Film

Rhinestone

Name: Rhinestone
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1984
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Dolly Parton, Richard Farnsworth, Ron Leibman, Tim Thomerson

Comedy
Light-hearted

Sylvester Stallone plays a New York cabbie who gets swept into country music stardom by Dolly Parton's scheming superstar, who's bet she can turn anyone into a singer. It's a genial, absurd comedy that mostly just wants you to enjoy watching these two wildly mismatched people learn to like each other while Stallone mangles country songs. Pure eighties charm, utterly sincere, asking almost nothing of you except a willingness to smile.

TMDb rating

2.5

If you liked this

Nine to Five1980

Dolly's film debut is similarly warm-hearted and funny, a workplace comedy where charm and charisma matter more than plot logic. Same spirit of women driving the story and doing whatever they want.

But It's much more coherent and clever than Rhinestone, so if you're after another movie that's exactly this weird and rambling, you'll be disappointed.

Splash1984

Released the same year, equally convinced that movie magic is just watching two stars like each other. Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah have the same easygoing chemistry, and it shares Rhinestone's determination to be charmingly dumb.

But It's actually a much tighter, better-made film. Rhinestone's beautiful messiness gets swapped for competence.

Ghostbusters1984

Same era, same approach: star power and personality over plot tightness, comedy that's rooted in likeable people riffing. It's got that eighties confidence that a movie can just *be*, and people will show up.

But Way more culturally iconic and culturally resonant. Rhinestone has no pretense to be important, which is kind of the point.

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Roustabout1964

Both are essentially the same story—a non-musician coaxed into stardom by a woman who believes in them—but made sixty years apart. Rhinestone unknowingly remakes a template Elvis invented.

Elvis plays a carnival drifter who gets drawn into performing by a woman who sees his potential. The DNA of Rhinestone goes back here: a star reluctantly becoming a singer, charisma as plot engine, letting the music carry the story.

But It's a '60s Elvis vehicle, so the production values and sensibility are a universe away from Stallone's neon eighties. The pacing is much slower.

Twins1988

Stallone's next big comedy pairing shows him finding real ease in the genre—again with a star partner (Schwarzenegger), again asking almost nothing but charm and absurdity. Proof he was onto something.

But It's more polished and confident. Rhinestone has a wonderful roughness that Twins smooths away.

Overboard1987

Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell have the same breezy chemistry as Stallone and Parton, and it's got that eighties belief that a ridiculous premise is all you need. Warm, funny, unpretentious.

But It's a better film. If you want another that's this lovably unmoored from good taste, you might want the list's other choices.

Best Friends1982

Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn in a romantic comedy that cares only about whether you like these people. No stakes, no cleverness, just two charming humans being charming at each other for two hours.

But Even by eighties standards this is slight. It asks very little of you and gives very little back, even for a comfort watch.

The Man Who Loved Women1983

Blake Edwards directed both this and 10; it's got that seventies-into-eighties lightness and the same faith that charisma solves everything. Burt Reynolds is in his charm element.

But It's actually trying to say things about desire and masculinity. If you want pure, unconcerned fun, this gets in its own way.

Grease 21982

Same unconcerned energy, same faith in charisma and song, same willingness to be exactly as weird as the premise demands. Michelle Pfeiffer before anyone knew who she was; just a movie happy to exist.

But It's genuinely baffling in places and the songs don't land. Not even nostalgia redeems it for most people.

The Vegas Strip War1984

An underseen, undercooked Vegas comedy with real stars doing their thing in a story that barely matters. Exactly Rhinestone's energy: does the movie work if nothing else does, as long as they're having fun?

But It's terrible. Genuinely difficult to care about. Worth it only if you've seen everything else here and want to go down with the ship.

Coal Miner's Daughter1980

Dolly appears as herself; it's her world and her genre, but seen from the inside of a genuine reckoning with ambition and cost. Where Rhinestone is play, this is confession.

Sissy Spacek's performance is one of the greatest American acting turns. It's serious, moving, and absolutely earned. If you want Dolly Parton's world but with the full weight of real struggle and real talent, this is it.

But It's nothing like Rhinestone in tone. It's a proper biography of real tragedy and real triumph. You cannot watch this casually.

Nashville1975

Both movies are obsessed with Nashville country music as a space where ego, ambition, and performance live. One's a joke; the other's a requiem. They're almost inverses.

Robert Altman's three-hour mosaic of country music, politics, ambition, and chaos in Nashville. It's got the same setting and the same obsession with what it means to be a singer, but it's a masterpiece operating at a completely different altitude.

But It's long, dense, and pessimistic. Rhinestone is a sunny comic fantasy; Nashville is a sophisticated tragedy about the cost of the dream. Totally different experience.