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Ninotchka poster

Movies that feel likeNinotchka (1939)

A stern Russian woman sent to Paris on official business finds herself attracted to a man who represents everything she is supposed to detest.

If you loved Ninotchka, the closest films we have are The Rules of the Game (1939), A New Leaf (1971) and I'm All Right Jack (1959). All three share Ninotchka'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 The Ruling Class (1972).

🍅 95% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ernst Lubitschwittyplayfulromanticdarkly funny
6 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Criterion Channel · FlixFling

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If Ninotchka hit the spot, these will too

The Rules of the Game poster
The Rules of the Game
1939 · dir. Jean Renoir
🍅 97%★ 7.9drama · comedy · romance

Both are built on the same subject: satire

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Ninotchka does

The Marquis de la Chesnaye and his wife host a weekend gala where a variety of complicated romantic and social entanglements between guests and servants lead to tragedy, all against the backdrop of a looming war.

A New Leaf poster
A New Leaf
1971 · dir. Elaine May
🍅 94%★ 7.3comedy · romance

Witty and playful in the same breath

The difference: Made in the 1970s, in a different era of the craft

After running out of funds, Henry Graham, a carefree playboy, plots to marry and murder wealthy botanist Henrietta Lowell.

I'm All Right Jack poster
I'm All Right Jack
1959 · dir. John Boulting
🍅 85%★ 7.1comedy

Common ground: satire

The difference: Takes it somewhere less romantic than Ninotchka does

Naive Stanley Windrush looks for a career in a family business. Much to his dismay, he finds work at a munitions factory where he has to start from the bottom, while both the management and the labor union use him as a tool in their fight for power.

Trouble in Paradise poster
Trouble in Paradise
1932 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 90%★ 7.9comedy · crime · romance

Ernst Lubitsch working the same nerve twice

The difference: Trades the dark humor of Ninotchka for an angle of its own

Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.

The Producers poster
The Producers
1968 · dir. Mel Brooks
🍅 92%★ 7.5comedy

Darkly funny comedy in both cases

A conniving Broadway producer and his meek accountant plan to profit from charming wealthy old biddies to invest in an overbudget production, and then put on a sure-fire disaster, so nobody will ask for their money back — and what's more disastrous than a tasteless musical celebrating Adolf Hitler.

Lost in America poster
Lost in America
1985 · dir. Albert Brooks
🍅 95%★ 7comedy

Romance built on wit, twice over

David and Linda Howard are successful yuppies from LA. When he gets a job disappointment, David convinces Linda that they should quit their jobs, liquidate their assets, and emulate the movie Easy Rider, spending the rest of their lives traveling around America...in a Winnebago.

Last Night poster
Last Night
1998 · dir. Don McKellar
🍅 85%★ 7.1comedy · romance · drama

Both lean on romance more than on comedy

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Ninotchka does

Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.

The Shop Around the Corner poster
The Shop Around the Corner
1940 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 99%★ 8comedy · drama · romance

Ernst Lubitsch directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

Digger poster
Digger
2026 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 52%★ 7.5comedy · drama

The same preoccupation in both: capitalism

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything.

Drop Dead Gorgeous poster
Drop Dead Gorgeous
1999 · dir. Michael Patrick Jann
🍅 47%★ 6.7comedy

Romance with a pulse of play, in both cases

In a small Minnesota town, the annual beauty pageant is being covered by a TV crew. Former winner Gladys Leeman wants to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps; explosions, falling lights, and trailer fires prove that. As the Leemans are the richest family in town, the police are pretty relaxed about it all. Despite everything, main rival (but sweet) Amber Atkins won't give up without a fight.

To Be or Not to Be poster
To Be or Not to Be
1942 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 96%★ 8.1comedy · war · romanceMax

Romantic comedy, and it commits to that

During the Nazi occupation of Poland, an acting troupe becomes embroiled in a Polish soldier's efforts to track down a German spy.

The Ruling Class poster
The Ruling Class
1972 · dir. Peter Medak
🍅 83%★ 7.2comedy · dramaMax

Darkly funny romance in both cases

When the Earl of Gurney dies in a cross-dressing accident, his schizophrenic son, Jack, inherits the Gurney estate. Jack is not the average nobleman; he sings and dances across the estate and thinks he is Jesus reincarnated. Believing that Jack is mentally unfit to own the estate, the Gurney family plots to steal Jack's inheritance. As their outrageous schemes fail, the family strives to cure Jack of his bizarre behavior, with disastrous results.

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