Movies Like The Hustler of Muscle Beach

If you liked The Hustler of Muscle Beach (1980), a comedy and drama movie directed by Jonathan Kaplan, 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
Barbarians at the Gate (1993)
★ 6.9/10Also comedy and drama
F. Ross Johnson decides to buyout his own tobacco firm RJR Nabisco after the plans of the launch of his new product, a smokeless cigarette Premier, fail on account of market rumours.
2
My Dinner with Hervé (2018)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and tv movie
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
3
Cheaters (2000)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and tv movie
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
4
TalhotBlond (2012)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and tv movie
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
5
SubUrbia (1997)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.
6
The Christmas Shoes (2002)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and tv movie
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second…
7
Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
★ 7.1/10Also drama and tv movie
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young…
8
Iron Jawed Angels (2004)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and tv movie
Defiant young activists take the women's suffrage movement by storm, putting their lives at risk to help American women win the right to vote.
9
Naughty or Nice (2012)
★ 6/10Also comedy and drama
Krissy Kringle receives a delivery intended for Santa Claus. A magical book that shows if a person has been naughty or nice. She uses the book's power to find out about those around her, which leads to some very…
10
Ricky Gervais: Mortality (2025)
★ 7/10Also comedy and tv movie
Ricky Gervais tackles life, death and the state of the world in a brutally honest special that spares no topic, even his own mortality.
11
John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (2018)
★ 7.9/10Also comedy and tv movie
John Mulaney relays stories from his childhood and "SNL," eviscerates the value of college and laments getting older in this electric comedy special.
12
Cocaine Godmother (2017)
★ 6.4/10Also drama and tv movie
At the age of 17, Griselda Blanco, made her way to the U.S. with a fake passport with her first husband Carlos. Living in Queens with her three sons, Griselda became enticed by the money the drug world offered, and…
13
The House of Tomorrow (2019)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and comedy
The film tells futurist, architect, and inventor R. Buckminster Fuller's incredible story through two teens hoping to get laid, become punk gods, and survive high school.
14
A Dog Year (2009)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and drama
Jon Katz is close to burnout. He's a writer with writer's block; his wife has left for her sister's because he's emotionally distant; he rarely answers his phone. A kennel sends him a border collie that's undisciplined…
15
Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and tv movie
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
16
Lying to Be Perfect (2010)
★ 6.1/10Also comedy and tv movie
Nola Devlin is an unassuming, frumpy magazine editor who is overlooked and teased by her coworkers. Though, when she is behind the glow and anonymity of her computer screen, she becomes the famous advice columnist…
17
Small Apartments (2012)
★ 5.9/10Also comedy and drama
When a clumsy deadbeat accidentally kills his landlord, he must do everything in his power to hide the body, only to find that the distractions of lust, the death of his beloved brother, and a crew of misfit characters…
18
Almost Friends (2017)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and comedy
A man in his mid-20s, still living at home with his mother and stepfather, puts all his eggs in one basket: the girl who works at his local coffee shop. The problem is, she has a serious boyfriend. As they become…
19
Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs (2023)
★ 7/10Also comedy and tv movie
In a rowdy stand-up set, Shane Gillis riffs on his girlfriend's Navy SEAL ex, touring George Washington's house and being bullied by an Australian Goth.
20
Sorority Wars (2009)
★ 6/10Also comedy and drama
Katie, a college freshman, has been groomed from birth to continue her mother’s legacy with the Deltas. When Katie decides to pledge another house instead, an all-out sorority war commences.