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I Vitelloni poster

Movies that feel likeI Vitelloni (1953)

Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.

If you loved I Vitelloni, the closest films we have are Nights of Cabiria (1957), Son of Rambow (2007) and Elling (2001). All three share I Vitelloni'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 Queen (2014).

🍅 100% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Federico Felliniwittyplayfulcontemplativewarm
5 of 12 streaming nowParamount Plus Essential · TCM · Darkroom

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If I Vitelloni hit the spot, these will too

Nights of Cabiria poster
Nights of Cabiria
1957 · dir. Federico Fellini
🍅 100%★ 8.1drama · comedy

Federico Fellini working the same nerve twice

The difference: Trades the warmth of I Vitelloni for an angle of its own

Rome, 1957. A woman, Cabiria, is robbed and left to drown by her boyfriend, Giorgio. Rescued, she resumes her life and tries her best to find happiness in a cynical world. Even when she thinks her struggles are over and she has found happiness and contentment, things may not be what they seem.

Son of Rambow poster
Son of Rambow
2007 · dir. Garth Jennings
🍅 73%★ 7comedyParamount+

One thread runs through both: friendship

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.

Elling poster
Elling
2001 · dir. Petter Næss
🍅 85%★ 7.4comedy · drama

The same mix in both: wit, then play

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

40-year-old Elling, sensitive, would-be poet, is sent to live in a state institution when his mother, who has sheltered him his entire life, dies. There he meets Kjell Bjarne, a gentle giant and female-obsessed virgin, also in his 40s.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot poster
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
1974 · dir. Michael Cimino
🍅 89%★ 7comedy · crime

Common ground: friendship

The difference: Easier on the stillness than I Vitelloni

With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organise a daring new heist.

That's Life poster
That's Life
1998 · dir. Massimo Venier
★ 7comedy

Warm comedy in both cases

While on the run from the police, an unlikely companionship blossoms between a funny con man who just broke out of jail, the bumbling cop whose car he seized at gunpoint, and a nitpicking civilian he unwittingly took hostage.

Queen poster
Queen
2014 · dir. Vikas Bahl
🍅 90%★ 8.1comedy · drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

Rani, a 24-year-old homely girl, decides to go on her honeymoon alone when her fiancé calls off the wedding. Traveling around Europe, she finds joy, makes friends, and gains new-found independence.

Clerks poster
Clerks
1994 · dir. Kevin Smith
🍅 90%★ 7.7comedyParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: black and white

Convenience and video store clerks Dante and Randal are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.

Ghost World poster
Ghost World
2001 · dir. Terry Zwigoff
🍅 93%★ 7.3comedy · drama

Comedy built on wit, twice over

Two quirky, cynical, teenaged girls try to figure out what to do with their lives following high school graduation. After they play a prank on an eccentric, middle-aged record collector, one of them befriends him, which causes a rift in the girls’ friendship.

Three Men and a Leg poster
Three Men and a Leg
1997 · dir. Massimo Venier
★ 7.7comedy

Playful drama, and it commits to that

Friends Aldo, Giovanni, and Giacomo cross Italy from north to south for Giacomo's wedding: the father of the bride, a despotic magnate who is both their boss and father-in-law—since Aldo and Giovanni have also married into the family not for love but for money, a fate now awaiting Giacomo—has entrusted them with a priceless piece of modern art, one that looks just like a rather unremarkable wooden leg.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown poster
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
1988 · dir. Pedro Almodóvar
🍅 94%★ 7.5comedy · drama

Both are built on the same subject: pregnancy

After being dumped by her lover, Pepa finds her life and the lives of those around her spiraling out of control in a deliciously chaotic series of events.

Kopps poster
Kopps
2003 · dir. Josef Fares
★ 6.7action · comedy

Comedy with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into action than I Vitelloni does

A small Swedish village, Högboträsk, is so peaceful that crime is nonexistent. The police spend their shifts drinking coffee, eating hot dogs and chasing down runaway cows. This is all well and good for the village's own police, but the police management board wants to discontinue the local police force for lack of crime.

50/50 poster
50/50
2011 · dir. Jonathan Levine
🍅 93%★ 7.6comedy · drama

Drama built on stillness, twice over

Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

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The best-reviewed films that share I Vitelloni’s defining feeling.