feelsalike.comSign in
Big Daddy poster

Movies that feel likeBig Daddy (1999)

A lazy law school grad adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned. Now he's forced to grow up while navigating the challenges of fatherhood.

If you loved Big Daddy, the closest films we have are Happy Gilmore (1996), Instructions Not Included (2013) and The Idiots (1998). All three share Big Daddy's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Whisky (2004).

🍅 39% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Dennis Duganwittyplayfulcontemplative
6 of 12 streaming nowHulu · MUBI · MGM Plus

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:Netflix ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Big Daddy streaming? →

If Big Daddy hit the spot, these will too

Happy Gilmore poster
Happy Gilmore
1996 · dir. Dennis Dugan
🍅 66%★ 7comedy

Dennis Dugan directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Failed hockey player-turned-golf whiz Happy Gilmore — whose unconventional approach and antics on the green courts the ire of rival Shooter McGavin — is determined to win a PGA tournament so he can save his granny's house with the prize money. Meanwhile, an attractive tour publicist tries to soften Happy's image.

Instructions Not Included poster
Instructions Not Included
2013 · dir. Eugenio Derbez
🍅 63%★ 7.5comedy · drama

Common ground: bachelor

Valentin is Acapulco's resident playboy, until a former fling leaves a baby on his doorstep and him heading with her out of Mexico.

The Idiots poster
The Idiots
1998 · dir. Lars von Trier
🍅 73%★ 6.7comedy · dramaRent or buy

Witty and playful in the same breath

A group of perfectly intelligent young people decide to react to society's cult of aimless, non-creative and non-responsible form intellect by living together in a community of 'idiots'. Their primary activity becomes going out into the world of 'normal' people and pretending to be mentally incompetent. They take advantage of this situation to create anarchy, and, by every possible means, to make those around them miserable.

Legally Blonde poster
Legally Blonde
2001 · dir. Robert Luketic
🍅 75%★ 6.5comedy

Both are built on the same subject: law school

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Big Daddy

Fashionable sorority queen Elle Woods has it all, but, she wants nothing more than to be Mrs. Warner Huntington III. But he dumps her before heading to Harvard Law School. Elle rallies all of her resources and gets into Harvard, determined to win him back. While there, she figures out that there is more to herself than just good looks.

Pieces of April poster
Pieces of April
2003 · dir. Peter Hedges
🍅 83%★ 7comedy · drama

Both lean on stillness more than on comedy

Quirky and rebellious April Burns lives with her boyfriend in a low-rent New York City apartment miles away from her emotionally distant family. But when she discovers that her mother has a fatal form of breast cancer, she invites the clan to her place for Thanksgiving. While her father struggles to drive her family into the city, April -- an inexperienced cook -- runs into kitchen trouble and must ask a neighbor for help.

All About My Mother poster
All About My Mother
1999 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 98%★ 7.8comedy · drama

Witty drama in both cases

Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels from Madrid to Barcelona in an attempt to contact the long-estranged father the boy never knew. She reunites with an old friend, an outspoken transgender sex worker, and befriends a troubled actress and a pregnant, HIV-positive nun.

You Don't Mess with the Zohan poster
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
2008 · dir. Dennis Dugan
🍅 37%★ 5.6comedy · action

Both are Dennis Dugan's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Big Daddy does

An Israeli counterterrorism soldier with a secretly fabulous ambition to become a Manhattan hairstylist. Zohan's desire runs so deep that he'll do anything -- including faking his own death and going head-to-head with an Arab cab driver -- to make his dreams come true.

I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry poster
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
2007 · dir. Dennis Dugan
🍅 15%★ 5.9comedy · romanceStarz

Comedy built on play, twice over

The difference: Leans harder into romance than Big Daddy does

Firefighters Chuck Ford and Larry Valentine are guy's guys, loyal to the core—which is why when widower Larry asks Chuck to pose as his lover so that he can get domestic partner benefits for his kids, his buddy agrees. However, things get dicey when a bureaucrat comes calling, and the boys are forced to present a picture of domestic bliss.

The Night Before the Exams poster
The Night Before the Exams
2006 · dir. Fausto Brizzi
★ 6.4comedy · drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

Rome, 1989. On his last day of high school, Luca gets in trouble when he takes it all out on hated literature teacher Martinelli, only to discover he's going to be heading the examination board for his finals. During a summer of fruitless study, he falls in love with a girl he met once at a party, unaware that she's Martinelli's daughter. The latter, strangely enough, has just offered Luca to prepare with him...

Whisky poster
Whisky
2004 · dir. Juan Pablo Rebella
🍅 100%★ 7.1comedy · drama

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

When his long-lost brother resurfaces, Jacobo, desperate to prove his life has added up to something, looks to scrounge up a wife. He turns to Marta, an employee at his sock factory, with whom he has a prickly relationship.

Smoke poster
Smoke
1995 · dir. Wayne Wang
🍅 89%★ 7.4comedy · drama

Drama with a pulse of play, in both cases

Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate. Still grieving over his wife's murder, Paul is moved by both Rashid's quest to reconnect with his father and Auggie's discovery that a woman who might be his daughter is about to give birth.

Grown Ups 2 poster
Grown Ups 2
2013 · dir. Dennis Dugan
🍅 8%★ 5.4comedyHuluStarz

Comedy approached the same way

Lenny has relocated his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up. This time around, the grown ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises—the last day of school.

In the mood for more witty?

all witty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Big Daddy’s defining feeling.