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Zero for Conduct poster

Movies that feel likeZero for Conduct (1933)

In a repressive boarding school with rigid rules of behavior, four boys decide to rebel against the director on a celebration day.

If you loved Zero for Conduct, the closest films we have are One Week (1920), Sons of the Desert (1933) and The Bank Dick (1940). All three share Zero for Conduct'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 Genevieve (1953).

🍅 94% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Jean Vigowittyplayfulcontemplative
5 of 12 streaming nowKino Film Collection · FlixFling · Artiflix

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If Zero for Conduct hit the spot, these will too

One Week poster
One Week
1920 · dir. Buster Keaton
🍅 100%★ 8.1comedy

One thread runs through both: short film

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Zero for Conduct

Newlyweds receive a build-it-yourself house as a wedding gift—and the house can, supposedly, be built in "one week". A rejected suitor secretly re-numbers packing crates, and the husband struggles to assemble the house according to this new 'arrangement' of its parts.

Sons of the Desert poster
Sons of the Desert
1933 · dir. William A. Seiter
🍅 100%★ 7.5comedy

The same mix in both: wit, then play

Ollie and Stan deceive their wives into thinking they are taking a medically necessary cruise when they are really going to a lodge convention.

The Bank Dick poster
The Bank Dick
1940 · dir. Edward F. Cline
🍅 96%★ 7.1comedy

Witty comedy in both cases

Egbert Sousé becomes an unexpected hero when a bank robber falls over a bench he's occupying. Now considered brave, Egbert is given a job as a bank guard. Soon, he is approached by charlatan J. Frothingham Waterbury about buying shares in a mining company. Egbert persuades teller Og Oggilby to lend him bank money, to be returned when the scheme pays off. Unfortunately, bank inspector Snoopington then makes a surprise appearance.

L'Atalante poster
L'Atalante
1934 · dir. Jean Vigo
🍅 100%★ 7.7comedy · drama · romance

The same hand behind both of them: Jean Vigo

The difference: Sits closer to romance than Zero for Conduct does

Newly married couple Juliette and ship captain Jean struggle through marriage as they travel on the L'Atalante along with the captain's first mate and a cabin boy.

Genevieve poster
Genevieve
1953 · dir. Henry Cornelius
🍅 86%★ 7comedy

Drama built on play, twice over

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1950s show

Two friends driving in the London to Brighton vintage car rally bet on which of them will be the first to arrive back home.

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

The same preoccupation in both: cigarette

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.

Hit the Road poster
Hit the Road
2021 · dir. Panah Panahi
🍅 95%★ 7.2comedy · drama

Both lean on stillness more than on comedy

A chaotic family is on a road trip across a rugged landscape. In the back seat, Dad has a broken leg, Mom tries to laugh when she's not holding back tears, and the youngest keeps exploding into car karaoke. Only the older brother is quiet.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 85%★ 8.1comedy · drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

My Favorite Year poster
My Favorite Year
1982 · dir. Richard Benjamin
🍅 97%★ 7.3comedy · drama

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

Fledgling comic Benjy Stone can't believe his luck when his childhood hero, the swashbuckling matinee idol Alan Swann, gets booked to appear on the variety show he writes for. But when Swann arrives, he fails to live up to his silver screen image. Instead, he's a drunken womanizer who suffers from stage fright. Benjy is assigned to look after him before the show, and it's all he can do to keep his former idol from going completely off the rails.

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

Playful drama 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.

Gloria poster
Gloria
2013 · dir. Sebastián Lelio
🍅 100%★ 6.9comedy · drama

Both sit in the same contemplative register

Gloria is a 58-year-old divorcée. Her children have all left home but she has no desire to spend her days and nights alone. Determined to defy old age and loneliness, she rushes headlong into a whirl of singles’ parties on the hunt for instant gratification – which only leads to repeated disappointment and enduring emptiness. But when Gloria meets Rodolfo, an ex-naval officer seven years her senior, she begins to imagine the possibility of a permanent relationship.

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

The comedy is handled with the same confidence

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.

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The best-reviewed films that share Zero for Conduct’s defining feeling.