Movies in the Musical/Drama genre

Sort by:
Across the Universe

One could never argue that Across the Universe isn't ambitious. However, like many ambitious movies, this one fails spectacularly. Glenn Kenny of Premiere magazine called it "the perfect disaster" and, while I think that's a little harsh, I underst...

Run Time: 2:13
U.S. Release Date: 2007-09-14
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Nudity, Sexual Situations)
Genre: MUSICAL/DRAMA
Director: Julie Taymor
Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Jim Sturgess, Joe Anderson, ...
Annette

A breath of fresh air? Or a pretentious mess? Perhaps a little of both. It’s easy to see why a mainstream viewer might quickly lose patience with Annette but I found the film’s embrace of unconventionality to be bracing and energizing…at...

Run Time: 2:21
U.S. Release Date: 2021-08-06
MPAA Rating: "R" (Profanity, Sexual Content, Nudity)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Leos Carax
Cast: Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg, ...
Color Purple, The

Watching The Color Purple, there were times when the split personality was enough to pull me out of the experience. Musical stage adaptations of serious novels can sometimes work because of the immediacy of the audience and the reality of the ...

Run Time: 2:20
U.S. Release Date: 2023-12-25
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Violence, Sexual Content)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Blitz Bazawule
Cast: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, ...
De-Lovely

As a bio-pic, De-Lovely is pretty standard, run-of-the-mill stuff (albeit with an interesting framing device). However, as a "best hits" collection of Cole Porter's music, it is unparalleled. With approximately two-dozen of his tunes performed by...

Run Time: 2:05
U.S. Release Date: 2004-07-02
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Situations)
Genre: MUSICAL/DRAMA
Director: Irwin Winkler
Cast: Kevin Kline, Ashley Judd, Jonathan Pryce, ...
Dear Evan Hansen

While watching Dear Evan Hansen, I was reminded of the 1994 film I’ll Do Anything. Originally designed as a musical (with eight songs by Prince), the decision was made in the editing room to release the Nick Nolte vehicle as a straight drama...

Run Time: 2:12
U.S. Release Date: 2021-09-24
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Suicide, Mental Illness)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Cast: Ben Platt, Julianne Moore, Kaitlyn Dever, ...
Elvis

For all that the description implies, Elvis is well and truly a Baz Luhrmann film. At times frustrating and at times exuberant, the movie is ultimately effective in capturing both the triumph and tragedy of the title character’s life. It’s une...

Run Time: 2:39
U.S. Home Release Date: 2022-09-13
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Sexual Content, Profanity)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, ...
Everybody's Talking about Jamie

Whether as a result of coincidence or intent, the COVID pandemic has issued in a new era of motion picture musicals. Not since mid-20th century, when Musicals were perennially the biggest earners, has the genre been this popular. Everybody’s...

Run Time: 1:55
U.S. Release Date: 2021-09-10
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity, Mature Themes)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Jonathan Butterell
Cast: Max Harwood, Lauren Patel, Richard E. Grant, ...
Greatest Showman, The

In style, if not substance, The Greatest Showman is reminiscent of the Disney film, Newsies. Like the 1992 live-action musical, The Greatest Showman comes to life when the characters are singing or dancing but struggles through the sequences i...

Run Time: 1:45
U.S. Release Date: 2017-12-20
MPAA Rating: "PG"
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Michael Gracey
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, ...
Hamilton

From its early days at the Off-Broadway Public Theater in February 2015 through its highly-anticipated opening on August 6 at the Richard Rogers Theater, it was apparent that Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton was going to be the big live theater...

Run Time: 2:40
U.S. Release Date: 2020-07-03
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Profanity)
Genre: Musical/Drama
Director: Thomas Kail
Cast: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Christopher Jackson, ...
Les Miserables (2012)

Les Miserables, believed by some to be the best novel ever penned in French, has been adapted in nearly every form imaginable, including dozens of movies, television mini-series in French and English, loose "thematic reworkings," and comic books. ...

Run Time: 2:37
U.S. Release Date: 2012-12-25
MPAA Rating: "PG-13" (Violence, Sexual Content)
Genre: MUSICAL/DRAMA
Director: Tom Hooper
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, ...