Movies Like Shirley Valentine (1989)

Shirley Valentine is a 1989 comedy, romance film from Lewis Gilbert with a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Gumshoe and The 51st State.

Comedy Romance

Gumshoe

1971

A would be private eye gets mixed up in a smuggling case.

6.3

MagicScore

The 51st State

2001

An American master chemist plans to score big on a once in a lifetime drug deal. All does not go as planned and he is soon entangled in a web of deceit.

6.1

MagicScore

Hobson's Choice

1954

Henry Hobson owns and tyrannically runs a successful Victorian boot maker’s shop in Salford, England. A stingy widower with a weakness for overindulging in the local Moonraker Public House, he exploits his three daughters as cheap labour. When he declares that there will be ‘no marriages’ to avoid the expense of marriage settlements at £500 each, his eldest daughter Maggie rebels.

7.3

MagicScore

Mamma Mia!

2008

A spirited young bride-to-be living with her single mother on a small Greek island secretly invites three of her mother's ex-boyfriends in hope of finding her biological father to walk her down the aisle.

7.0

MagicScore

Tempest

1982

A sobering mid-life crisis fuels dissatisfaction in Philip Dimitrius, to the extent where the successful architect trades his marriage and career in for a spiritual exile on a remote Greek island where he hopes to conjure meaning into his life - trying the patience of his new girlfriend and angst-ridden teenage daughter.

5.8

MagicScore

The History Boys

2006

The story of an unruly class of bright, funny history students at a Yorkshire grammar school in pursuit of an undergraduate place at Oxford or Cambridge. Bounced between their maverick English master, a young and shrewd teacher hired to up their test scores, a grossly out-numbered history teacher, and a headmaster obsessed with results, the boys attempt to pass.

6.6

MagicScore

Electra

1962

Living in exile after the death of their father, the grown children of a murdered and usurped king converge to exact eye-for-an-eye revenge.

7.0

MagicScore

Tumhari Sulu

2017

A happy-go-lucky Mumbai suburban housewife Sulochana, fondly known as Sulu, lands the role of a night RJ, resulting in drastic changes to her routine life.

6.5

MagicScore

Diary of a Mad Housewife

1970

Tina Balser is a bored New York housewife-mother married to Jonathan, a pompous, social-climbing lawyer who ridicules her in front of their children, criticizing everything she does or wears. She begins an affair with George Prager, a dashing, successful, and blatantly sadistic writer.

6.1

MagicScore

#10

Double Indemnity

1944

An insurance representative is seduced by a dissatisfied housewife into a scheme of insurance fraud and murder that arouses the suspicion of his colleague, a claims investigator.

8.1

MagicScore

#11

Repast

1951

Michiyo lives in the small place Osaka and is not happy with her marriage; all she does is cook and clean for her husband.

7.5

MagicScore

#12

Puzzle

2018

After years of caring exclusively for the needs of her husband and children, Agnes, a devoted housewife living in a small town near New York, has found something she really enjoys doing: solving puzzles.

6.5

MagicScore

#13

The Happy Ending

1969

When Fred asked for Mary's hand in marriage, she thought she had the happy ending she only read about in fairy tales. Now it's 16 years later; Fred has had an affair, and Mary drowns her sorrows in pills and booze, a dangerous combination that nearly resulted in her death the year before. As Mary rushes off to the Bahamas for a relaxing escape from her crumbling marriage, she reflects on the past and wonders just where it all went wrong.

6.0

MagicScore

#14

Yesterday

2019

A struggling musician realizes he's the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate reality where the group was forgotten.

6.7

MagicScore

#15

An Awfully Big Adventure

1995

Liverpool. 1947. Right after World War II, a star struck naive teenage girl joins a shabby theatre troupe in Liverpool. During a winter production of Peter Pan, the play quickly turns into a dark metaphor for youth as she becomes drawn into a web of sexual politics and intrigue and learns about the grown-up world of the theater.

6.5

MagicScore

#16

Letter to Brezhnev

1985

The factories, pubs, clubs, hotels and streets of 1980s Liverpool form the backdrop for this tale of love, friendship, sex and a letter to the Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev. Two Liverpool lasses, Teresa and Elaine meet two Russian sailors, Sergei and Peter and hook up for a night of fun and frolics. Teresa is looking for sex and a smile, Elaine wants love, romance and the dream of a life far away from the grime of the Liverpool docklands. A classic British romantic comedy filled with new wave tunes, 80s fashion, a little politics and a lot of heart.

6.3

MagicScore

#17

Across the Universe

2007

When young dockworker Jude leaves Liverpool to find his estranged father in the United States, he is swept up by the waves of change that are re-shaping the nation. Jude falls in love with Lucy, who joins the growing anti-war movement. As the body count in Vietnam rises, political tensions at home spiral out of control and the star-crossed lovers find themselves in a psychedelic world gone mad.

7.1

MagicScore

#18

Yellow Submarine

1968

The wicked Blue Meanies take over Pepperland, eliminating all color and music. As the only survivor, the Lord Admiral escapes in the yellow submarine and journeys to Liverpool to enlist the help of the Beatles.

7.1

MagicScore

#19

The Canterville Ghost

1944

The descendent of a ghost imprisoned for cowardice hopes to free the spirit by displaying courage when under duress.

6.7

MagicScore

#20

Millions

2004

Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do?

6.4

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Shirley Valentine?

The top films similar to Shirley Valentine by MovieMagicScore are Gumshoe (6.3), The 51st State (6.1), Hobson's Choice (7.3). Each shares comedy/romance themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Shirley Valentine worth watching?

Shirley Valentine holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.2/10 from 104 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Shirley Valentine?

Shirley Valentine (1989) is a comedy, romance film directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Pauline Collins, Tom Conti, Julia McKenzie.

Where can I find more recommendations like Shirley Valentine?

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 Gumshoe Movies like The 51st State Movies like Hobson's Choice Movies like Mamma Mia!Movies like Tempest Movies like The History Boys

About movies like Shirley Valentine

This ranked list pairs Shirley Valentine (1989), a comedy and romance film from Lewis Gilbert, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Pauline Collins 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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