NoBadPicks Logo
US

Movies Like Ishtar

After experiencing Ishtar, should consider this hand-picked list which questions the purpose and weight of our choices while ensuring targets the intellect with complex, multi-layered ideas. Carefully balances character depth with narrative flow makes this a solid addition to your watchlist.

Mood Breakdown
Runtime Cluster

Standard feature-length experiences.

Viewer Fit

Best for fans of who appreciate concise storytelling.

Top Picks

Road to Morocco
6.9

Road to Morocco

1942

Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.

Paradise
6.0

Paradise

1982

After their caravan is attacked and their respective families butchered by Arab marauders, teenagers David and Sarah flee across the desert. But the desert is filled with danger from the elements, animals and the unwholesome appetite of the Jackal, a sheik who wants Sarah for himself. However, the desert also holds temptation and love. David and Sarah hide out in an oasis and build a life for themselves, discovering each other in new ways.

My Own Love Song
6.2

My Own Love Song

2010

A wheelchair-bound singer and her best friend embark on a roadtrip to Memphis.

Inferno
6.0

Inferno

1953

When selfish and arrogant millionaire Donald Carson fractures his leg during a desert vacation, his wife, Geraldine, leaves with their friend Joseph Duncan to supposedly get help. However, the two of them are really lovers who are leaving Carson to die in the heat. Slowly, Carson realizes he is on his own and vows revenge on the traitorous couple. Having had a privileged life, Carson must now use his wits to stay alive.

Road to Bali
6.2

Road to Bali

1952

Having to leave Melbourne in a hurry to avoid various marriage proposals, two song-and-dance men sign on for work as divers. This takes them to an idyllic island on the way to Bali where they vie with each other for the favours of Princess Lala. The hazardous dive produces a chest of priceless jewels which arouses the less romantic interest of some shady locals.

Fairy Tales
6.1

Fairy Tales

1978

On his twenty-first birthday, the Prince goes on a quest that takes him across the land searching for the one woman that gets him sexually excited, Princess Sleeping Beauty.

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls
6.3

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

1995

Summoned from an ashram in Tibet, Ace finds himself on a perilous journey into the jungles of Africa to find Shikaka, the missing sacred animal of the friendly Wachati tribe. He must accomplish this before the wedding of the Wachati's Princess to the prince of the warrior Wachootoos. If Ace fails, the result will be a vicious tribal war.

Monte Carlo
6.8

Monte Carlo

2011

Three young women vacationing in Paris find themselves whisked away to Monte Carlo after one of the girls is mistaken for a British heiress.

More Movies Like Ishtar

Dear Eleanor
5.8

Dear Eleanor

2016

Two teenage girls travel across the U.S. in 1962, during the chaos of the Cuban missile crisis, in search of Eleanor Roosevelt.

Top Secret!
7.1

Top Secret!

1984

Popular and dashing American singer Nick Rivers travels to East Germany to perform in a music festival. When he loses his heart to the gorgeous Hillary Flammond, he finds himself caught up in an underground resistance movement. Rivers joins forces with Agent Cedric and Flammond to attempt the rescue of her father, Dr. Paul, from the Germans, who have captured the scientist in hopes of coercing him into building a new naval mine.

The Wind and the Lion
6.5

The Wind and the Lion

1975

At the beginning of the 20th century an American woman is abducted in Morocco by Berbers, and the attempts to free her range from diplomatic pressure to military intervention.

Double Threat
6.6

Double Threat

2023

With ruthless mobsters on her tail, a young woman with a split personality becomes entangled with a man on a pilgrimage across the country to scatter his brother's ashes.

Crocodile Dundee
6.4

Crocodile Dundee

1986

When a New York reporter plucks crocodile hunter Mick Dundee from the Australian Outback for a visit to the Big Apple, it's a clash of cultures and a recipe for good-natured comedy as naïve Dundee negotiates the concrete jungle. He proves that his instincts are quite useful in the city and adeptly handles everything from wily muggers to high-society snoots without breaking a sweat.

Cheech & Chong's Next Movie
6.0

Cheech & Chong's Next Movie

1980

Perennially stoned Cheech and Chong tear through the city of Los Angeles, causing trouble wherever they go. After Cheech loses his job, the two pot enthusiasts head to the welfare offices where Cheech's girlfriend, Donna, works. Instead of collecting unemployment, they find themselves thrown back on the streets, searching for a way to earn new income. But when Cheech's cousin, "Red" Mendoza, arrives, things get even crazier.

Annie Hall
7.7

Annie Hall

1977

New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the ditsy Annie Hall.

The Sheik
5.9

The Sheik

1921

Sheik Ahmed desperately desires feisty British socialite Diana, so he abducts her and carries her off to his luxurious tent-palace in the desert. The free-spirited Diana recoils from his passionate embraces and yearns to be released. Later, allowed to go into the desert, she escapes and makes her way across the sands...

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir
6.9

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir

2018

Ajatashatru Lavash Patel has lived all his life in a small Mumbai neighborhood tricking people with street magic and fakir stunts. He sets out on a journey to find his estranged father but instead gets dragged on a never-ending adventure.

The Jewel of the Nile
6.2

The Jewel of the Nile

1985

Joan Wilder is thrust back into a world of murder, chases, foreign intrigue... and love. This time out she's duped by a duplicitous Arab dignitary who brings her to the Middle East, ostensibly to write a book about his life. Of course, he's up to no good, and Joan is just another pawn in his wicked game. But Jack Colton and his sidekick Ralph show up to help our intrepid heroine save the day.

A California Christmas
6.4

A California Christmas

2020

With his carefree lifestyle on the line, a wealthy charmer poses as a ranch hand to get a hardworking farmer to sell her family’s land before Christmas.

Hatari!
6.8

Hatari!

1962

A female wildlife photographer arrives on an East African reservation where a group of men trap wild animals for zoos and circuses.

Why These Movies Are Similar

These recommendations share core qualities with Ishtar (1987): Comedy and Adventure 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 Ishtar.

See full details for Ishtar (1987)

Expand Your Discovery