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His Girl Friday poster

Movies that feel likeHis Girl Friday (1940)

Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.

If you loved His Girl Friday, the closest films we have are Bringing Up Baby (1938), Trouble in Paradise (1932) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953). All three share His Girl Friday'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).

🍅 99% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Howard Hawkswittyplayfulromanticgritty
5 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · FlixFling · Pure Flix

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If His Girl Friday hit the spot, these will too

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

The same hand behind both of them: Howard Hawks

The difference: Easier on the grit than His Girl Friday

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.

Trouble in Paradise poster
Trouble in Paradise
1932 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 90%★ 7.9comedy · crime · romance

Both keep coming back to the same thing: black and white

Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes poster
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
1953 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 88%★ 7.1comedy · romance

Howard Hawks working the same nerve twice

Lorelei Lee is a beautiful showgirl engaged to be married to the wealthy Gus Esmond, much to the disapproval of Gus' rich father, Esmond Sr., who thinks that Lorelei is just after his money. When Lorelei goes on a cruise accompanied only by her best friend, Dorothy Shaw, Esmond Sr. hires Ernie Malone, a private detective, to follow her and report any questionable behavior that would disqualify her from the marriage.

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

Common ground in both: journalist and journalism

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.

What's Up, Doc? poster
What's Up, Doc?
1972 · dir. Peter Bogdanovich
🍅 88%★ 7.6comedy · crime · romance

The same preoccupation in both: screwball comedy

The difference: 32 years apart, and the 1970s show

The accidental mix-up of four identical plaid overnight bags leads to a series of increasingly wild and wacky situations.

Take the Money and Run poster
Take the Money and Run
1969 · dir. Woody Allen
🍅 91%★ 7.2comedy · crime

Common ground: prison

Virgil Starkwell is intent on becoming a notorious bank robber. Unfortunately for Virgil and his not-so-budding career, he is completely incompetent.

The Thin Man poster
The Thin Man
1934 · dir. W.S. Van Dyke
🍅 98%★ 7.9comedy · mystery · crime

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

The difference: Leans harder into mystery than His Girl Friday does

Former detective Nick Charles has retired from police work, preferring a life of cocktails, parties, and relaxation with his wealthy wife, Nora. Their holiday is interrupted when the daughter of Nick’s former client asks for help finding her missing father, eccentric inventor Clyde Wynant. When Wynant’s body is discovered, Nick is drawn back into the investigation, with Nora eagerly joining him. As the couple questions Wynant’s family, friends, and business associates, a tangled web of greed, deception, and murder begins to unravel.

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

One thread runs through both: screwball comedy

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.

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

Witty and playful in the same breath

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

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.

Some Like It Hot poster
Some Like It Hot
1959 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 95%★ 8.2comedy · romance · crime

Romance built on grit, twice over

In Prohibition-era Chicago, musicians Joe and Jerry witness a mob hit, and flee the state in an all-female band disguised as Josephine and Daphne, but further complications set in.

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

Witty crime, 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.

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The best-reviewed films that share His Girl Friday’s defining feeling.