feelsalike.comSign in
Ferris Bueller's Day Off poster

Movies that feel likeFerris Bueller's Day Off (1986)

After high school slacker Ferris Bueller successfully fakes an illness in order to skip school for the day, he goes on a series of adventures throughout Chicago with his girlfriend Sloane and best friend Cameron, all the while trying to outwit his wily school principal and fed-up sister.

If you loved Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the closest films we have are The Breakfast Club (1985), Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987) and Superbad (2007). All three share Ferris Bueller's Day Off'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 Gregory's Girl (1980).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. John Hugheswittyplayfulwistful
7 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Hulu · Apple TV

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

See it on the Mood Map

When is Ferris Bueller's Day Off streaming? →

If Ferris Bueller's Day Off hit the spot, these will too

The Breakfast Club poster
The Breakfast Club
1985 · dir. John Hughes
🍅 87%★ 7.8comedy · dramaHulu

John Hughes working the same nerve twice

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Ferris Bueller's Day Off does

Five high school students from different walks of life endure a Saturday detention under a power-hungry principal. The disparate group includes rebel John, princess Claire, outcast Allison, brainy Brian and Andrew, the jock. Each has a chance to tell his or her story, making the others see them a little differently -- and when the day ends, they question whether school will ever be the same.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles poster
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
1987 · dir. John Hughes
🍅 93%★ 7.6comedyParamount+

John Hughes directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Easier on the wistfulness than Ferris Bueller's Day Off

An irritable marketing executive, Neal Page, is heading home to Chicago for Thanksgiving when a number of delays force him to travel with a well meaning but overbearing shower curtain ring salesman, Del Griffith.

Superbad poster
Superbad
2007 · dir. Greg Mottola
🍅 88%★ 7.6comedyApple TV+Paramount+

Two things both keep coming back to: high school and growing up

The difference: 21 years apart, and the 2000s show

Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.

Breaking Away poster
Breaking Away
1979 · dir. Peter Yates
🍅 95%★ 7.7drama · comedy

Both keep coming back to the same thing: growing up

Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his three friends: the comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends' and parents' annoyance.

Booksmart poster
Booksmart
2019 · dir. Olivia Wilde
🍅 96%★ 7.1comedyRent or buy

One thread runs through both: high school

Two academic teenage superstars realize, on the eve of their high school graduation, that they should have worked less and played more. Determined to never fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into one night.

Rushmore poster
Rushmore
1998 · dir. Wes Anderson
🍅 90%★ 7.6comedy · drama

The same mix in both: wit, then play

When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.

American Reunion poster
American Reunion
2012 · dir. Jon Hurwitz
🍅 45%★ 6.7comedy

Both lean on wistfulness more than on comedy

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

The characters we met a little more than a decade ago return to East Great Falls for their high school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t, and that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship.

Slums of Beverly Hills poster
Slums of Beverly Hills
1998 · dir. Tamara Jenkins
🍅 82%★ 6.7comedy · drama

Witty comedy in both cases

In 1976, a teenage girl struggles to cope while living with her neurotic lower-middle-class family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.

The Squid and the Whale poster
The Squid and the Whale
2005 · dir. Noah Baumbach
🍅 91%★ 7.3comedy · dramaNetflix

Comedy built on play, twice over

Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl poster
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2015 · dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
🍅 81%★ 7.7drama · comedyRent or buy

The shared currency is wistfulness

Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia.

Gregory's Girl poster
Gregory's Girl
1980 · dir. Bill Forsyth
🍅 95%★ 7.1comedy · romance

Both work the same wit

A teenager falls hard for the female soccer player who has replaced him on the team and attempts to pursue her.

Clueless poster
Clueless
1995 · dir. Amy Heckerling
★ 6.9comedy · romanceParamount+Starz

Both sit in the same playful register

Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other. Emboldened by her success, she decides to give hopelessly klutzy new student Tai a makeover. When Tai becomes more popular than she is, Cher realizes that her disapproving ex-stepbrother was right about how misguided she was -- and falls for him.

In the mood for more witty?

all witty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Ferris Bueller's Day Off’s defining feeling.