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Elling poster

Movies that feel likeElling (2001)

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.

If you loved Elling, the closest films we have are Son of Rambow (2007), That's Life (1998) and Three Men and a Leg (1997). All three share Elling'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 Italian for Beginners (2000).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.4 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Petter Næsswittyplayfulcontemplativewarm
4 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Essential

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If Elling hit the spot, these will too

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

The same mix in both: wit, then play

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Elling

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.

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

Both are built on the same subject: male friendship

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.

Three Men and a Leg poster
Three Men and a Leg
1997 · dir. Aldo Baglio
★ 7.7comedy

The same preoccupation in both: male friendship

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.

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

Both land stillness and warmth at once

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.

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

Both lean on wit more than on comedy

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.

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

Drama built on play, twice over

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.

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

Warm comedy in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into action than Elling 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.

The Bucket List poster
The Bucket List
2007 · dir. Rob Reiner
🍅 40%★ 7.3drama · comedy

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers are worlds apart. At a crossroads in their lives, they share a hospital room and discover they have two things in common: a desire to spend the time they have left doing everything they ever wanted to do and an unrealized need to come to terms with who they are. Together they embark on the road trip of a lifetime, becoming friends along the way and learning to live life to the fullest, with insight and humor.

Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani poster
Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani
2013 · dir. Ayan Mukerji
🍅 69%★ 7.3romance · comedyNetflixPrime Video

Comedy with a pulse of wit, in both cases

On a trekking trip, an introverted Naina falls for a charming ex-classmate, whose thirst for adventure drives them apart. Years later, their paths cross again.

Italian for Beginners poster
Italian for Beginners
2000 · dir. Lone Scherfig
🍅 87%★ 7comedy · drama · romance

Another one that scratches it

Several lonely hearts in a semi-provincial suburb of a town in Denmark use a beginner's course in Italian as the platform to meet the romance of their lives. The film, which unspools the connections and family drama shared between the students, complies with several aesthetic principles of Dogme 95 movement.

Let's Be Cops poster
Let's Be Cops
2014 · dir. Luke Greenfield
🍅 18%★ 6.4comedyStarz

The shared currency is warmth

Best pals Ryan and Justin are stalled in their respective careers -- a fact that is painfully driven home when they go to a college reunion. Dressed as police in the mistaken belief that they were to attend a costume party, Ryan and Justin find that the uniforms earn them much respect and attention. Although Justin is uncomfortable with the idea, Ryan decides to continue with the charade, putting them both in increasingly dangerous situations. When these newly-minted “heroes” get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.

Ask Me If I'm Happy poster
Ask Me If I'm Happy
2000 · dir. Giacomo Poretti
★ 7.2comedy

Comedy of the same temperament

Aspiring thespians Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo work dead-end jobs while nurturing their dream production of Cyrano de Bergerac, until love for the same woman tears their friendship apart. Three years later, Giovanni and Giacomo reunite after learning that Aldo is dying.

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