feelsalike.comSign in
Safety Last! poster

Movies that feel likeSafety Last! (1923)

When a store clerk organizes a contest to climb the outside of a tall building, circumstances force him to make the perilous climb himself.

If you loved Safety Last!, the closest films we have are Our Hospitality (1923), Seven Chances (1925) and Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928). All three share Safety Last!'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 Palm Beach Story (1942).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Sam Taylorwittyplayfulromantictense
7 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Kino Film Collection · IndieFlix

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

Stream it:HBO Max ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Safety Last! streaming? →

If Safety Last! hit the spot, these will too

Our Hospitality poster
Our Hospitality
1923 · dir. Buster Keaton
🍅 97%★ 7.7comedy · romance · thriller

The same mix in both: wit, then play

A young man falls for a young woman on his trip home; unbeknownst to him, her family has vowed to kill every member of his family.

Seven Chances poster
Seven Chances
1925 · dir. Buster Keaton
🍅 94%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Common ground in both: clock and silent film

The difference: Takes it somewhere less tense than Safety Last! does

Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.

Steamboat Bill, Jr. poster
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928 · dir. Charles Reisner
🍅 96%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Common ground: black and white

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

Horse Feathers poster
Horse Feathers
1932 · dir. Norman Z. McLeod
🍅 97%★ 7.5comedy · romance

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.

My Man Godfrey poster
My Man Godfrey
1936 · dir. Gregory La Cava
🍅 97%★ 7.9comedyPrime Video

Romantic comedy in both cases

Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is more forgotten than Godfrey Park, who resides in a dump by the East River. Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia, who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.

The Awful Truth poster
The Awful Truth
1937 · dir. Leo McCarey
🍅 94%★ 7.6comedy · romance

Both lean on wit more than on romance

Unfounded suspicions lead a married couple to begin divorce proceedings, whereupon they start undermining each other's attempts to find new romance.

It Happened One Night poster
It Happened One Night
1934 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 98%★ 8.1comedy · romance

Playful thriller, and it commits to that

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

The Philadelphia Story poster
The Philadelphia Story
1940 · dir. George Cukor
🍅 100%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Comedy with a pulse of romance, in both cases

When a rich woman's ex-husband and a tabloid-type reporter turn up just before her planned remarriage, she begins to learn the truth about herself.

Bringing Up Baby poster
Bringing Up Baby
1938 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 97%★ 7.8comedy · romance

Romance built on wit, twice over

David Huxley is waiting to get a bone he needs for his museum collection. Through a series of strange circumstances, he meets Susan Vance, and the duo have a series of misadventures which include a leopard called Baby.

The Palm Beach Story poster
The Palm Beach Story
1942 · dir. Preston Sturges
🍅 94%★ 7.5comedy · romance

Another one that scratches it

A New York inventor, Tom Jeffers, needs cash to develop his big idea, so his adoring wife, Gerry, decides to raise it by divorcing him and marrying an eccentric Florida millionaire, J. D. Hackensacker III.

Adam's Rib poster
Adam's Rib
1949 · dir. George Cukor
🍅 96%★ 7.4comedy · romance

A 1940s answer to the same itch

The difference: Made in the 1940s, in a different era of the craft

A woman's attempted murder of her uncaring husband results in everyday quarrels in the lives of Adam and Amanda, a pair of happily married lawyers who end up on opposite sides of the case in court.

The Navigator poster
The Navigator
1924 · dir. Donald Crisp
🍅 100%★ 7.5comedy · action · adventure

The same preoccupation in both: silent film

The difference: Sits closer to action than Safety Last! does

The wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O'Brien. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, they end up having adventures on the high seas.

In the mood for more witty?

all witty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Safety Last!’s defining feeling.