Movies like City Lights (1931)
The best movies like City Lights (1931) are Modern Times (1936), Sometimes I Think About Dying (2024) and Twelfth Night (1996). If City Lights 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 ratedModern Times (1936)8.3/10 from 4,258 votes
- NewestThe Baltimorons (2025)Released 2025
Modern Times (1936)
A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSometimes I Think About Dying (2024)
Fran likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet life. When she makes the new guy at work laugh, it leads to more: a date, a slice of pie, a conversation, a spark. The only thing standing in their way is Fran herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwelfth Night (1996)
Shakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOther People's Money (1991)
When a corporate raider threatens a hostile takeover of a 'mom and pop' company, the patriarch of the company enlists the help of his wife's attractive daughter—who is a lawyer—to stop the takeover. However, the raider soon becomes infatuated with her, and enjoys the legal manoeuvring as he tries to win her heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other Sister (1999)
A mentally challenged girl proves herself to be every bit as capable as her "perfect" sister when she moves into an apartment and begins going to college.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFather of the Bride (2022)
A father comes to grips with his daughter’s upcoming wedding through the prism of multiple relationships within a big, sprawling Cuban-American family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baltimorons (2025)
A newly sober man's Christmas Eve dental emergency leads to an unexpected romance with his older dentist as they explore Baltimore together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove in Taipei (2023)
A young American woman is sent by her parents to a cultural immersion program in Taipei where she begins a new journey of self-discovery and romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBedrooms and Hallways (1998)
At the suggestion of a straight friend, gay man Leo joins a men’s group, where he causes some upsets by declaring his attraction to one of its members.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA California Christmas: City Lights (2021)
Follows Callie and Joseph one year after they fell in love, now running a dairy farm and winery, but their romance is threatened when business and family obligations call Joseph back to the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAt First Sight (1999)
A blind man has an operation to regain his sight at the urging of his girlfriend and must deal with the changes to his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMe Before You (2016)
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an accident two years prior, the once adventurous Will has all but given up — that is until Lou determines to show him that life is worth living.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAutumn in New York (2000)
Will Keane, a Manhattan restaurateur, is content with his playboy lifestyle until he meets Charlotte Fielding, a free-spirited young woman. Together the pair pursue a passionate affair that forces them both to reevaluate what they want out of life, even as fate threatens to steal away their future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMagnificent Obsession (1954)
Reckless playboy Bob Merrick crashes his speedboat, requiring emergency attention from the town’s only resuscitator while a local hero, Dr. Phillips, dies waiting for the life-saving device. Merrick then tries to right his wrongs with the doctor’s widow, Helen, falling in love with her in the process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReturn to Me (2000)
It took a lot of persuading to get Bob, a recently widowed architect, to go on a blind date at a quirky Irish-Italian eatery. Once there, he’s instantly smitten, not with his date, but with the sharp-witted waitress. Everything seems to be going great until an unbelievable truth is revealed, one that could easily break both of their hearts for good.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRestless (2011)
Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIris (2001)
True story of the lifelong romance between novelist Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, from their student days through her battle with Alzheimer's disease.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like this50 First Dates (2004)
Henry is a player skilled at seducing women. But when this veterinarian meets Lucy, a girl with a quirky problem when it comes to total recall, he realizes it's possible to fall in love all over again…and again, and again. That's because the delightful Lucy has no short-term memory, so Henry must woo her day after day until he finally sweeps her off her feet.
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 thisBlind Dating (2007)
Danny is a blind man who does not let his impairment get in the way of living his life to the fullest, except when it comes to love. Danny's brother sets him up on a series of blind dates, but all of them go disastrously wrong. Just when Danny is about to give up, he meets Leeza, a nurse who works for Danny's doctor. There is just one catch: Leeza, who is from India, is promised to another man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlonde Crazy (1931)
The adventures of a cocky con man and his beautiful accomplice.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRockville Morning (2017)
Follow struggling photographer Eddie through a regular morning in the town of Rockville Maryland
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
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 & drama
All About My Mother (1999)
Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrokeback Mountain (2005)
In 1960s Wyoming, two men develop a strong emotional and sexual relationship that endures as a lifelong connection complicating their lives as they get married and start families of their own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisQueen Kelly (1929)
A convent girl is abducted and seduced by a prince before being sent off to a brothel in East Africa.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mark of Zorro (1920)
Don Diego Vega pretends to be an indolent fop as a cover for his true identity, the masked avenger Zorro. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like this¡Tango! (1933)
¡Tango! follows a formula established by Carlos Gardel with films such as Luces de Buenos Aires (The Lights of Buenos Aires, 1931) in which a melodramatic story is interspersed with tango songs. However, the film had less dialog and more music, making it more like a musical revue. This format would be copied by many subsequent films. The plot is derived from tango songs. Many of these songs tell of the seduction of an innocent slum girl by a rich man who promises her a glamorous life, but who abandons her when her looks fade. The stylized and sentimental plot of ¡Tango! revolves around a young man who is abandoned by his girlfriend for an older rich man and is heartbroken. The film follows his misfortunes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Fast-talking, quick-thinking Detroit street cop Axel Foley has bent more than a few rules and regs in his time, but when his best friend is murdered, he heads to sunny Beverly Hills to work the case like only he can.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnatomy of a Murder (1959)
Semi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like City Lights?
The closest matches to City Lights are Modern Times (1936), Sometimes I Think About Dying (2024) and Twelfth Night (1996). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after City Lights?
Start with Modern Times (1936), the closest match to City Lights.
What is the highest-rated movie like City Lights?
Modern Times (1936), rated 8.3/10 by 4,258 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like City Lights?
The Baltimorons (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like City Lights?
Yes: Modern Times (1936), Sometimes I Think About Dying (2024) and Twelfth Night (1996).
How are movies similar to City Lights chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside City Lights, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.