Movies Like Things Are Looking Up

If you liked Things Are Looking Up (1935), a comedy and music movie directed by Albert de Courville, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
A Song Is Born (1948)
★ 6.5/10Also comedy and music
The story of seven scholars in search of an expert to teach them about swing music. They seem to have found the perfect candidate in winsome nightclub singer Honey Swanson. But Honey's gangster boyfriend doesn't want…
2
Back to the Beach (1987)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and music
A former beach boy and his wife go to California to visit their daughter and become part of the new beach scene.
3
Soul Men (2008)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and music
Two former backup soul singers, Louis and Floyd, have not spoken to each other in 20 years, and reluctantly agree to travel across the country together to a reunion concert to honor their recently-deceased lead singer…
4
Babes in Arms (1939)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and music
Mickey Moran, son of two vaudeville veterans, decides to put up his own vaudeville show with his girlfriend Patsy Barton. But child actress Rosalie wants to make a comeback and replace Patsy both professionally and as…
5
Love Happy (1949)
★ 5.8/10Also comedy and music
The Marx Brothers help young Broadway hopefuls when they get mixed up with gangsters due to a tin of sardines containing Romanoff diamonds.
6
A Very Jonas Christmas Movie (2025)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and music
Kevin, Nick, and Joe Jonas face a series of escalating obstacles as they struggle to make it from London to New York in time to spend Christmas with their families.
7
At the Circus (1939)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and music
Jeff Wilson, the owner of a small circus, owes his partner Carter $10,000. Before Jeff can pay, Carter's accomplices steal the money so he can take over the circus. Antonio Pirelli and Punchy, who work at the circus…
8
A Night at the Opera (1935)
★ 7.4/10Also comedy and music
The Marx Brothers take on high society and the opera world to bring two lovers together. A sly business manager and two wacky friends of two opera singers help them achieve success while humiliating their stuffy and…
9
Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh (2018)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy and music
Adam Sandler takes his comical musical musings back out on the road, from comedy clubs to concert halls to one very unsuspecting subway station.
10
The After Party (2018)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and music
When an aspiring rapper goes viral for the wrong reasons, he thinks his career is sunk. But a wild party gives him one more chance to make it right.
11
Footlight Parade (1933)
★ 6.8/10Also comedy and music
A fledgling producer finds himself at odds with his workers, financiers and his greedy ex-wife when he tries to produce live musicals for movie-going audiences.
12
Bo Burnham: Make Happy (2016)
★ 8/10Also comedy and music
Combining his trademark wit and self-deprecating humor with original music, Bo Burnham offers up his unique twist on life in this stand-up special about life, death, sexuality, hypocrisy, mental illness and Pringles…
13
The Big Store (1941)
★ 6.3/10Also comedy and music
A detective is hired to protect the life of a singer, who has recently inherited a department store, from the store's crooked manager.
14
A Mighty Wind (2003)
★ 6.8/10Also comedy and music
Three eclectic, never-quite-famous folk bands come together for the first time in decades following the death of their manager to put on an reunion concert in his honor, at the request of his son.
15
A Day at the Races (1937)
★ 7.1/10Also comedy and music
Doctor Hugo Hackenbush, Tony, and Stuffy try and save Judy's sanitarium by winning a big race with a finicky horse owned by Judy's boyfriend Gil. There are a few problems. Hackenbush, who was recently put in charge of…
16
The F**k-It List (2020)
★ 6/10Also comedy
After a prank blows up a studious high school senior's life, he shares a list of certain things he wishes he'd done differently — and maybe still can.
17
Bo Burnham: Words, Words, Words (2010)
★ 7.3/10Also comedy and music
Bo Burnham is back with a new one-man show full of his patented songs and wordplay, as well as haikus, dramatic readings, blasphemy, and so much more in his first hour-long special, shot live in his home town of Boston.
18
Eddie Murphy Raw (1987)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy
Eddie Murphy delights, shocks and entertains with dead-on celebrity impersonations, observations on '80s love, sex and marriage, a remembrance of Mom's hamburgers and much more.
19
Pretty Persuasion (2005)
★ 5.8/10Also comedy
A 15-year-old girl incites chaos among her friends and a media frenzy when she accuses her drama teacher of sexual harassment.
20
CB4 (1993)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and music
A "rockumentary", covering the rise to fame of MC Gusto, Stab Master Arson, and Dead Mike: members of the rap group "CB4". We soon learn that these three are not what they seem and don't appear to know as much about…