
50 Movies Like Dirty Dancing (1987) You Need to Watch Next
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer
Updated June 2026
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If you loved Dirty Dancing (1987) by Emile Ardolino, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are A Star Is Born, Clouds, Moulin Rouge!. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
50 Movies Similar to Dirty Dancing

A Star Is Born
2018 · Bradley Cooper
Seasoned musician Jackson Maine discovers — and falls in love with — struggling artist Ally. She has just about given up on her dream to make it big as a singer — until Jack coaxes her into the spotli
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

Clouds
2020 · Justin Baldoni
Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral mus
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

Moulin Rouge!
2001 · Baz Luhrmann
A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Parisian nightclub, at the cusp of the 20th century. A young poet, who is plunged into the heady world o
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

Step Up 2: The Streets
2008 · Jon M. Chu
When rebellious street dancer Andie West lands at the elite Maryland School of the Arts, she finds herself fighting to fit in while also trying to hold onto her old life. When she joins forces with th
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

Walk the Line
2005 · James Mangold
A chronicle of country music legend Johnny Cash's life, from his early days on an Arkansas cotton farm to his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, where he recorded alongside Elvis Presley, Jerry
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

9 Songs
2004 · Michael Winterbottom
Matt, a young glaciologist, soars across the vast, silent, icebound immensities of the South Pole as he recalls his love affair with Lisa. They meet at a mobbed rock concert in a vast music hall - Lon
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

The Sound of Music
1965 · Robert Wise
In the years before World War II, a tomboyish postulant at an Austrian abbey is hired as a governess in the home of a widowed naval captain with seven children and brings a new love of life and music
In common: Drama · Music

CODA
2021 · Sian Heder
As a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults), Ruby is the only hearing person in her deaf family. When the family's fishing business is threatened, Ruby finds herself torn between pursuing her love of music and h
In common: Drama · Music · Romance

Drumline
2002 · Charles Stone III
A talented street drummer from Harlem enrolls in a Southern university, expecting to lead its marching band's drumline to victory. He initially flounders in his new world, before realizing that it tak
In common: Drama · Music

Coyote Ugly
2000 · David McNally
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives
In common: Drama · Music

Step Up
2006 · Anne Fletcher
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.
In common: Drama · Music

The Idea of You
2024 · Michael Showalter
40-year-old single mom Solène begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet. As they begin a whirlwind romance, it is
In common: Drama · Music

The Piano Teacher
2001 · Michael Haneke
Erika Kohut, a sexually repressed piano teacher living with her domineering mother, meets a young man who starts romantically pursuing her.
In common: Drama · Romance

Materialists
2025 · Celine Song
A young, ambitious New York City matchmaker finds herself torn between the perfect match and her imperfect ex.
In common: Drama · Romance

Disobedience
2018 · Sebastián Lelio
New York photographer Ronit flies to London after learning about the death of her estranged father. Ronit is returning to the same Orthodox Jewish community that shunned her decades earlier for her ch
In common: Drama · Romance

Nine 1/2 Weeks
1986 · Adrian Lyne
An erotic story about a woman, the assistant of an art gallery, who gets involved in an impersonal affair with a man. She barely knows about his life, only about the sex games they play, so the relati
In common: Drama · Romance

Emmanuelle
1974 · Just Jaeckin
An employee at the French Embassy in Bangkok invites his wife to join him – and enjoy the benefits of their open marriage.
In common: Drama · Romance

Newness
2017 · Drake Doremus
In contemporary Los Angeles, two millennials navigating a social media–driven hookup culture begin a relationship that pushes both emotional and physical boundaries.
In common: Drama · Romance

The Ultimate Gift
2007 · Michael O. Sajbel
When his wealthy grandfather finally dies, Jason Stevens fully expects to benefit when it comes to the reading of the will. But instead of a sizable inheritance, Jason receives a test, a series of tas
In common: Drama · Romance

Blue Is the Warmest Color
2013 · Abdellatif Kechiche
Adèle's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks h
In common: Drama · Romance

Romeo + Juliet
1996 · Baz Luhrmann
In this contemporary take on William Shakespeare's classic tragedy, the Montagues and Capulets have moved their ongoing feud to the sweltering suburb of Verona Beach, where Romeo and Juliet fall in lo
In common: Drama · Romance

Purple Hearts
2022 · Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
An aspiring musician agrees to a marriage of convenience with a soon-to-deploy Marine, but a tragedy soon turns their fake relationship all too real.
In common: Drama · Romance

Five Feet Apart
2019 · Justin Baldoni
Seventeen-year-old Stella spends most of her time in the hospital as a cystic fibrosis patient. Her life is full of routines, boundaries and self-control — all of which get put to the test when she me
In common: Drama · Romance

Indecent Proposal
1993 · Adrian Lyne
John Gage offers a down-on-his-luck yuppie husband $1 million for the opportunity to spend the night with the man's wife.
In common: Drama · Romance

Sex and Lucía
2001 · Julio Medem
Various lives converge on an isolated island, all connected by an author whose novel has become inextricably entwined with his own life.
In common: Drama · Romance

Almost Famous
2000 · Cameron Crowe
In 1973, 15-year-old William Miller's unabashed love of music and aspiration to become a rock journalist lands him an assignment from Rolling Stone magazine to interview and tour with the up-and-comin
In common: Drama · Music

Pink Floyd: The Wall
1982 · Alan Parker
A troubled rock star descends into madness in the midst of his physical and social isolation from everyone.
In common: Drama · Music

August Rush
2007 · Kirsten Sheridan
Evan, a musically gifted orphan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an
In common: Drama · Music

The Legend of 1900
1998 · Giuseppe Tornatore
Musician Max Tooney goes to sell his prized Conn trumpet to a music shop, where he plays the instrument one last time. The shopkeeper recognises the song as one on a record matrix he found and asks wh
In common: Drama · Music

Damage
1992 · Louis Malle
The life of a respected British politician at the height of his career crumbles when he becomes obsessed with his son's lover.
In common: Drama · Romance

After We Fell
2021 · Castille Landon
Just as Tessa's life begins to become unglued, nothing is what she thought it would be. Not her friends nor her family. The only person that she should be able to rely on is Hardin, who is furious whe
In common: Drama · Romance

Fifty Shades Freed
2018 · James Foley
Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as
In common: Drama · Romance

Titanic
1997 · James Cameron
101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and fiancé. Meanwhile, Jack Dawson and Fabrizio De Rossi w
In common: Drama · Romance

Our Fault
2025 · Domingo González
Jenna and Lion's wedding brings about the long-awaited reunion between Noah and Nick after their breakup. Nick's inability to forgive Noah stands as an insurmountable barrier. He, heir to his grandfat
In common: Drama · Romance

Cruel Intentions
1999 · Roger Kumble
Slaking a thirst for dangerous games, Kathryn challenges her stepbrother, Sebastian, to deflower their headmaster's daughter before the summer ends. If he succeeds, the prize is the chance to bed Kath
In common: Drama · Romance

After
2019 · Jenny Gage
Tessa Young is a dedicated student, dutiful daughter and loyal girlfriend to her high school sweetheart. Entering her first semester of college, Tessa's guarded world opens up when she meets Hardin Sc
In common: Drama · Romance

The Notebook
2004 · Nick Cassavetes
An epic love story centered around an older man who reads aloud to a woman with Alzheimer's. From a faded notebook, the old man's words bring to life the story about a couple who is separated by World
In common: Drama · Romance

Love
2015 · Gaspar Noé
Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, the
In common: Drama · Romance

My Fault: London
2025 · Dani Girdwood
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers the
In common: Drama · Romance

Last Tango in Paris
1972 · Bernardo Bertolucci
A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.
In common: Drama · Romance

Me Before You
2016 · Thea Sharrock
Lou Clark, a directionless 26-year-old from the English countryside, takes a job at the local castle as a caregiver and companion to a wealthy young banker, Will Traynor. Wheelchair-bound from an acci
In common: Drama · Romance

After We Collided
2020 · Roger Kumble
Tessa finds herself struggling with her complicated relationship with Hardin; she faces a dilemma that could change their lives forever.
In common: Drama · Romance

Three Steps Above Heaven
2010 · Fernando González Molina
Babi, a sheltered upper-class girl, and Hache, a reckless rebel obsessed with illegal motorcycle races, fall into a forbidden love that pulls them deeper into passion and risk.
In common: Drama · Romance

Below Her Mouth
2017 · April Mullen
An unexpected affair quickly escalates into a heart-stopping reality for two women whose passionate connection changes their lives forever.
In common: Drama · Romance

Dangerous Liaisons
1988 · Stephen Frears
In 18th century France, Marquise de Merteuil asks her ex-lover Vicomte de Valmont to seduce the future wife of another ex-lover of hers in return for one last night with her. Yet things don’t go as pl
In common: Drama · Romance

Cinema Paradiso
1988 · Giuseppe Tornatore
A filmmaker recalls his childhood, when he fell in love with the movies at his village's theater and formed a deep friendship with the theater's projectionist.
In common: Drama · Romance

Fifty Shades Darker
2017 · James Foley
When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find
In common: Drama · Romance

Atonement
2007 · Joe Wright
A young girl irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
In common: Drama · Romance

A Beautiful Mind
2001 · Ron Howard
From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his ca
In common: Drama · Romance

Desire
2011 · Laurent Bouhnik
In a social context deteriorated by a countrywide economic crisis, the life of several people will be turned upside down after they meet Cécile, a character who symbolizes desire.
In common: Drama · Romance