Movies like A Hollywood Story (1989)
The best movies like A Hollywood Story (1989) are Fedora (1978), Lions Love (1969) and What's the Matter with Helen? (1971). If A Hollywood Story hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedSunset Boulevard (1950)8.3/10 from 3,096 votes
- NewestAnuja (2024)Released 2024
Fedora (1978)
Down-on-his-luck Hollywood producer Barry 'Dutch' Detweiler attempts to lure Fedora, a famous but reclusive film actress, out of retirement, only to discover the horrifying truth behind her success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLions Love (1969)
Three actors in Hollywood live and love together. A director comes from New York to make a movie about actors and Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat's the Matter with Helen? (1971)
Two middle-aged women move to Hollywood after their sons are convicted of a notorious murder and open a dance school for children eager to tap their way to stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisRock-a-Bye Baby (1958)
An average television repairman must care for the newborn triplets of his former hometown sweetheart—now a famous movie star—so her career will not suffer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisS.O.B. (1981)
A movie producer who made a huge flop tries to salvage his career by revamping his film as an erotic production, where its family-friendly star takes her top off.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaking Care of Business (1990)
An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (2016)
An intimate portrait of Hollywood royalty featuring Debbie Reynolds, Todd Fisher, and Carrie Fisher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Audrey Hepburn Story (2000)
The film spans from Hepburn's early childhood to the 1950s which details her life as a Dutch ballerina, coming to grips with her parents' divorce, and enduring life in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II. She then settles in the U.S. where she succeeds in making it big as a movie actress, in such movies as Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Bad Moms Christmas (2017)
Amy, Kiki and Carla – three under-appreciated and over-burdened women – rebel against the challenges and expectations of the Super Bowl for mothers: Christmas. And if creating a more perfect holiday for their families wasn’t hard enough, they have to do all of that while hosting and entertaining their own mothers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Am Easy to Find (2019)
A life in one-hundred-sixty-four moments.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Gigolo and drifter Chance Wayne returns to his hometown as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra Del Lago, whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. Chance runs into trouble when he finds his ex-girlfriend, the daughter of the local politician Tom "Boss" Finley, who more or less forced him to leave his daughter and the town many years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl (2012)
Director Alfred Hitchcock is revered as one of the greatest creative minds in the history of cinema. Known for his psychological thrillers, Hitchcock’s leading ladies were cool, beautiful and preferably blonde. One such actress was Tippi Hedren, an unknown fashion model given her big break when Hitchcock’s wife saw her on a TV commercial. Brought to Universal Studios, Hedren was shocked when the director, at the peak of his career, quickly cast her to star in his next feature, 1963’s The Birds. Little did Hedren know that as ambitious and terrifying as the production would be to shoot, the most daunting aspect of the film ended up coming from behind the camera.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoyote Ugly (2000)
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrace of My Heart (1996)
Philadelphia teenager Edna Buxton wins a talent contest during the early rock 'n' roll era, changes her name to Denise Waverly and moves to New York City to make it big. Though she flops as a recording artist, fast-talking record producer Joel Millner recognizes her songwriting talent and teams her with struggling songsmith Howard Caszatt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnuja (2024)
When a brilliant nine-year-old working in a sweatshop gets a chance to attend school, she must make a difficult choice for her and her sister's future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive Star Christmas (2020)
After moving back to her hometown, Lisa (Lenz) plots with her siblings and grandparents to help her father's bed and breakfast get a five-star review from an incognito travel critic (Webster), but ends up falling for him, not knowing he is the real critic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
SnoozefestMovies like thisLike a Boss (2020)
Two female friends with very different ideals decide to start a beauty company together. One is more practical, while the other wants to earn her fortune and live a lavish lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSunset Boulevard (1950)
A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBusby Berkeley: A Journey with a Star (2007)
Profile of famed dance director Busby Berkeley's career, in particular "The Gang's All Here"
Why it matches: Similar story and style
All About Eve (1950)
From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington is determined to take the reins of power away from the great actress Margo Channing. Eve maneuvers her way into Margo's Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo's director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
This film is a glimpse into the life, love and the unconquerable spirit of the legendary Bruce Lee. From a childhood of rigorous martial arts training, Lee realizes his dream of opening his own kung-fu school in America. Before long, he is discovered by a Hollywood producer and begins a meteoric rise to fame and an all too short reign as one the most charismatic action heroes in cinema history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBugsy (1991)
New York gangster Ben 'Bugsy' Siegel takes a brief business trip to Los Angeles. A sharp-dressing womanizer with a foul temper, Siegel doesn't hesitate to kill or maim anyone crossing him. In L.A. the life, the movies, and most of all strong-willed Virginia Hill detain him while his family wait back home. Then a trip to a run-down gambling joint at a spot in the desert known as Las Vegas gives him his big idea.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNorth Hollywood (2001)
A group of struggling actors sharing a house in Hollywood together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Player (1992)
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCocaine: History Between the Lines (2011)
Cocaine has always gotten a bad rap, and for a reason. It is a drug used by the rich and the poor legally and illegally, Mexican cartels fought over it with Colombia once associated with the brutal cocaine wars, and a source of tension between the American and Mexican borders on the people who are illicitly bringing in cocaine from one side of the border to another and will do anything to do it. So it can be surprising at times to the viewer throughout the course of the documentary special, that it was never always like this.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Girl (TBA)
Revisit one of Hollywood’s most notorious scandals through the eyes of the person most misrepresented by it. In 1977 California, 13-year-old Samantha is navigating adolescence and dreams of becoming an actress when she is drawn into the orbit of celebrated filmmaker Roman Polanski. What follows alters her life forever. As the case erupts across headlines, Samantha and her mother are thrust into a relentless media storm — she’s hounded by paparazzi and stripped of privacy at the moment where she most needs protection. Together, mother and daughter must fight to reclaim Samantha’s voice and preserve what remains of her childhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dream Me Up Scotty! (2013)
Alex Norton discovers how showbusiness has handled the portrayal of the Scottish accent. For over 100 years audiences have struggled to understand our braw brogue: silent Harry Lauder films attempted an accent in the captions, and in Hollywood's golden era , everyone wanted to paint their tonsils tartan- but as examples from Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles and Richard Chamberlain show, they couldnae. Then Disney made Brave and proved that it disnae have to be all bad!
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like A Hollywood Story and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Hollywood Story?
The closest matches to A Hollywood Story are Fedora (1978), Lions Love (1969) and What's the Matter with Helen? (1971). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Hollywood Story?
Start with Fedora (1978), the closest match to A Hollywood Story.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Hollywood Story?
Sunset Boulevard (1950), rated 8.3/10 by 3,096 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Hollywood Story?
Anuja (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Hollywood Story?
Yes: Fedora (1978), Lions Love (1969) and What's the Matter with Helen? (1971).
How are movies similar to A Hollywood Story chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Hollywood Story, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.




























