Best movies like Doing Time
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Times are hard for habitual guest of Her Majesty Norman Stanley Fletcher. The new prison officer, Beale, makes MacKay look soft and what's more, an escape plan is hatching from the cell of prison godfather Grouty and Fletcher wants no part of it. The breakout is set for the day of a morale-raising football match between a 'celebrity' football team and the inmates of Slade. Everything is going to plan until Godber is injured on the goal post. In the ensuing confusion, Fletcher finds himself on the wrong side of the prison walls and must now try and break back into prison.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, independent film
Best tv shows and movies like Doing Time (1979):
Similar in 82%
The Escape (1978)
Plot Summary:
The lawyer is visiting a prison to meet with a violent criminal who has been condemned to death. During the visit, things turn bad, there is a riot where prisoners escape and the criminal escapes taking a lawyer hostage.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Crime
Country: France
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 80%
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way (1978)
Plot Summary:
Dewey (Tim Conway) and Wallace (Chuck McCann) are small-town lawmen who are ordered by the governor to go undercover as prison inmates to find out where a gang of thieves have hidden their loot. While they're undercover, however, the governor dies, and because no one else knows about the ruse Dewey and Wallace are stranded in prison.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 358
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: independent film, slapstick, exciting, parody, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, not serious
Similar in 82%
A Sense of Humor (2011)
Plot Summary:
A serial killer abducts two stand-up comedians after they mock him as part of their on-stage act. If they teach him how to be funny, he might let them live.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 770
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: Canada
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, suspenseful, semi serious
Similar in 87%
A Bit of Tom Jones? (2009)
Plot Summary:
In a late night bar, Henry is approached by a mysterious woman who offers to sell him the severed "manhood" of Wales' greatest vocal entertainer. Believing he can make a fortune selling the infamous appendage on to obsessive fans, Henry stumps up the cash. To help find the right buyer, Henry teams up with his slightly dodgy best friend Teddy and together the two head off on an insane journey that leads them deep into the secret world of celebrity body part trading.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 164
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, offbeat
Similar in 85%
The Supergrass (1985)
Plot Summary:
While taking a holiday in the country with his mother, Dennis hits on a scheme to impress a girl so that she'll go away on a trip with him as his girlfriend. Although he fails to gain any interest from the girl, the police take a great interest in his story. From this point on, Dennis digs a deeper hole for himself at every turn.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 686
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: neo noir, independent film, humorous, realistic, semi serious, alternative comedy
Similar in 75%
Those Were the Days (2014)
Plot Summary:
The Dutch football team has just released the heroic World Cup final lost to archrival West Germany. The whole country is in mourning and Jaap Kooijman throws out of sheer frustration the brand new TV out the window. This event is the prelude to an equally comical , exciting and touching family film.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 424
Genere: Comedy
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, not serious
Similar in 79%
Leon the Pig Farmer (1992)
Plot Summary:
An irreverent comedy is set in motion when Leon Geller, a sensitive Jewish boy from London, accidentally learns that his is the product of artificial insemination.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 570
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious, independent film, dark comedy
Similar in 76%
Boys Don't Cry (2000)
Plot Summary:
One of the best Polish comedies of the late 1990's, "Boys Don't Cry" is a satirical look at the gangsters of Poland and some teens who accidentally get involved with them.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: Poland
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, sad, realistic, stylized
Similar in 79%
Man About the House (1974)
Plot Summary:
An unscrupulous property developer wants to flatten the street to make way for new buildings.Householder George Roper is happy to take the offered money and run but his wife Mildred and their lodgers join with other residents to take a stand and keep things as they are, finally winning the day.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 684
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: sitcom, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 89%
Mystics (2003)
Plot Summary:
A black comedy about two old-time conmen who pretend to be able to communicate with the dead.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 253
Genere: Comedy
Country: Ireland, UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, semi serious, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 87%
Grilled (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two meat salesmen (Romano, James) will stop at nothing to get a sale.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, feel good, captivating, atmospheric, realistic
Similar in 75%
Pros & Cons (1999)
Plot Summary:
Framed for crimes they didn't commit, two small-timers are headed up the river without a paddle. Now, the only thing that can bail them out is a case of mistaken identity. It's the hysterical prison comedy that's so funny, it's criminal!.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 462
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, not serious
Similar in 88%
Lucky Break (2001)
Plot Summary:
Half-way through his 12-year prison sentence for an incompetent armed robbery, Jimmy Hands gets a lucky break: he's transferred to a prison from which he can probably escape. He convinces the governor to stage a musical in an old chapel next to the prison's outer wall. He rounds up volunteer actors and puts his escape plan into production. Two other barriers, besides the wall, confront him: the arrival of a nasty inmate, John Toombes, who insists on joining the escape, and Jimmy's feelings of attraction for Anabel, a social worker who agrees to appear in the play. Opening night approaches: is this Jimmy's breakout performance?.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Romance
Country: UK, Germany, USA
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: intense, feel good, semi serious, humorous, talky, touching, realistic, psychological, tense, thought provoking
Similar in 85%
Silver Bears (1977)
Plot Summary:
Financial wizard "Doc" Fletcher (Michael Caine) is sent by crime boss Joe Fiore (Martin Balsam) to buy a bank in Switzerland in order to more easily launder their profits. When he arrives, Fletcher finds that the bank, acquired by his associate Prince di Siracusa (Louis Jourdan), consists of some shabby offices above a restaurant. To make up for this, the Prince suggests that Fletcher invests in a silver mine owned by Shireen and Agha Firdausi (Stéphane Audran and David Warner). This solves one problem, but the mine also attracts the attention of some of the most powerful people in the silver business. Fletcher must pull out all his wheeler-dealing skills in order to keep hold of everything he's worked for, in the process romancing a banker's discontented wife (Cybill Shepherd).
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 86%
Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976)
Plot Summary:
Two hoplessly out of their class con-men attempt to pull off the largest bank heist of the l9th century. They gain the enmity of the most famous bank Robber in the world and the affection of a crusading newspaperwoman.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: offbeat, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 76%
The Cracksman (1963)
Plot Summary:
Ernest Wright's peerless prowess as a locksmith comes to the attention of a tough big-time crook, who feels that the little man would be a valuable asset to his crime kingdom. In order to inveigle him into a series of jobs, he sets up a beautiful hostess as a trap, into which the hapless Ernest inevitably falls..!.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 229
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, humorous, realistic, semi serious, slapstick
Similar in 78%
The ComDads (1983)
Plot Summary:
Unable to find her runaway son, a woman deceives two of her ex-lovers from her youth, a mild-mannered teacher and a tough journalist, that each is the real father in order to obtain their help.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: France
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: clever, humorous, realistic, witty, semi serious, saga, eighties
Similar in 89%
Hot Millions (1968)
Plot Summary:
A con-artist (Peter Ustinov) gains employment at an insurance company in order to embezzle money by re-programming their "new" wonder computer.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: retro, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious
Similar in 89%
The Dope (2003)
Plot Summary:
Alphonse Brown, who firmly believes he is the bastard son of James Brown, meets up with his best friend Scotch after Brown gets out of jail. On their way to Paris to begin careers as recording artists, the pair stumbles across a potent type of marijuana that was engineered by the Nazis. Their decision to begin selling the stuff leads to a variety of people chasing after them.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: France
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, not serious, light, feel good, offbeat
Similar in 79%
Porridge (1974)
Plot Summary:
Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film also titled Porridge. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland. "Doing porridge" is British slang for serving a prison sentence, porridge once being the traditional breakfast in UK prisons. The series was followed by a 1978 sequel, Going Straight, which established that Fletcher would not be going back to prison again. Porridge was voted number seven in a 2004 BBC poll of the 100 greatest British sitcoms.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: sitcom, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, talky, semi serious, fun
Similar in 82%
9 Dead Gay Guys (2002)
Plot Summary:
The story of two lads from Belfast as they stumble their way through the London gay underworld in search of 'gainful employment'. This being the offering of sexual favours to older gay men in order to subsidise their respective giros. 9 Dead Gay Guys is a high-camp send-up of gay stereotypes.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, dark comedy, offbeat, realistic, queer cinema, campy
Similar in 85%
On the Run (1999)
Plot Summary:
Albert is an introverted travel agent living a lonely life in New York. When Louie, his best friend from childhood, appears having just escaped from prison, Albert's quiet existence is permanently disrupted. what ensues is one long, crazy night in New York that will change both their lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 316
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA, Portugal, France
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: independent film, offbeat, humorous, realistic, cynical, semi serious, biting, black comedy, dark comedy, suspense
Similar in 81%
Stir Crazy (1980)
Plot Summary:
New Yorkers, Skip Donahue and Harry Monroe, have no jobs and no prospects. They decide to flee the city and find work elsewhere, and land jobs as woodpeckers to promote the opening of a bank. When their feathery costumes are stolen and used in a bank robbery, they no longer have to worry about employment -- they're sent to prison!.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: funny, feel good, humorous, witty, romantic comedy, neurotic, exciting, realistic, not serious, dark comedy
Similar in 80%
Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
Plot Summary:
At long last, Madea returns to the big screen in TYLER PERRY'S MADEA GOES TO JAIL. This time America's favorite irreverent, pistol-packin' grandmomma is raising hell behind bars and lobbying for her freedom...Hallelujer!.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: humorous, semi serious, realistic, witty, christian film, black comedy, teen, happy, black cinema, adaptation directed by original author
Similar in 76%
We're No Angels (1989)
Plot Summary:
Two escaped cons only prayer to escape is to pass themselves off as priests and pass by the police blockade at the border into the safety of Canada.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min
Plot tags: humorous, feel good, clever, exciting, light, captivating, entertaining, sexy, cult classic, realistic
Similar in 84%
Back by Midnight (2004)
Plot Summary:
The warden of a small, rundown, minimum-security prison plots revenge against the the prison's dishonest owner by having four inmates break out and plan a department store robbery to spruce up the prison's faculties.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 702
Genere: Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: humorous, realistic, not serious, captivating, independent film
Similar in 84%
All for One (2011)
Plot Summary:
Four rogues, who were best friends as kids, have one big problem: they're sitting on both sides of the law. Martin is a policeman, while Nikolai, Ralf, and Timo can't distinguish between personal possessions and the possessions of others! When all four find themselves in a fix, they're forced to return to their former tricks against a common foe, Mr Niemeyer. Martin is not as successful, however, either at his job or marriage, and thinks he deserves a better life. Now he sees an opportunity to save his career by "playing" with his old friends on a mission that is so crazy that even the two foolish brothers can do some good.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: Denmark
Duration: 82 min
Plot tags: humorous, captivating, light, entertaining, exciting, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 81%
Stella Street (2004)
Plot Summary:
Michael Caine, Robert De Niro, Jack Nicholson and Roger Moore all live on a quiet street in Surbiton and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards run their corner shop - who knew?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 493
Genere: Comedy
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: humorous, witty, semi serious, clever, realistic, parody, mockumentary, offbeat, biting, suspense
Similar in 90%
Free Money (1998)
Plot Summary:
The Swede (Marlon Brando), a prison warden, rules his family and his prison with an iron hand in one of the coldest parts of North Dakota. When an inmate dies under mysterious circumstances, however, the FBI sends in agent Karen Polarski (Mira Sorvino) to investigate. On the home front, the sons-in-law of the Swede, Larry (Thomas Haden Church) and Bud (Charlie Sheen) accidentally discover that a train loaded with millions of dollars of unmarked currency slated to be destroyed will soon be passing through. The temptation is too great and the guys hatch a scheme to rob the train. Of course, the biggest obstacle in their way is the Swede.
IMDB Rating: 5.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: semi serious, humorous, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, black comedy, dark comedy
Similar in 77%
Ruby & Quentin (2003)
Plot Summary:
After hiding his loot and getting thrown in jail, Ruby, a brooding outlaw encounters Quentin, a dim-witted and garrulous giant who befriends him. After Quentin botches a solo escape attempt, they make a break together. Unable to shake the clumsy Quentin Ruby is forced to take him along as he pursues his former partners in crime to avenge the death of the woman he loved and get to the money.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Comedy, Crime
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: humorous, funny, entertaining, inspirational, touching, tricky, hilarious, witty, captivating, semi serious