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Nothing Left to Do But Cry poster

Movies that feel likeNothing Left to Do But Cry (1984)

Two 20th-century friends accidentally stumble into the year 1492, where they meet a charming teen and try to alter history.

If you loved Nothing Left to Do But Cry, the closest films we have are The Visitors (1993), Harvey (1950) and The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). All three share Nothing Left to Do But Cry'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 Songs from the Second Floor (2000).

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If Nothing Left to Do But Cry hit the spot, these will too

The Visitors poster
The Visitors
1993 · dir. Jean-Marie Poiré
🍅 31%★ 7fantasy · comedyPrime Video

Witty where it counts, playful underneath

After a wizard's spell goes awry, 12th-century Gallic knight Godefroy de Papincourt, Count of Montmirail finds himself transported to 1993, along with his dimwitted servant, Jacquouille la Fripouille. Startled and perplexed by modern technology, the duo run amok, destroying cars and causing chaos until they meet Beatrice de Montmirail, an aristocratic descendant of the nobleman, who may be able to help them get back to 1123.

Harvey poster
Harvey
1950 · dir. Henry Koster
🍅 88%★ 7.9comedy · fantasy

Dreamlike comedy in both cases

The difference: Made in the 1950s, in a different era of the craft

The story of Elwood P. Dowd who makes friends with a spirit taking the form of a human-sized rabbit named Harvey that only he sees (and a few privileged others on occasion also.) After his sister tries to commit him to a mental institution, a comedy of errors ensues. Elwood and Harvey become the catalysts for a family mending its wounds and for romance blossoming in unexpected places.

The Purple Rose of Cairo poster
The Purple Rose of Cairo
1985 · dir. Woody Allen
🍅 93%★ 7.6fantasy · comedy · romance

Both lean on wit more than on fantasy

The difference: Played as romance first

Cecilia is a waitress in New Jersey, living a dreary life during the Great Depression. Her only escape from her mundane reality is the movie theatre. After losing her job, Cecilia goes to see 'The Purple Rose of Cairo' in hopes of raising her spirits, where she watches dashing archaeologist Tom Baxter time and again.

Ghostbusters poster
Ghostbusters
1984 · dir. Ivan Reitman
🍅 95%★ 7.8comedy · fantasyHulu

Comedy built on play, twice over

After losing their university jobs, three parapsychologists start a ghost-catching business in New York City and uncover a supernatural threat that could destroy the world.

The Brand New Testament poster
The Brand New Testament
2015 · dir. Jaco Van Dormael
🍅 82%★ 7.1comedy · fantasy

Dreamlike fantasy, and it commits to that

God lives in Brussels. On Earth though, God is a coward, morally pathetic and odious to his family. His daughter, Ea, is bored at home and can't stand being locked up in a small apartment in ordinary Brussels, until the day she decides to revolt against her dad...

Songs from the Second Floor poster
Songs from the Second Floor
2000 · dir. Roy Andersson
🍅 88%★ 7.5drama · comedy

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

The difference: Leans further into drama

A monumental traffic jam serves as the backdrop for the lives of the inhabitants of a Swedish city.

If I Were You poster
If I Were You
2006 · dir. Daniel Filho
🍅 13%★ 6.1comedy · fantasy

Both lean on play more than on fantasy

The publicist Claudio and the housewife and choral teacher Helena have been married for many years, but they do not understand and respect the feelings and view point of the partner. Claudio sees Helena as a shopper and "little teacher of a choral" and Helena sees Claudio as an insensitive and rough man. On the night before the fiftieth anniversary of Claudio, they changed places with each other.

Liar Liar poster
Liar Liar
1997 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 83%★ 6.9comedy · fantasyNetflix

Both work the same dream logic

Forced by his son's birthday wish, fast-talking attorney and habitual liar Fletcher Reede must tell the truth for the next 24 hours.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence poster
🍅 90%★ 6.9drama · comedy · fantasy

Comedy approached the same way

An absurdist, surrealistic and shocking pitch-black comedy, which moves freely from nightmare to fantasy to hilariously deadpan humour as it muses on man’s perpetual inhumanity to man.

Bedazzled poster
Bedazzled
1967 · dir. Stanley Donen
🍅 74%★ 6.7fantasy · comedy · romance

Both play fantasy straight

A hapless loser sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for seven wishes, but has trouble winning over the girl of his dreams.

17 Again poster
17 Again
2009 · dir. Burr Steers
🍅 57%★ 6.4comedy · fantasyNetflix

The comedy is handled with the same confidence

On the brink of a midlife crisis, 30-something Mike O'Donnell wishes he could have a "do-over." And that's exactly what he gets when he wakes up one morning to find he's 17 years old again. With his adult mind stuck inside the body of a teenager, Mike actually has the chance to reverse some decisions he wishes he'd never made. But maybe they weren't so bad after all.

Johnny Stecchino poster
Johnny Stecchino
1991 · dir. Roberto Benigni
🍅 46%★ 7.2comedy

The same hand behind both of them: Roberto Benigni

The difference: Less dreamlike, more its own thing

Good hearted but not very wordly-wise, Dante is happy driving the school bus for a group of mentally handicapped children, while feeling he is somehow missing out on life and love. So he is very excited when after nearly being knocked down by her car he meets Maria, who seems immediately enamoured of him. He is soon invited to her sumptuous Palermo villa, little suspecting that this is part of a plot. He bears an amazing likeness to Maria's stool-pigeon gangster husband and it would be convenient for them if the mobster, in the shape of Dante, was seen to be dead and buried.

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The best-reviewed films that share Nothing Left to Do But Cry’s defining feeling.