Best movies like Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Famous detective Charlie Chan is called out of retirement to help a San Francisco detective solve a mysterious series of murders. With his bumbling grandson as his sidekick, Chan also encounters an old nemesis known as the Dragon Queen who is the prime suspect.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: detective, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, semi serious, fast, psychotronic
Best tv shows and movies like Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981):
Similar in 79%
Clean Slate (1994)
Plot Summary:
Pogue is a private eye with a problem: every morning when he wakes up, he has total amnesia, waking up with a 'blank slate'. Since he is in the middle of a hot investigation and has a developing romance, this is less than convenient.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: humorous, entertaining, melancholic, witty, talky, semi serious, detective, independent film, psychological, funny
Similar in 84%
She Knows Too Much (1989)
Plot Summary:
In this comedy-drama set in Washington, D.C., an ex-burglar and a dumbbell detective must team up to solve several puzzling murders.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 101
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: rough, mind bending, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 77%
Legacy (2008)
Plot Summary:
When a geeky, overweight rushee is found dead at the hottest sorority on the campus, the three most popular girls of the house are prime suspects.
IMDB Rating: 2.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: witty, humorous, semi serious, realistic, sex comedy, detective, teen comedy
Similar in 81%
The Scenesters (2009)
Plot Summary:
Someone is killing beautiful young Hipsters in East L.A. Charlie is a crime scene cleaner working for Aftershocks Inc. with a penchant for Sherlock Holmes type deduction. Wallace is an out-of-luck filmmaker working as a crime scene videographer. The detectives covering the murders are apathetic at best but with good names (Henry and Carlita, particularly Carlita). Good names, bad attitudes.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 523
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: humorous, suspenseful, cynical, semi serious, realistic, scary, offbeat, independent film, mockumentary
Similar in 80%
The Gun in Betty Lou's Handbag (1992)
Plot Summary:
Betty Lou is a librarian in a very small town. Her husband is a police detective who takes her for granted. Betty Lou is the ultimate mouse. After a gangland figure is mysteriously murdered in town, Betty Lou finds the murder weapon, but can't get anyone's attention to tell them (we're talking very mousey, here). Finally in a fit of frustration she fires the gun in a restroom and when taken to the police station insists she is the murderer. It has the desired effect, people do pay attention to her. With hints at social graces from the hookers in her cell block, she's on her way.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, parody, funny, light, romantic, atmospheric, sexy, clever
Similar in 89%
A Slight Case of Murder (1999)
Plot Summary:
In the midst of a spat, film critic Terry Thorpe (William H. Macy) accidentally kills his lover. Though Thorpe covers his tracks, he raises the suspicions of a private investigator (James Cromwell), who then tries to blackmail him. Thorpe also falls under the watchful eye of Detective Fred Stapelli (Adam Arkin), a cop who is intent on becoming a screenwriter. Before long, Thorpe's girlfriend, Kit (Felicity Huffman), and Stapelli's wife, Patricia (Julia Campbell), are roped into the case.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: detective, crime thriller, neo noir, clever, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, cynical, semi serious, biting
Similar in 85%
This Girl for Hire (1983)
Plot Summary:
In this pilot for a proposed TV series, B.T. Brady is a flippant, but somewhat klutzy female private detective in Hollywood who sets out to solve the murder of a obnoxious mystery writer. Along the way, Brady gets help from her flamboyant mother Zandra, a washed-up actress, as well as Brady's live-in boyfriend Wolfe who runs a memorabilia shop.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 161
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, cynical, semi serious, slapstick, spoof, parody, eighties
Similar in 78%
Scandalous (1984)
Plot Summary:
An investigative reporter following an espionage story goes to London and gets involved with murder, scam artists and rock concerts.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 261
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: independent film, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, semi serious, dark comedy
Similar in 79%
Where's Marlowe? (1998)
Plot Summary:
After making a 3-hour fiasco about New York City's water supply, a two-man film crew decides to take it up a notch by documenting life in the private investigator offices of "Boone and Murphy". Cheating husbands and missing dogs fail to bring in the big bucks however, and after sleeping with the wife of one of their clients Murphy leaves. To stop Boone from having to close down the business the two film-makers must resort to a hands-on approach in the investigations to ensure the completion of their movie.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 566
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: entertaining, satirical, humorous, semi serious, funny, independent film, mockumentary, noir, realistic, neo noir
Similar in 81%
The Man with Bogart's Face (1980)
Plot Summary:
In The Man With Bogart's Face, an affectionate send-up of the Bogart detective films of the 1940s, Robert Sacchi plays a man who idolizes Humphrey Bogart so much he has his features altered to look exactly like his idol. He then opens up a detective agency under the name Sam Marlowe (an amalgam of the names of Bogart's characters from The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep).
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 651
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: neo noir, psychological, parody, clever, offbeat, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, cynical
Similar in 82%
Jane Doe: Ties That Bind (2007)
Plot Summary:
DNA evidence and camera footage places a corrupt CEO as the prime suspect in the murder of a company whistle-blower, but Jane Doe believes the real killer may be a twin sibling.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, realistic, exciting, tense, captivating, serious
Similar in 82%
Who's Harry Crumb? (1989)
Plot Summary:
Harry Crumb is a bumbling and inept private investigator who is hired to solve the kidnapping of a young heiress which he's not expected to solve because his employer is the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: humorous, absurd, light, detective, not serious, realistic, witty, sweet, entertaining, slapstick comedy
Similar in 80%
Peeper (1975)
Plot Summary:
A detective is hired to locate a girl adopted 30 years earlier whose birth father wants to bequeath her his fortune.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 904
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: neo noir, spoof, mind bending, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective, parody
Similar in 77%
The Notorious Landlady (1962)
Plot Summary:
An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected of murder.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: romantic comedy, mind bending, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, semi serious, slapstick
Similar in 89%
The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975)
Plot Summary:
Film noir parody with a private eye trying to solve the murder of his milkman.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 265
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Crime, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: spoof, dark comedy, parody, independent film, humorous, neo noir, realistic, suspenseful, witty, not serious
Similar in 80%
V.I. Warshawski, Detective in High Heels (1991)
Plot Summary:
Victoria "V.I" Warshawski is a Chicago based private detective who agrees to babysit for her new boyfriend; then he is murdered. Being the detective type, she makes the murder her next case. In doing so she befriends the victim's daughter, Kat, and together they set out to crack the case.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Action, Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective, entertaining, light, neo noir, rough, twist ending, sexy
Similar in 84%
Lonely Street (2008)
Plot Summary:
Bubba Mabry, a gullible private detective, becomes the prime suspect in a tabloid reporter's murder after being hired to snoop on him by a mysterious celebrity.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious, detective
Similar in 80%
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Plot Summary:
A Shot in the Dark is the second and more successful film from the Pink Panther film series where both animated and real life sequences are mixed. A cult classic from Blake Edwards based on the play L’Idiot by Marcel Achard and Harry Kurnitz.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: detective, funny, hilarious, atmospheric, humorous, witty, sweet, slasher, educational, ironic
Similar in 90%
The Private Eyes (1980)
Plot Summary:
Don Knotts and Tim Conway star in The Private Eyes, a 1980 comedy about two bumbling detectives solving a murder. It's an impressively incompetent affair. Every ancient joke falls with a muffled thud as Knotts and Conway ham their way through the pointless story: The lord and lady of a capacious manor are killed, and the lord's ghost seems to have returned to knock off the staff one by one. There'.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: parody, spoof, humorous, spooky, suspenseful, not serious, surprise ending, independent film, scary, funny
Similar in 76%
Dark and Stormy Night (2009)
Plot Summary:
In the 1930s the family of old Sinas Cavinder, gathered for the reading of his will, find themselves being murdered by a mysterious phantom while two rival reporters compete for the story.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 768
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, suspenseful, not serious, captivating, black and white, offbeat, retro, spoof, spooky
Similar in 77%
The Late Show (1977)
Plot Summary:
Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who had gotten himself involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: neo noir, detective, clever, offbeat, funny, entertaining, slasher, sentimental, touching, humorous
Similar in 78%
Second Sight (1989)
Plot Summary:
John Larroquette is the head of a detective agency that is hired to find a missing person, probably kidnapped. They employ the help of a mystic/psychic to help find the missing girl.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: humorous, suspenseful, witty, semi serious, detective
Similar in 87%
You've Got Murder (2019)
Plot Summary:
Istanbul Police Department homicide detectives encounter a murder nothing like they’ve seen before.Commissioners Emin, Salih, Asuman and deputy Alaattin begin investigating.But strange murders keep happening. They don’t have any evidence or any clues. Day by day, tempers flare and the police chiefs grow annoyed.As the murders keep piling up, the public’s interest rises. The pressure on Emin and his colleagues get intense. At last, the chief of police assigns “crime expert” Dizdar Koşu, who has recently come back from the US, to the team.Overwhelmed with panic, pressure and disdain, Emin and his friends try to solve the strangest series of murders with the most unusual methods.This fast race against time immediately turns into a tragicomedy.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: Turkey
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: surprise ending, feel good, humorous, suspense, entertaining, suspenseful, detective
Similar in 80%
The Alphabet Murders (1965)
Plot Summary:
The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a series of murders in London in which the victims are killed according to their initials.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: detective, parody, humorous, realistic, witty, not serious, spoof, slapstick comedy, slapstick
Similar in 86%
The Big Fix (1978)
Plot Summary:
Moses Wine, Richard Dreyfuss, at home one night watching a football game that he bet on is contacted by an old flame back from his radical days in collage Lila, Susan Anspach. Lila wants Moses to work for a candidate for governor of California, Milles Hawthorne. Moses goes along with Lila to the Hawthorne campaign headquarters even though Moses is apposed to his policies as well as having a low opinion of Hawthorne's intellect. Moses tells Lila about the person she want's to get elected. Told by Hawthorne's campaign manager Sam Sebastian, John Lithgow, that there's a flayer being distributed around the state with a doctored photo of Hawthorne and radical Howard Eppis, who's on the lamb from the police since he was convicted for inciting violence against the government. The flayer is telling everyone that Eppis is supporting Hawthorne for governor, which is not true, which will destroy Howthorne's chances for being elected.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: witty, clever, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir, detective, cult film
Similar in 84%
Compromising Positions (1985)
Plot Summary:
An ex-newspaper woman who is now a suburban housewife can't resist getting involved in an investigation of the murder of a philandering dentist who had been having affairs with several of her neighbors.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: dark comedy, clever, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, witty, talky, cynical, semi serious, detective
Similar in 87%
Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)
Plot Summary:
A middle-aged couple suspects foul play when their neighbor's wife suddenly drops dead.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Comedy, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, dark comedy, clever, feel good, humorous, witty, detective, mind bending, entertaining, ironic
Similar in 83%
Camouflage (2001)
Plot Summary:
Marty Mackenzie is an unsuccessful stage actor who takes an interest in private investigating. He takes a job working with Jack Potter, a crusty private eye. They both take a case in Beaver Ridge, a seedy small town where a murder is being planned against a rich gravel pit owner. Marty realizes that private investigating is not as it seemed to be.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Action, Comedy
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: semi serious, humorous, realistic, detective, feel good, sentimental, touching, funny, spoof, slapstick
Similar in 90%
Dead Man's Folly (1986)
Plot Summary:
During a murder hunt game at a country house, to which Hercule Poirot is invited as an "expert", a real murder occurs.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, talky, detective, mind bending, clever, contemplative, detective series
Similar in 83%
Murder by Death (1976)
Plot Summary:
Lionel Twain invites the world's five greatest detectives to a 'dinner and murder'. Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false identities and more plot turns and twists than are decently allowed.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 41000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: parody, surprise ending, humorous, spoof, funny, feel good, detective, atmospheric, suspense, disturbing