20 best movies like Stardust Memories (1980)

List of the best movies like Stardust Memories (1980): Birdman, Hector and the Search for Happiness, L.A. Story, The Puffy Chair, Box of Moonlight, Slipstream, Beginners, Shirley Valentine, The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, Appropriate Behavior.

Tags: movies similar to Stardust Memories (1980) - full list

Markimdb: 7.7
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:59

A fading actor best known for his portrayal of a popular superhero attempts to mount a comeback by appearing in a Broadway play. As opening night approaches, his attempts to become more altruistic, rebuild his career, and reconnect with friends and family prove more difficult than expected.

Markimdb: 7
Genrecomedy, drama, adventure
CountryUnited Kingdom, Germany, Canada, South Africa, USA
Duration01:54

Hector is a quirky psychiatrist who has become increasingly tired of his humdrum life. As he tells his girlfriend, Clara, he feels like a fraud: he hasn’t really tasted life, and yet he’s offering advice to patients who are just not getting any happier. So Hector decides to break out of his deluded and routine driven life. Armed with buckets of courage and child-like curiosity, he embarks on a global quest in hopes of uncovering the elusive secret formula for true happiness. And so begins a larger than life adventure with riotously funny results.

Markimdb: 6.7
Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:35

With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a "wacky weatherman" tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter, who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early-90s Los Angeles.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA

Josh's life is pretty much in the toilet. He's a failed NYC indie rocker, and a failing booking agent. But he finds the potential of a small victory in a really bad idea. He decides to purchase a 1985 Lazy Boy on eBay, just like the one his dad had when Josh was a kid. He'll drive cross-country for the chair, staying with Emily at his brother's house on the way, and deliver it to his father as a surprise birthday gift. But when Rhett ends up coming along for the ride, it's three people and a giant purple puffy chair in a too-small van... and one of them has to go before the trip's end.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryJapan, USA
Duration01:04

Al Fountain, a middle-aged electrical engineer, is on the verge of a mid-life crisis, when he decides to take his time coming home from a business trip, rents a car, and heads out looking for a lake he remembers from his childhood. But his wandering takes him into the life of Kid, a free-spirited young man who helps Al escape from the routine of everyday life and find freedom to enjoy himself.

Markimdb: 4.8
Genrefantasy, comedy, drama, detective
CountryUSA

Aging screenwriter Felix Bonhoeffer has lived his life in two states of existence: in reality and his own interior world. While working on a murder mystery script, and unaware that his brain is on the verge of implosion, Felix is baffled when his characters start to appear in his life, and vice versa.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:44

A young man is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
Duration01:48

Wondering what has happened to herself, now feeling stagnant and in a rut, Shirley Valentine finds herself regularly talking to the wall while preparing her husband's chips and egg. When her best friend wins a trip-for-two to Greece Shirley begins to see the world, and herself, in a different light.

Markimdb: 5.7
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:23

After learning that a brain aneurysm will kill him in about 90 minutes, a perpetually unhappy man struggles to come to terms with his fate and make amends with everyone he has ever hurt.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
Duration01:22

For Shirin, being part of a perfect Persian family isn't easy. Acceptance eludes her from all sides: her family doesn't know she's bisexual, and her ex-girlfriend, Maxine, can't understand why she doesn't tell them. Even the six-year-old boys in her moviemaking class are too ADD to focus on her for more than a second. Following a family announcement of her brother's betrothal to a parentally approved Iranian prize catch, Shirin embarks on a private rebellion involving a series of bisexual escapades, while trying to decipher what went wrong with Maxine.

Markimdb: 6.2
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:29

A mild-mannered bank executive (Aaron Eckhart) mentors a teenage con artist and tries to make a career change as a doughnut merchant.

Markimdb: 5.8
Genrefantasy, comedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:38

Max Simkin repairs shoes in the same New York shop that has been in his family for generations. Disenchanted with the grind of daily life, Max stumbles upon a magical heirloom that allows him to step into the lives of his customers and see the world in a new way. Sometimes walking in another man's shoes is the only way one can discover who they really are.

Markimdb: 6.4
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration02:03

Drew Baylor is fired after causing his shoe company to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. To make matters worse, he's also dumped by his girlfriend. On the verge of ending it all, Drew gets a new lease on life when he returns to his family's small Kentucky hometown after his father dies. Along the way, he meets a flight attendant with whom he falls in love.

Markimdb: 6.1
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:35

Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid) might be imperiously brilliant, monumentally self-possessed and an intellectual giant -- but when it comes to solving the conundrums of love and family, he's as downright flummoxed as the next guy.

Markimdb: 7.3
Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama, adventure
CountryUSA, United Kingdom
Duration01:54

A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.

Markimdb: 6.5
Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:57

A Russian circus visits the US. A clown wants to defect, but doesn't have the nerve. His saxophone playing friend however comes to the decision to defect in the middle of Bloomingdales. He is befriended by the black security guard and falls in love with the Italian immigrant from behind the perfume counter. We follow his life as he works his way through the American dream and tries to find work as a musician.

Markimdb: 6.6
Genrecomedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:30

In New York City, a husband and wife butt heads with the granddaughters of the elderly woman who lives in the apartment the couple owns.

Markimdb: 5.4
Genrefantasy, comedy, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:46

In Manhattan, the aspirant writer Jabez Stone is a complete loser: he is not able to sell his novels, he lives in a lousy apartment and he does not have success with women. When one of his friends Julius Jenson sells his novel for US$ 190,000.00 to an editor, Jabez fells envy and promises to sell his soul to the devil for success and accidentally kills a woman with his typing machine. The Devil knocks on his door, fixes the situation and seals a contract with Jabez. His low quality novels have bad reviews but become best-sellers; Jabez enriches; has success with women, but has no time for his friends. Jabez meets with the publisher Daniel Webster who offers him a chance to break the contract with the devil.

Markimdb: 7.2
Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama
CountryUSA
Duration01:44

    Calvin is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby, in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.

    Markimdb: 7
    Genrecomedy, drama
    CountryUSA

    After declaring that he's going to film himself committing suicide for a school project, Archie videotapes his surprising interactions with worried family members, interested classmates, unreliable medical experts and the hottest girl in school.

    Markimdb: 4.8
    Genrecomedy, melodrama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:41

    When Duffy Bergman, a New York cartoonist, meets Meg Lloyd, a gourmet chef, he discovers the love of his life and they marry -- yet love alone isn't enough to make them happy. Meg decides she wants to have a baby, a goal that initially makes Duffy frantic, but soon becomes his most important desire as well. When they are unable to have a baby, Meg begins concentrating on her career and the two slowly drift apart -- eventually separating. Later, when Duffy is speaking at a convention of the Delta Gamma sorority, he reveals that the Delta Gamma girls have always been his dream girls -- his Love Goddesses. There he meets the young and uninhibited Delta Gamma girl, Daphne Delillo. When Daphne moves to New York to work as a network sports reporter, their mutual attraction and Daphne's spontaneity spark an adventurous new relationship for Duffy. Now Duffy must decide which is more valuable to him -- the relationship he has given up, or the relationship he has always dreamed of having.

    Markimdb: 6.2
    Genrecomedy, drama, adventure
    CountryUSA, Canada
    Duration01:43

    Three fanatical bird-watchers spend an entire year competing to spot the highest number of species as El Nino sends an extraordinary variety of rare breeds flying up into the U.S., but they quickly discover that there are more important things than coming out on top of the competition

    Markimdb: 6.6
    Genrecomedy, melodrama
    CountryUSA
    Duration01:42

    Alice Tate, mother of two, with a marriage of 16 years, finds herself falling for the handsome sax player, Joe. Stricken with a backache, she consults Dr. Yang, an oriental herbalist who realizes that her problems are not related to her back, but in her mind and heart. Dr. Yang's magical herbs give Alice wondrous powers, taking her out of well-established rut.

    Markimdb: 6.1
    Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
    CountryUSA, France
    Duration01:38

      When he suddenly finds himself without his long-standing blue-collar job, Larry Crowne enrolls at his local college to start over. There, he becomes part of an eclectic community of students and develops a crush on his teacher.

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:47

      Two students at neighboring colleges get swept up in first love. Pookie Adams, a kooky misfit with no family or friends, clings to the quiet and studious Jerry, who has the ability to make a choice of living in Pookie's private world or be accepted by the society that Pookie rejects. Unwittingly, it is through their awkward relationship that Pookie prepares Jerry for the world of "weirdos" that she doesn't fit into.

      Markimdb: 6.6
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryUSA, Germany

      A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive.

      Markimdb: 7.2
      Genrefantasy, comedy, drama
      CountryUnited Kingdom, Germany, USA
      Duration01:46

      A naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.

      Markimdb: 5.2
      Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryGermany, USA
      Duration01:36

      After her mother's death, mediocre chef Amanda Shelton is having trouble attracting customers to her family's restaurant. While shopping for ingredients, she is given a magical crab by mysterious Gene O'Reilly. Afterward, Amanda's dishes suddenly become excellent, inducing strong emotional reactions in everyone who eats them. Tom Bartlett, who is preparing to open his own eatery, tries her cooking and falls in love.

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA

      Dorian realizes he is gay in his final year of high school. He meets another gay youth locally, but remains confused. He starts therapy, then resorts to confession in the Church, and finally comes out to his brother. Dorian then decides to come out to his father; he gets kicked out of the house.

      Markimdb: 7.4
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
      Duration01:47

      After being thrown away from home, pregnant high school dropout Maria meets Matthew, a highly educated and extremely moody electronics repairman. The two begin an unusual romance built on their sense of mutual admiration and trust.

      Markimdb: 4.3
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, western
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:35

      Sissy Hankshaw is born with enormous thumbs that help her hitchhiking through the US from a young age. She becomes a model in advertising and her NY agent 'the Countess' sends her to his ranch in CA to shoot a commercial, set against the background of mating whooping cranes. There, she befriends Bonanza Jellybean, one of the cowgirls at the beauty- ranch.

      Markimdb: 7.9
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:43

      Between two Thanksgivings, Hannah's husband falls in love with her sister Lee, while her hypochondriac ex-husband rekindles his relationship with her sister Holly.

      Markimdb: 6.1
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:49

      Rachel is a food writer at a New York magazine who meets Washington columnist Mark at a wedding and ends up falling in love with him despite her reservations about marriage. They buy a house, have a daughter, and Rachel thinks they are living happily ever after until she discovers that Mark is having an affair while she is waddling around with a second pregnancy.

      Markimdb: 6.6
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryGermany, Japan, USA
      Duration01:23

      Auggie runs a small tobacco shop in Brooklyn, New York. The whole neighborhood comes to visit him to buy cigarettes and have some small talk. During the movie Lou Reed tries to explain why he has to have a cut on his health insurance bill if he keeps smoking and Madonna acts as a Singing Telegram.

      Markimdb: 7.5
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, musical, military
      CountryWest Germany, USA
      Duration02:01

      "Hair" is a 1979 musical war comedy-drama film adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical "Hair: An American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" about a Vietnam War draftee, Claude, who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center. Claude heads to New York upon receiving his draft notice, leaving the family ranch in Oklahoma. He arrives in New York where he is rapidly indoctrinated into the youth subculture before reporting in for boot camp.

      Markimdb: 7.5
      Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA, United Kingdom
      Duration01:53

      Everybody knows that your life is a story. But what if a story was your life? Harold Crick is your average IRS agent: monotonous, boring, and repetitive. But one day this all changes when Harold begins to hear an author inside his head narrating his life. But when the narration reveals he is going to die, Harold must find the author and convince them to change the ending.

      Markimdb: 6.4
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryUSA, France
      Duration01:41

      Paul is agonising over his interpretation of 'Uncle Vanya' and, paralysed by anxiety, stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by extracting souls. He enlists their services—only to discover that his soul is the shape and size of a chickpea.

      Markimdb: 5.9
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:46

      Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works.

      Markimdb: 7.4
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryUSA, West Germany
      Duration01:29

      Rootless Hungarian émigré Willie, his pal Eddie, and visiting sixteen-year-old cousin Eva always manage to make the least of any situation, whether aimlessly traversing the drab interiors and environs of New York City, Cleveland, or an anonymous Florida suburb.

      Markimdb: 6
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:45

      An aspiring actor and his girlfriend handle life's frustrations, while his friend seeks fulfillment with a blonde.

      Markimdb: 5.2
      Genrecomedy, drama, crime
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:42

      A mentally disabled man gets help from a sociopath when he tries to reunite with his dying father, who years earlier disowned him.

      Markimdb: 6.3
      Genrecomedy, drama
      CountryFrance
      Duration01:46

      Christmas, family, and infidelity. Yvette's husband has died, and her grown daughters join her at the grave: Sonia, wealthy, bourgeois, and generous; Louba, living with their dad Stanislas, singing at a Russian restaurant, penniless, the mistress for the past 12 years of a man who will never leave his wife; Milla, the youngest, acerbic, lonesome. Christmas was when they learned their parents were divorcing 25 years ago. Over the next few days, yuletide depression, Louba's pregnancy, Sonia's crumbling marriage, Stanislas's overtures to Yvette, and Milla's attraction to the man who's her father's rent-free lodger lead each one to re-examine self, family, and hopes. Is renewal possible?

      Markimdb: 6.7
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:58

      When Johnny is released from prison following a forgery charge, he quickly lands a job as a short-order cook at a New York diner. Following a brief fling with waitress Cora, Frankie develops an attraction for Cora's friend and fellow waitress Frankie. While Frankie resists Johnny's charms initially, she eventually relents when her best friend, Tim, persuades her to give Johnny a chance.

      Markimdb: 7.4
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:51

      Paula knows that, in romance, all actors follow the same stage instruction: Exit. Without warning, her actor boyfriend splits for a movie role, and sublets their Manhattan apartment to Elliot, another actor.

      Markimdb: 7.4
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:24

      A hapless talent manager named Danny Rose, by helping a client, gets dragged into a love triangle involving the mob. His story is told in flashback, an anecdote shared amongst a group of comedians over lunch at New York's Carnegie Deli. Rose's one-man talent agency represents countless incompetent entertainers, including a one-legged tap dancer, and one slightly talented one: washed-up lounge singer Lou Canova (Nick Apollo Forte), whose career is on the rebound.

      Markimdb: 7
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUnited Kingdom, USA
      Duration01:24

      Reunited at a wedding after many years, former lovers again feel the pull of a mutual attraction neither is willing to admit. Escaping the reception for the privacy of a hotel room, the unnamed pair explore the choices of the past that led them to the present.

      Markimdb: 5.6
      Genrefantasy, comedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration02:03

      Good natured Reverend Henry Biggs finds that his marriage to choir mistress Julia is flagging, due to his constant absence caring for the deprived neighborhood they live in. On top of all this, his church is coming under threat from property developer Joe Hamilton. In desperation, Rev. Biggs prays to God for help - and help arrives in the form of an angel named Dudley.

      Markimdb: 7.2
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama, detective
      CountryFrance, USA
      Duration01:46

      As the devoutly single Don Johnston is dumped by his latest girlfriend, he receives an anonymous pink letter informing him that he has a son who may be looking for him.

      Markimdb: 6.4
      Genrecomedy, melodrama, drama
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:38

      The life you love may be your own.... The wife of a much older man finds herself attracted to their neighbour's son, who is closer to her age.

      Markimdb: 6.3
      Genrecomedy, drama, detective
      CountryUSA
      Duration01:37

      An uptight documentary filmmaker and his wife find their lives loosened up a bit after befriending a free-spirited younger couple.




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