Movies Like Hairspray (1988)

Hairspray is a 1988 comedy, music, romance film from John Waters with a MovieMagicScore of 6.8/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Hairspray and Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment.

Comedy Music Romance

Hairspray

2007

Pleasantly plump teenager Tracy Turnblad auditions to be on Baltimore's most popular dance show - The Corny Collins Show - and lands a prime spot. Through her newfound fame, she becomes determined to help her friends and end the racial segregation that has been a staple of the show.

6.7

MagicScore

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment

1963

During a two-day period before and after the University of Alabama integration crisis, the film uses five camera crews to follow President John F. Kennedy, attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, Alabama governor George Wallace, deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and the students Vivian Malone and James Hood. As Wallace has promised to personally block the two black students from enrolling in the university, the JFK administration discusses the best way to react to it, without rousing the crowd or making Wallace a martyr for the segregationist cause. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 1999.

6.9

MagicScore

Hairspray Live!

2016

A teenage girl living in Baltimore in the early 1960s dreams of appearing on a popular TV dance show.

7.4

MagicScore

The Intruder

1962

A man in a gleaming white suit comes to a small Southern town on the eve of integration. He calls himself a social reformer. But what he does is stir up trouble--trouble he soon finds he can't control.

7.1

MagicScore

The Green Book: Guide to Freedom

2019

In 1936, Victor H. Green (1892-1960) published The Negro Motorist Green Book, a book that was both a travel guide and a survival manual, to help African-Americans navigate safe those regions of the United States where segregation and Jim Crow laws were disgracefully applied.

7.7

MagicScore

The Long Walk Home

1990

Two women, black and white, in 1955 Montgomery Alabama, must decide what they are going to do in response to the famous bus boycott led by Martin Luther King.

7.6

MagicScore

Driving Miss Daisy

1989

The story of an old Jewish widow named Daisy Werthan and her relationship with her black chauffeur, Hoke. From an initial mere work relationship grew in 25 years a strong friendship between the two very different characters, in a time when those types of relationships were shunned.

7.2

MagicScore

Liberty Heights

1999

This semi-autobiographical film by Barry Levinson follows various members of the Kurtzman clan, a Jewish family living in suburban Baltimore during the 1950s. As teenaged Ben completes high school, he falls for Sylvia, a black classmate, creating inevitable tensions. Meanwhile, Ben's brother, Van, attends college and becomes smitten with a mysterious woman while their father tries to maintain his burlesque business.

6.6

MagicScore

Seberg

2019

An ambitious young FBI agent is assigned to investigate iconic actress Jean Seberg when she becomes embroiled in the tumultuous civil rights movement in late 1960s Los Angeles.

5.9

MagicScore

#10

The Help

2011

Aibileen Clark is a middle-aged African-American maid who has spent her life raising white children and has recently lost her only son; Minny Jackson is an African-American maid who has often offended her employers despite her family's struggles with money and her desperate need for jobs; and Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan is a young white woman who has recently moved back home after graduating college to find out her childhood maid has mysteriously disappeared. These three stories intertwine to explain how life in Jackson, Mississippi revolves around "the help"; yet they are always kept at a certain distance because of racial lines.

8.2

MagicScore

#11

Hidden Figures

2016

The untold story of Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson – brilliant African-American women working at NASA and serving as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history – the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big.

8.1

MagicScore

#12

Nickel Boys

2024

Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.

6.6

MagicScore

#13

Son of the South

2021

In civil rights era Montgomery, Alabama, Klansman's grandson Bob Zellner must choose which side of history to be on during the Movement. Defying his family and white Southern norms, he fought against social injustice, repression and violence to change the world around him

6.5

MagicScore

#14

Love Field

1992

Dallas housewife Lurene Hallett's life revolves around the doings of Jacqueline Kennedy. She is devastated when President Kennedy is shot a few hours after she sees him arrive in Dallas. Despite her husband Ray's prohibition, she decides to attend the funeral in Washington, D.C. Forced to travel by bus, she befriends Jonell, the young black daughter of Paul Couter. Sensing something wrong, her good intentioned interference leads the mixed race threesome on an increasingly difficult journey to Washington with both the police and Ray looking for them.

6.0

MagicScore

#15

Kinky Boots

2005

Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the flamboyant drag queen cabaret singer Lola and everything changes.

6.7

MagicScore

#16

Polyester

1981

Blessed with a keen sense of smell and cursed with a philandering pornographer husband, a parasitic mother, and a pair of delinquent children, the long-suffering Francine Fishpaw turns to the bottle as her life falls apart -- until deliverance appears in the form of a hunk named Todd Tomorrow. Originally screened with "Odorama" scratch and sniff cards so the audience could (at their own risk) smell along with the film.

7.0

MagicScore

#17

Remember the Titans

2000

After leading his football team to 15 winning seasons, coach Bill Yoast is demoted and replaced by Herman Boone – tough, opinionated and as different from the beloved Yoast as he could be. The two men learn to overcome their differences and turn a group of hostile young men into champions.

7.6

MagicScore

#18

Loving

2016

The story of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, whose challenge of their anti-miscegenation arrest for their marriage in Virginia led to a legal battle that would end at the US Supreme Court.

6.7

MagicScore

#19

Boxing Day

2021

Melvin, a British author living in America, returns home to London for Christmas to introduce his American fiancée Lisa to his eccentric British-Caribbean family. Their relationship is put to the test as she discovers the world her fiancé has left behind.

6.6

MagicScore

#20

Love Untangled

2025

A lovestruck teen plans to win the school heartthrob by going from curly to straight hair — until a new transfer student changes everything.

8.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Hairspray?

The top films similar to Hairspray by MovieMagicScore are Hairspray (6.7), Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (6.9), Hairspray Live! (7.4). Each shares comedy/music/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Hairspray worth watching?

Hairspray holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.8/10 from 431 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Hairspray?

Hairspray (1988) is a comedy, music, romance film directed by John Waters, starring Ricki Lake, Divine, Debbie Harry.

Where can I find more recommendations like Hairspray?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more comedy recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Hairspray Movies like Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment Movies like Hairspray Live!Movies like The Intruder Movies like The Green Book: Guide to Freedom Movies like The Long Walk Home

About movies like Hairspray

This ranked list pairs Hairspray (1988), a comedy and music and romance film from John Waters, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Ricki Lake take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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