NoBadPicks

Movies Like Big Night

If you loved Big Night's Drama and Romance storytelling, these films deliver a similar experience — carefully selected for tone, themes, and emotional depth. Each pick includes where to watch it right now.

Top Picks

Nonnas
6.8

Nonnas

2025

After losing his beloved mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with actual nonnas — grandmothers — as the chefs.

Avanti!
6.9

Avanti!

1972

A successful businessman travels to Italy to arrange for the return of his tycoon father's body, only to learn that dear old dad died with his longtime mistress.

Frankie and Johnny
6.8

Frankie and Johnny

1991

When Johnny is released from prison following a forgery charge, he quickly lands a job as a short-order cook at a New York diner. Following a brief fling with waitress Cora, he develops an attraction for Cora's friend and fellow waitress Frankie. While Frankie resists Johnny's charms initially, she eventually relents when her best friend, Tim, persuades her to give Johnny a chance.

The Station Agent
7.4

The Station Agent

2003

When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.

In My Country
5.9

In My Country

2004

An American reporter and an Afrikaans poet meet and fall in love while covering South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings.

Madame
5.9

Madame

2017

Anne and Bob, a well-to-do American couple, have just moved to a beautiful manor house in romantic Paris. To impress their sophisticated friends, they decide to host a lavish dinner party, but must disguise their maid as a noblewoman to even out the number of guests. When the maid runs off with a wealthy guest, Anne must chase her around Paris to thwart the joyous and unexpected love affair.

Cocktail
6.1

Cocktail

1988

After being discharged from the Army, Brian Flanagan moves back to Queens and takes a job in a bar run by Doug Coughlin, who teaches Brian the fine art of bar-tending. Brian quickly becomes a patron favorite with his flashy drink-mixing style, and Brian adopts his mentor's cynical philosophy on life and goes for the money.

My Dinner with Andre
7.5

My Dinner with Andre

1981

Two old friends meet for dinner; as one tells anecdotes detailing his experiences, the other notices their differing worldviews.

More Movies Like Big Night

Dinner Rush
7.0

Dinner Rush

2000

One unlucky evening, Louis Cropa, a part-time bookmaker, discovers that his restaurant has become a hotbed of conflicting characters. In addition to having to please a whiny food critic, Louis must fend off a hostile takeover from a pair of gangsters, to whom his sous-chef is in debt. Further, Louis has an argument with his son, the star chef, whose culinary creativity has brought success to the business.

Blind
6.2

Blind

2017

A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.

Everyone Says I Love You
6.4

Everyone Says I Love You

1996

A New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a shaky marriage while her half sister gets engaged.

The Terminal
7.3

The Terminal

2004

An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.

Once Around
6.0

Once Around

1991

Renata Bella feels like a failure at life and career. But when Renata attends a seminar on selling real estate, she finally finds True Love. Sam Sharpe, while a top-notch, successful salesman, is much older than Renata. She is swept away by his excessively flamboyant style and irrepressible nature. The very traits she finds romantic, however, lead to repeated conflict with her family, especially her beloved father Joe, leaving Renata trapped in the middle.

Little Italy
6.6

Little Italy

2018

Former childhood pals Leo and Nikki are attracted to each other as adults—but will their feuding parents' rival pizzerias put a chill on their sizzling romance?

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her
6.7

The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her

2014

Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.

No Reservations
6.7

No Reservations

2007

Master chef Kate Armstrong runs her life and her kitchen with intimidating intensity. However, a recipe for disaster may be in the works when she becomes the guardian of her young niece while crossing forks with the brash sous-chef who just joined her staff. Though romance blooms in the face of rivalry, Kate needs to look outside the kitchen to find true happiness.

Winged Creatures
5.9

Winged Creatures

2009

A psychotic man opens fire in a diner, murdering numerous people before killing himself. The survivors struggle in different ways following this horrendous event: a doctor doubts his own instincts and elects to use an experimental medical procedure on his wife, while a gambler believes he's on a lucky streak. A waitress begins engaging in promiscuous sex, and a young girl whose father is among the dead gains unexpected fame.

Mean Streets
7.1

Mean Streets

1973

A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.

Cabrini
7.8

Cabrini

2024

Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini arrives in 1889 New York City and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.

The Many Saints of Newark
6.3

The Many Saints of Newark

2021

Young Anthony Soprano is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark, N.J., history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters start to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti, whose influence over his nephew will help shape the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss, Tony Soprano.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Big Night (1996): Drama and Romance themes, similar narrative structure, and comparable emotional depth. NoBadPicks uses a combination of TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface films most likely to resonate with fans of Big Night.

See full details for Big Night (1996)

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