Movies like Down Periscope (1996)
The best movies like Down Periscope (1996) are Mayday (2026), Hot Shots! (1991) and Major Payne (1995). If Down Periscope hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)8.1/10 from 6,463 votes
- NewestMayday (2026)Released 2026
Mayday (2026)
When a U.S. Navy pilot on a top-secret mission during the Cold War gets trapped behind enemy lines, his only chance at survival is to form an alliance with an eccentric ex-KGB agent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHot Shots! (1991)
The gang that created Airplane! and The Naked Gun sets its sights on Top Gun in this spoof. Topper Harley is a talented but unstable fighter pilot with an axe to grind: clearing the family name. His mission is to avenge his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers. He also gets involved in a relationship with Ramada Thompson, a woman with an unusually talented stomach. Hot Shots! makes fun of a variety of other films, from Dances with Wolves to The Fabulous Baker Boys.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMajor Payne (1995)
Major Benson Winifred Payne is being discharged from the Marines. Payne is a killin' machine, but the wars of the world are no longer fought on the battlefield. A career Marine, he has no idea what to do as a civilian, so his commander finds him a job - commanding officer of a local school's JROTC program, a bunch of ragtag losers with no hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSextuplets (2019)
Father-to-be Alan is shocked to learn that he was born a sextuplet. With his newfound brother Russell riding shotgun, the duo sets out on a hilarious journey to reunite with their remaining long-lost siblings.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSwashbuckler (1976)
A pirate and a hot-tempered noblewoman join forces to protect Jamaica from a tyrant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHot Shots! Part Deux (1993)
Topper Harley is found to be working as an odd-job-man in a monastery. The CIA want him to lead a rescue mission into Iraq, to rescue the last rescue team, who went in to rescue the last rescue team—who went in to rescue hostages left behind after Desert Storm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mouse That Roared (1959)
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAustin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
The world's most shagadelic spy continues his fight against Dr. Evil. This time, the diabolical doctor and his clone, Mini-Me, team up with a new foe—'70s kingpin Goldmember. While pursuing the team of villains to stop them from world domination, Austin gets help from his dad and an old girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAirplane! (1980)
An ex-fighter pilot is forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWeekend at Bernie's (1989)
Two young insurance corporation employees try to pretend that their murdered employer is alive by puppeteering his dead body, leading a hitman to attempt to track him down to finish him off.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Other Guys (2010)
Unlike their heroic counterparts on the force, desk-bound NYPD detectives Gamble and Hoitz garner no headlines as they work day to day. When a seemingly minor case turns out to be a big deal, the two cops get the opportunity to finally prove to their comrades that they have the right stuff.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
The maniacal baby of the Griffin family, Stewie, meets his future self. In doing this he discovers that his future image is not what he has anticipated because of a near death experience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSgt. Bilko (1996)
The US army is known for churning out lean mean fighting machines intent on protecting our great nation. Sergeant Ernie Bilko is the leader of a ragtag group of the sorriest soldiers ever to enlist in the armed forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisA Very Brady Sequel (1996)
A man claiming to be Carol Brady's long-lost first husband, Roy Martin, shows up at the suburban Brady residence one evening. An impostor, the man is actually determined to steal the Bradys' familiar horse statue, a $20-million ancient Asian artifact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisOscar (1991)
Angelo "Snaps" Provolone made his dying father a promise on his deathbed: he would leave the world of crime and become an honest businessman. Despite having no experience in making money in a legal fashion, Snaps sets about to keep his promise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Replacements (2000)
Maverick old-guard coach Jimmy McGinty is hired in the wake of a players' strike to help the Washington Sentinels advance to the playoffs. But that impossible dream hinges on whether his replacements can hunker down and do the job. So, McGinty dusts off his secret dossier of ex-players who never got a chance (or screwed up the one they were given) and knits together a bad-dream team of guys who just may give the Sentinels their title shot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherlock Jr. (1924)
A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meager skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Family Stone (2005)
An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVan Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (2006)
Taj Mahal Badalandabad leaves Coolidge College behind for the halls of Camford University in England, where he looks to continue his education, and teach an uptight student how to make the most out of her academic career.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisPorky's (1981)
In 1954 Florida, a group of high school boys head to a strip club in the Everglades in an attempt to lose their collective virginity. When the club's owner and his sheriff brother swindle them out of their money and embarrass them, the boys plan revenge.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Holdovers (2023)
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBig Business (1988)
In the 1940s in the small town of Jupiter Hollow, two sets of identical twins are born in the same hospital on the same night. One set to a poor local family and the other to a rich family just passing through. The dizzy nurse on duty accidentally mixes the twins unbeknown to the parents. Our story flashes forward to the 1980s where the mismatched sets of twins are about to cross paths.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Follows Fortune (1959)
Impoverished scholar Leung (Yam Kim-fai) became a widower and his in-laws give him 30 taels of silver to find a new wife. He gives the money away to help an old man, a kindness witnessed by the young woman To (Fong Yim-fun), who is impressed and smitten. Needing to introduce his ‘new wife' to the in-laws, Leung seeks help from his cousin (Tam Sin-hung), whose husband Wong (Poon Yat On) had just bought To as maid, lusting after her. The cousin loans the maid to pose as Leung's wife but the jealous Wong poses as their servant to keep watch, creating hilarious havoc that fails to hinder the love developing between the scholar and the maid.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Try Seventeen (2002)
Teenager Jones has opted not to go to college and is instead renting a room in a boarding house to work on his writing skills. Soon, Jones finds himself dividing his time between two women: a young actress named Lisa and a photographer named Jane. After Jane's ex-boyfriend arrives to help her recover from a car accident, Jones begins to understand just how much he cares for her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Detail (1973)
Two Navy men are ordered to bring a young offender to prison, but decide to show him one last good time along the way.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSummer School (1987)
A high-school gym teacher has big plans for the summer, but is forced to cancel them to teach a "bonehead" English class for misfit goof-off students. Fortunately, his unconventional brand of teaching fun field trips begins to connect with them, and even inspires ardor in some.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Dick (2008)
A fidgety, wisecracking video store clerk develops a fixation on a particularly reclusive customer, a frequent visitor to the pornography section of Cinefile, the video store where he works in Los Angeles. After multiple failures to impress her during their brief daily transactions, he finds her street address in the store's database, drives to her apartment building and initiates an unconventional campaign to win her affections.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like Down Periscope and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Down Periscope?
The closest matches to Down Periscope are Mayday (2026), Hot Shots! (1991) and Major Payne (1995). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Down Periscope?
Start with Mayday (2026), the closest match to Down Periscope.
What is the highest-rated movie like Down Periscope?
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), rated 8.1/10 by 6,463 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Down Periscope?
Mayday (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Down Periscope?
Yes: Mayday (2026), Hot Shots! (1991) and Major Payne (1995).
How are movies similar to Down Periscope chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Down Periscope, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.