Film

Mame

Name: Mame
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1974
Cast: Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur, Robert Preston, Bruce Davison, Kirby Furlong

Screwball comedy
Light-hearted

Lucille Ball at full throttle as Mame Dennis, a wealthy eccentric who treats life as a perpetual party and inherits her nephew just as things get interesting. It's theatrical, sprawling, unafraid of its own excess—a musical comedy that swings wildly between touching and ridiculous, often within the same scene. For people who love performers having the time of their lives onscreen.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love old-fashioned screwball comedy with big, brassy musical numbers and a star who plays the grand gesture with total commitment, and you don't mind a bit of camp.

Skip it if your patience for musicals is thin, since the songs stop the story cold and the film runs over two hours with a broad, mannered style that can feel exhausting.

What it asks of you: Over two hours of sustained exuberance, with the tone pitched loud and bright from the first frame, so it asks you to match its energy rather than sit back and observe.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Auntie Mame1958

The original film version, sharper and more elegant than you'd expect, with Rosalind Russell delivering Mame's philosophy with genuine warmth beneath the chaos. A masterclass in screwball timing.

But It's from the 1950s and plays by those conventions—less wild than the musical adaptation, which may feel quaint if you're after pure zaniness.

Hello, Dolly!1969

Barbra Streisand as another irrepressible woman who meddles in everyone's lives with infectious optimism. Similar energy, similar scale, similarly committed to spectacle and heart.

But Also a lavish musical adaptation that didn't age perfectly. If Mame felt overdone to you, this will too.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Pure joy. Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in a musical about putting on a show that radiates genuine affection for the people in it and the form itself. Technically brilliant and completely unpretentious.

But It's a different era and tone—less eccentric, more elegant. You're trading Mame's chaos for something more refined.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Mame

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Torch Song Trilogy1988

Both movies argue that society's outsiders aren't broken—society is. Both center on a larger-than-life protagonist teaching someone younger how to survive by refusing to shrink. One does it with tap dancing and martinis, the other with tears and fury, but the underlying defiance is identical.

Harvey Fierstein's semi-autobiographical play adapted for film—raw, funny, and desperately moving about a gay drag performer fighting for family and acceptance. The spiritual opposite of Mame's surface glitter, but with identical conviction about chosen family and living unapologetically.

But Heavy. The joy here is earned through real pain and conflict, not sprung fully formed. Fierstein's monologues go to dark places first.

The Music Man1962

Robert Preston (Beauregard here) leading a musical about transforming a small town through sheer charm and conviction. Warm, funny, and genuinely touching about found family.

But Slower paced than Mame, and built on more traditional musical-theater values. Some may find it slight.

Funny Girl1968

Barbra Streisand again, but this time playing Fanny Brice, an unglamorous woman who becomes a star through pure determination and talent. More edge than Mame, grounded in real ambition.

But It's a biopic with a broken-heart ending. If you want unironic joy, this pivots toward melancholy in its final act.

The Brady Bunch Movie1995

Understands that camp and sincerity can coexist—affectionately mocks 1970s earnestness while genuinely loving the characters. A perfect tonal sibling to Mame's contradiction.

But It's a 90s comedy with 70s references. The humor is sometimes broad and the plot doesn't matter, which is the point but not everyone's point.

Hairspray2007

John Waters' spirit filtered through a big-hearted musical. Celebrates weirdos and outsiders with real affection, full of energy and dance numbers, defiantly uncool in the best way.

But Darker edge beneath the brightness. If you loved Mame's optimism without irony, this adds a layer of commentary you may not want.

It's a Wonderful Life1946

A sentimental film about the value of one person's ordinary life and the community around them. Shares Mame's belief that human connection is the real banquet.

But Completely different in tone—serious, melancholic, moralistic where Mame is riotous. Almost opposite in register.

The Poseidon Adventure1972

Structurally opposite: Mame is a character study wearing a musical's costume, while this is a spectacle that accidentally becomes a character study. Both are 70s films that don't apologize for their excess. Both are about groups of people who don't fit anywhere finding each other.

A disaster film that's actually about a group of misfits and outcasts escaping an upside-down ocean liner. Pure spectacle in service of character—funny, absurd, propulsive, and surprisingly touching about chosen family and collective survival.

But Plot is secondary to sensation. If you need coherence or restraint, this will feel like sensory overload. Also genuinely anxious in places, not just cheerful.

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion1997

Both are about women who reject the world's definition of respectability and bet everything on charisma and conviction. Both understand that performance and authenticity aren't opposites—they're the same thing. Both are funny because the characters believe completely in themselves.

Two goofy women invent a lie about their lives to impress their high school class, then have to live it. Genuinely funny, unexpectedly wise about the courage required to be yourself, and completely shameless about its own artifice.

But Broad comedy with no pretense of sophistication. The jokes are silly, the heart is sincere in a way that might feel cloying, and it's aggressively of its moment (1997).