My Top 5 Movie Musicals For People Who Don’t Love Musicals
Ken Jones, OnStage Blog Chief Movie Critic
Recently, OnStage Blog Editor Greg Ehrhardt suggested I cobble together a list of, in his words, what I “consider the best movie musicals that work for people like you who don't like musicals.” I will admit that in my younger days, I was fairly anti-musical, and to this day, I will not go out of my way to catch a movie musical. And yes, somehow I was still hired by a theatre blog to review movies, don’t ask me why! But I have definitely come around on the genre in the last 10-15 years, as I have on many other genres I used to have general disdain for (westerns, for instance).
Nevertheless, the gauntlet was thrown down, so I must pick up this mantle (I am definitely mixing my metaphors here…) and run with it. Initially, I went to my extensive and meticulously thought-out Letterboxd rankings to look at the musicals I had rated the highest there, as any normal person would. But then I thought that if I wanted to make a truly personal list, I should look at movies where I have put my money where my mouth is, which is my movie collection.
Combing through my shelves, I found ten movies that were either clear-cut musicals or movies where music was so integral I thought they could loosely fit the genre. So here are my top five musical movies for people who don’t love musicals, like me (apparently).
5. South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (1999)
Hard to believe that this movie came out over 25 years ago and that South Park is still cranking out episodes. In the 300+ episodes of the show, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have shown a level of sophistication with parody and social commentary that has earned them a reputation as being brilliant satirists. But back in 1999, the show’s reputation was not what it is today; it was more that it was subversive and sophomoric with surprising insights.
The South Park movie went a long way toward cementing the show’s and the creators’ bona fides. It also subverted expectations by being an out-and-out musical, catching critics and audiences off guard. The soundtrack features 12 tracks from the movie that lovingly spoof everything from Les Mis to Disney.
The movie is irreverent, skewering everyone, and was at one time the most profane movie ever made, famously featuring 399 swear words, because the MPAA said it would slap an NC-17 rating on the movie if it featured 400 swear words.
Shockingly, the story, centered on free speech and censorship, is as relevant today in 2025 as it was in 1999. Also, the idea of going to war with Canada in 1999 was completely farcical.
4. La La Land (2016)
Damien Chazelle’s follow-up to Whiplash has faced a bit of backlash in the subsequent years since its release, when it was a critical darling, though I think it is still mostly loved and enjoyed. The Best Picture fiasco at the Oscars, where the film became a something of a punchline because it was incorrectly named over Moonlight, probably hasn’t helped the film’s reputation.
But I still love this love letter to falling in love, dreams, and the musical form in general. The soundtrack has some great songs, and it is one of a handful of movie soundtracks I have bought in the last 15 years.
It makes great use of Los Angeles as a location, and the cinematography, which perfectly utilizes the lighting of “magic hour” in the iconic “A Lovely Night” song and dance scene, is enchanting.
Nothing, though, is more enchanting than the chemistry between the leads, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. This was their third collaboration, their first being Crazy, Stupid, Love, in which they also displayed incredible chemistry (I can not comment on Gangster Squad as I have not seen it).
I can honestly say that seeing La La Land and then reading about the films that inspired it helped me seek out films I had not seen before and gave me a better appreciation for the musical genre.
3. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2007)
There’s a fine line between musicals and movies about music. I decided to include this one because the songs are integral to the storytelling.
To this day, I’ll never understand how this movie, produced by Judd Apatow, went under the radar when it was released in 2007, which was pretty close to peak Apatow at the time. Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is a pitch-perfect skewering of the formulaic music biopic. It was so perfectly executed that it killed the musical biopic for a decade. Then, when Bryan Singer and Rami Malek made Bohemian Rhapsody together in 2018, everyone except the Best Actor Oscar voters looked at it and asked, “Did Bryan Singer not see Walk Hard?”
John C. Reilly is the fictional musical icon at the center of this fake biopic, playing him as a 14-year-old introducing the devil’s music to a middle school talent show in the form of an innocent 50’s tune crooner-styl song “Take My Hand” and straight on through the rest of his life’s journey, which is a fun jaunt through the eras of music up until 2007. There are too many movie references to mention, but movies about and by artists like Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, The Beatles, The Doors, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, and many more are parodied.
Also, it needs to be noted that the songs in this film are legit good. “Let’s Duet” is a clever double entendre. “Walk Hard” evokes Cash’s “Walk the Line” (obviously). The film also features a shocking number of actor and musician cameos. My favorite is Jack White portraying Elvis Presley (LOOK OUT, MAN!), with Eddie Vedder’s appearance toward the end being a close second.
If someone doesn’t find this movie funny, you might want to question their taste (Editor’s note: he’s digging at Greg Ehrhardt here).
2. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Arguably more borderline than Walk Hard in terms of musical vs. movie about music, and also another movie that shockingly went under the radar when it was released in 2013. Inside Llewyn Davis is one of my favorite films of the 2010s, and from Joel and Ethan Coen, who are among my favorite directors of all time.
It’s a week in the life of a struggling musician named Llewyn Davis, performed expertly by Oscar Isaac. Llewyn is misanthropic through and through, yet must often rely on the kindness of others for a place to lay his head or a payday by playing accompaniment during a studio recording session (alongside Justin Timberlake and, Kylo Ren himself, Adam Driver) for the funniest protest song you’ve ever heard, “Please Mr. Kennedy”.
The Coens have a reputation where people have asked, “Do they like their characters?” Inside Llewyn Davis will do nothing to dispel you of that question, as a glimpse of Llewyn’s life shows way more hardship than most people deserve (or earn). In fact, my personal pet theory is that Llewyn is actually in purgatory, doomed to repeat this week forever until he figures his way out of the doom loop he’s in.
There is a world-weariness to Llewyn that Davis wears so well, and it also comes through in the songs, which are mostly pulled from the folk scene of the early, pre-Dylan 60s. The soundtrack to this film is a must-own. I can honestly say I have probably not listened to any album more since 2013 than I have this film’s soundtrack, which was produced by T Bone Burnett, who also famously worked with the Coens on O Brother, Where Art Thou?, another movie that easily could’ve made this list.
1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Honestly, I tried to figure out if there was any way this clear and obvious choice could not be #1 on my list, but there’s no getting around it. I have no clue if things are different now in the streaming age, but anyone about age 30 and up probably grew up with The Wizard of Oz being a staple of childhood viewing, on TV at least once every year on one of the major networks. I distinctly remember my sister getting the 50th anniversary VHS of the movie for her birthday and watching it every day for weeks on end, to the point that I soured on the movie.
It was inevitable that I would come back around on Dorothy and Toto and their companions on the Yellow Brick Road. There are so many reasons why this movie is iconic and beloved by generation after generation after 85 years. A teenage Judy Garland is at the center of it all and an undeniable star; both her acting and singing are top-notch.
The songs are timeless and unforgettable (even if you didn’t happen to watch it 500 times by proxy as a kid because of your sister). Over the Rainbow is one of the greatest Oscar-winning songs of all time, and " Follow the Yellow Brick Road, and the showcase songs for the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion (“If I Only Had a Brain/a Heart/the Nerve”) are great showcases to introduce the characters.
Of course, there are also the stunning visuals of the movie, starting out in black and white and then transitioning to color. Dorothy stepping into Technicolor Oz is one of the most iconic moments in the history of movies. The movie is a visual feast for the eyes and an aural feast for the ears.
85 years later, The Wizard of Oz remains a shining example of the magic of filmmaking, and of course, movie musicals.