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Movies that feel like You Can't Take It with You (1938)

If you loved You Can't Take It with You, the closest films we have are Meet John Doe (1941), It Happened One Night (1934) and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). All three share You Can't Take It with You's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 7 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Brew, MGM Plus and FlixFling and others, checked against today's data.

Alice, the only relatively normal member of the eccentric Sycamore family, falls in love with Tony Kirby, but his wealthy banker father and snobbish mother strongly disapprove of the match. When the Kirbys are invited to dinner to become better acquainted with their future in-laws, things don't turn out the way Alice had hoped.

πŸ… 94% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.8 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Frank Caprawittyplayfulromantictenderwhimsical

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If You Can't Take It with You hit the spot, these will too

Meet John Doe poster
Meet John Doe
1941 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.6drama Β· comedy Β· romance

Frank Capra directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Lighter on whimsy

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.

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It Happened One Night poster
It Happened One Night
1934 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1comedy Β· romance

Frank Capra working the same nerve twice

The difference: Without the same whimsy

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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Mr. Deeds Goes to Town poster
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.8comedy Β· drama Β· romance

One thread runs through both: black and white

The difference: Played as drama first

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

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Trouble in Paradise poster
Trouble in Paradise
1932 Β· dir. Ernst Lubitsch
πŸ… 90%β˜… 7.9comedy Β· crime Β· romance

Two things both keep coming back to: based on play or musical and secretary

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.

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Holiday poster
Holiday
1938 Β· dir. George Cukor
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.7comedy Β· romance Β· drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: free spirit

Johnny Case, a freethinking financier, has finally found the girl of his dreams β€” Julia Seton, the spoiled daughter of a socially prominent millionaire β€” and she's agreed to marry him. But when Johnny plans a holiday for the two to enjoy life while they are still young, his fiancΓ©e has other plans & that is for Johnny to work in her father's bank!

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His Girl Friday poster
His Girl Friday
1940 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 99%β˜… 7.8comedy Β· romance

Common ground: based on play or musical

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.

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The Palm Beach Story poster
The Palm Beach Story
1942 Β· dir. Preston Sturges
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.5comedy Β· romance

Both are built on the same subject: love

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.

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The Cameraman poster
The Cameraman
1928 Β· dir. Edward Sedgwick
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8comedy Β· romance Β· drama

The same preoccupation in both: secretary

A photographer takes up newsreel shooting to impress a secretary.

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Steamboat Bill, Jr. poster
Steamboat Bill, Jr.
1928 Β· dir. Charles Reisner
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.8comedy Β· romance

Both are built on the same subject: black and white

The just-out-of-college, effete son of a no-nonsense steamboat captain comes to visit his father whom he's not seen since he was a child.

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The Awful Truth poster
The Awful Truth
1937 Β· dir. Leo McCarey
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.6comedy Β· 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.

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The Shop Around the Corner poster
The Shop Around the Corner
1940 Β· dir. Ernst Lubitsch
πŸ… 99%β˜… 8comedy Β· drama Β· romance

From the 1940s, and it lands the same way

Two employees at a gift shop can barely stand one another, without realising that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

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Bringing Up Baby poster
Bringing Up Baby
1938 Β· dir. Howard Hawks
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.8comedy Β· romance

Romantic where it counts, tender underneath

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.

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