network's research staff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGood Advice (2001)
An investment banker loses everything and must discover what's really important in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisSilk Stockings (1957)
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat a Way to Go! (1964)
A four-time widow discusses her four marriages, in which all of her husbands became incredibly rich and died prematurely because of their drive to be rich.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoad to Singapore (1940)
Two playboys try to forget previous romances in Singapore – until they meet a beautiful dancer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisG.I. Blues (1960)
Stationed in West Germany, soldier Tulsa McLean hopes to open a nightclub once he's discharged. Although he may lack the capital for such a venture, a chance to raise the cash comes his way through a friendly wager. Local dancer Lili is a notorious ice queen, and Tulsa bets everything he has that a friend of his can earn her affections. But when the friend is dispatched to Alaska, it's up to Tulsa to melt Lili's heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
Teenager Susan Turner, with a severe crush on playboy artist Richard Nugent, sneaks into his apartment to model for him and is found there by her sister Judge Margaret Turner. Threatened with jail, Nugent agrees to date Susan until the crush abates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Circus (1928)
Charlie, a wandering tramp, becomes a circus handyman - soon the star of the show - and falls in love with the circus owner's stepdaughter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Moon Is Blue (1953)
Two aging playboys are both after the same attractive young woman, but she fends them off by claiming that she plans to remain a virgin until her wedding night. Both men determine to find a way around her objections.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBambi Meets Godzilla (1969)
A deer, disillusioned by the consumerism that defines his life. A lizard, ostracized from society, forever wandering. A chance meeting in the middle of a field. Who will survive? And who will transcend existence? Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2009.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHuman Desire (1954)
A Korean War vet returns to his job as a railroad engineer and becomes involved in a sordid affair with a co-worker's wife following a murder on a train.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarlem on the Prairie (1937)
A wandering cowboy helps the daughter of a former outlaw find the gold her father stole twenty years earlier and return it to its owners.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Spider Baby (1967)
In a dilapidated rural mansion, the last generation of the degenerate, inbred Merrye family lives with the inherited curse of a disease that causes them to mentally regress from the age of 10 or so on as they physically develop. The family chauffeur looks out for them and covers up their indiscretions. Trouble comes when greedy distant relatives and their lawyer arrive to dispossess the family of its home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhy They Love Cavemen (1921)
An animated comedy short from the 1920s. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2008.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Charulata (1964)
In 1870s India, Charulata is an isolated, artistically inclined woman who sees little of her busy journalist husband, Bhupati. Realizing that his wife is alienated and unhappy, he convinces his cousin, Amal, to spend time with Charulata and nourish her creative impulses. Amal is a fledgling poet himself, and he and Charulata bond over their shared love of art.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWings (1927)
Two young men, one rich, one middle class, both in love with the same woman, become US Air Corps fighter pilots and, eventually, heroic flying aces during World War I. Devoted best friends, their mutual love of the girl eventually threatens their bond. Meanwhile, a hometown girl who's the lovestruck lifelong next door neighbor of one of them pines away.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPeggy (1916)
The heroine, Peggy Cameron, is a high-society debutante with a mind of her own. After making a public spectacle of herself once too often, Peggy is bundled off to Scotland, where she is to be looked after by her no-nonsense uncle Andrew Cameron (William H. Thompson). If Peggy's family had hoped that she would straighten up and behave herself in Scotland, they were sorely mistaken. Restored in 2018 by the Academy Film Archive with restoration funding provided by the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Matinee Idol?
The closest matches to The Matinee Idol are Let's Make Love (1960), What's Love Got to Do with It? (2023) and Christmas with You (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Matinee Idol?
Start with Let's Make Love (1960), the closest match to The Matinee Idol.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Matinee Idol?
The Circus (1928), rated 7.9/10 by 928 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Matinee Idol?
Love Is in the Air (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Matinee Idol?
Yes: Let's Make Love (1960), What's Love Got to Do with It? (2023) and Christmas with You (2022).
How are movies similar to The Matinee Idol chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Matinee Idol, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.