Movies like The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)
The best movies like The Importance of Being Earnest (2002) are Becoming Jane (2007), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Love & Friendship (2016). If The Importance of Being Earnest 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 ratedPride & Prejudice (2005)8.1/10 from 9,068 votes
- NewestMadfabulous (2026)Released 2026
Becoming Jane (2007)
Though young Jane Austen's financially strapped parents expect her to marry the nephew of wealthy Lady Gresham, Jane herself knows that such a union will destroy her creativity and sense of self-worth. Instead, she becomes involved with Tom Lefroy, a charming but penniless apprentice lawyer who gives her the knowledge of the heart she needs for her future career as a novelist.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMuch Ado About Nothing (1993)
In this Shakespearean farce, Hero and her groom-to-be, Claudio, team up with Claudio's commanding officer, Don Pedro, the week before their wedding to hatch a matchmaking scheme. Their targets are sharp-witted duo Benedick and Beatrice -- a tough task indeed, considering their corresponding distaste for love and each other. Meanwhile, meddling Don John plots to ruin the wedding.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove & Friendship (2016)
From Jane Austen’s novella, the beautiful and cunning Lady Susan Vernon visits the estate of her in-laws to wait out colorful rumors of her dalliances and to find husbands for herself and her daughter. Two young men, handsome Reginald DeCourcy and wealthy Sir James Martin, severely complicate her plans.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmma (1996)
Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightley.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Ideal Husband (1999)
Sir Robert Chiltern is a successful government minister, well-off and with a loving wife. All this is threatened when Mrs Cheveley appears in London with damning evidence of a past misdeed. Sir Robert turns for help to his friend Lord Goring, an apparently idle philanderer and the despair of his father. Goring knows the lady of old, and, for him, takes the whole thing pretty seriously.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMansfield Park (1999)
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShakespeare in Love (1998)
Young William Shakespeare is forced to stage his latest comedy, 'Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter', before it's even written. When lovely noblewoman Viola de Lesseps auditions for a role, they fall into forbidden love — and Shakespeare's play finds a new life (and title). As their relationship intensifies, the comedy soon transforms into tragedy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmma. (2020)
In 1800s England, a well-meaning but selfish young woman meddles in the love lives of her friends.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGreat Expectations (1998)
Loosely based on the Charles Dickens' classic novel, "Great Expectations" is a sensual tale of a young man's unforgettable passage into manhood, and the three individuals who will undeniably change his life forever. Through the surprising interactions of these vivid characters, "Great Expectations" takes a unique and contemporary look at life's great coincidences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSense and Sensibility (1995)
The Dashwood sisters, sensible Elinor and passionate Marianne, learn that their prospects of marriage seem doomed by their family's sudden loss of fortune. After Henry Dashwood dies unexpectedly, his estate must pass on by law to his son. These circumstances leave Mr. Dashwood's wife and daughters without a home and with barely enough money to live on. As Elinor and Marianne struggle to find romantic fulfillment in a society obsessed with financial and social status, they must learn to mix sense with sensibility in their dealings with both money and men.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrideshead Revisited (2008)
Befriended by aristocrat Sebastian Flyte, Oxford student Charles Ryder finds that the power and privilege experienced by the family is seductive. On a visit to the ancestral home, Brideshead, he falls in love with his friend's sister, Julia. However, as his ties to the Flytes deepen, Ryder finds himself at odds with their strong Roman Catholicism.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Duchess (2008)
A chronicle of the life of 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was reviled for her extravagant political and personal life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPride and Prejudice (2003)
In this contemporary LDS twist on Jane Austen's iconic novel, Elizabeth Bennet is a hard-working, intelligent college student who won't even think about marriage until she graduates. But when she meets Jack Wickham, a good-looking playboy, and Darcy, a sensible businessman, Elizabeth's determination is put to the test. Will she see through their exteriors and discover their true intentions?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisVanity Fair (2004)
In early 19th century England, orphaned Becky Sharp defies her poverty-stricken background and ascends the social ladder alongside her best friend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisPride & Prejudice (2005)
A story of love and life among the landed English gentry during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet is a gentleman living in Hertfordshire with his overbearing wife and five daughters, but if he dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met, so the family's future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAs You Like It (2006)
Witty, playful and utterly magical, the story is a compelling romantic adventure in which Rosalind and Orlando's celebrated courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry, banishment and exile in the Forest of Arden - set in 19th-century Japan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
SnoozefestMovies 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: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTom Jones (1963)
Tom loves Sophie and Sophie loves Tom. But Tom and Sophie are of differering classes. Can they find a way through the mayhem to be true to love?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisAustenland (2013)
Obsessed with the BBC production of "Pride and Prejudice", a woman travels to a Jane Austen theme park in search for her perfect gentleman.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
London, England, on the eve of World War II. Guinevere Pettigrew, a strict governess who is unable to keep a job, is fired again. Lost in the hostile city, a series of fortunate circumstances lead her to meet Delysia LaFosse, a glamorous and dazzling American jazz singer whose life is a chaos ruled by indecision, a continuous battle between love and fame.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuch Ado About Nothing (2011)
Two young lovers, Claudio and Hero, are to be married imminently but the devious scheming of a resentful Prince looks set to thwart the nuptials. Meanwhile, marriage seems inconceivable for reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick whose endless witty sparring threatens to keep them apart forever. Directed by Josie Rourke, Artistic Director of the Donmar Warehouse, Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare’s great plays and reminds us all of the failings and triumphs of the human condition in our never ending search for perfect love.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMrs Brown (1997)
When Queen Victoria's husband Prince Albert dies, she finds solace in her trusted servant, Mr. John Brown. But their relationship also brings scandal and turmoil to the monarchy.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDownton Abbey (2019)
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMadfabulous (2026)
When the flamboyant Henry Paget arrives in 1890s North Wales to claim his aristocratic inheritance, his theatrical flair and defiant eccentricities send shockwaves through the upper-class elite, much to the amusement of the local townspeople. Alongside his spirited cousin, Lily, and loyal butler, Gelert, Henry tries to carve out his own identity as the Fifth Marquess, navigating suffocating traditions, scheming relatives, and the long shadow cast by his estranged father.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both history & comedy
Howards End (1992)
A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBright Young Things (2003)
During the 1930s in England, a group of young socialites dominate the national gossip with extravagant and outlandish antics. Among the group is the aspiring novelist Adam Fenwick-Symes, who is attempting to raise enough money to marry fellow member Nina Blount. However, after customs officials confiscate his first manuscript, Fenwick-Symes must recover from the financial setback and figure out new ways to earn money for a wedding.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPersuasion (2022)
Living with her snobby family on the brink of bankruptcy, Anne Elliot is an unconforming woman with modern sensibilities. When Frederick Wentworth - the dashing one she once sent away - crashes back into her life, Anne must choose between putting the past behind her or listening to her heart when it comes to second chances.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Madness of King George (1994)
Aging King George III of England is exhibiting signs of madness, a problem little understood in 1788. As the monarch alternates between bouts of confusion and near-violent outbursts of temper, his hapless doctors attempt the ineffectual cures of the day. Meanwhile, Queen Charlotte and Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger attempt to prevent the king's political enemies, led by the Prince of Wales, from usurping the throne.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWilde (1997)
Oscar Wilde is a married playwright who has occasionally indulged his weakness for male suitors. After much toil, Wilde debuts 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in London, and a chat at the theatre with Lord Alfred 'Bosie' Douglas leads to a full-fledged romance. However, this affair leads to a legal dispute with Lord Alfred's oppressive father, the Marquess of Queensberry, and, given the local anti-gay laws, Wilde is jailed. Wilde's vast intellect helps him survive until he regains his freedom.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & history
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmma (1996)
Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightley.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Importance of Being Earnest?
The closest matches to The Importance of Being Earnest are Becoming Jane (2007), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Love & Friendship (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Importance of Being Earnest?
People who watched The Importance of Being Earnest most often go on to Becoming Jane (2007), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Love & Friendship (2016).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Importance of Being Earnest?
Pride & Prejudice (2005), rated 8.1/10 by 9,068 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Importance of Being Earnest?
Madfabulous (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Importance of Being Earnest?
Yes: Becoming Jane (2007), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Love & Friendship (2016).
How are movies similar to The Importance of Being Earnest chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Importance of Being Earnest, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.