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The Apartment poster

Movies that feel likeThe Apartment (1960)

Bud Baxter is a minor clerk in a huge New York insurance company, until he discovers a quick way to climb the corporate ladder. He lends out his apartment to the executives as a place to take their mistresses. Although he often has to deal with the aftermath of their visits, one night he's left with a major problem to solve.

If you loved The Apartment, the closest films we have are Harold and Maude (1971), Sabrina (1954) and Lolita (1962). All three share The Apartment'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 Girl on the Bridge (1999).

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If The Apartment hit the spot, these will too

Harold and Maude poster
Harold and Maude
1971 · dir. Hal Ashby
🍅 86%★ 7.8comedy · drama · romance

Two things both keep coming back to: age difference and suicide attempt

A deadpan young man obsessed with death meets an eccentric septuagenarian who teaches him to live life to the fullest.

Sabrina poster
Sabrina
1954 · dir. Billy Wilder
🍅 89%★ 7.6comedy · romance · drama

The same hand behind both of them: Billy Wilder

The difference: Takes it somewhere less melancholy than The Apartment does

After two years in Paris, chauffeur's daughter Sabrina returns home elegantly transformed and immediately catches the attention of David, the playboy son of her father's rich employers. David woos and wins Sabrina, who has always been in love with him, however their romance is threatened by David's serious older brother Linus, who runs the family business and is relying on David to marry an heiress in order for a crucial merger to take place.

Lolita poster
Lolita
1962 · dir. Stanley Kubrick
🍅 89%★ 7.5drama · comedy · romance

Witty where it counts, playful underneath

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

Sleepless in Seattle poster
Sleepless in Seattle
1993 · dir. Nora Ephron
🍅 75%★ 6.8comedy · drama · romanceNetflix

New York City shapes both of them

The difference: 33 years apart, and the 1990s show

After the death of his mother, a young boy calls a radio station in an attempt to set his father up on a date. Across the country, an engaged woman becomes convinced that they belong together, despite their never having met. Will their paths collide despite the odds?

City Lights poster
City Lights
1931 · dir. Charlie Chaplin
🍅 95%★ 8.5comedy · drama · romancePrime VideoMax

Both keep coming back to the same thing: suicide attempt

A tramp falls in love with a beautiful blind flower girl. His on-and-off friendship with a wealthy man allows him to be the girl's benefactor and suitor.

Meet John Doe poster
Meet John Doe
1941 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 92%★ 7.6drama · comedy · romance

Both land stillness and romance at once

As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.

The Hustler poster
The Hustler
1961 · dir. Robert Rossen
🍅 94%★ 7.9drama · romance

The same mix in both: tenderness, then melancholy

Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.

La Dolce Vita poster
La Dolce Vita
1960 · dir. Federico Fellini
🍅 95%★ 8comedy · drama

The same preoccupation in both: lovesickness

Episodic journey of journalist Marcello who struggles to find his place in the world, torn between the allure of Rome's elite social scene and the stifling domesticity offered by his girlfriend, all the while searching for a way to become a serious writer.

Secretary poster
Secretary
2002 · dir. Steven Shainberg
🍅 78%★ 6.8romance · drama · comedyPrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: clerk

A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.

The Girl on the Bridge poster
The Girl on the Bridge
1999 · dir. Patrice Leconte
🍅 88%★ 7.4drama · comedy · romance

Both lean on wit more than on comedy

It's night on a Paris bridge. A girl leans over Seine River with tears in her eyes and a violent yearning to drown her sorrows. Out of nowhere someone takes an interest in her. He is Gabor, a knife thrower who needs a human target for his show. The girl, Adele, has never been lucky and nowhere else to go. So she follows him. They travel along the northern bank of the Mediterranean to perform.

Life As We Know It poster
Life As We Know It
2010 · dir. Greg Berlanti
🍅 29%★ 6.5comedy · romance · drama

Common ground: romcom

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

After a disastrous first date for caterer Holly and network sports director Messer, all they have in common is a dislike for each other and their love for their goddaughter Sophie. But when they suddenly become all Sophie has in this world, Holly and Messer must set their differences aside. Juggling careers and social calendars, they'll have to find common ground while living under the same roof.

Love Is All You Need poster
Love Is All You Need
2012 · dir. Susanne Bier
🍅 75%★ 6.5comedy · romance · dramaRent or buy

Playful drama in both cases

Ida, a Danish hairdresser who has lost her hair to cancer, returns home from the hospital one day to find her husband is cheating on her. She decides to travel to Italy on her own for her daughter's wedding, but discovers on arriving that the wedding gathering will present its own challenges.

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