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Movies like Hot Potato

Key Features:
Social stigma, Homophobia, Workers rights, Prejudice, Acceptance, Friendship, Factory worker, Community, Discrimination
Tone:
serious, dramatic
Target Audience:
Social issue dramas, LGBTQ+ stories, Working-class narratives, Character-driven stories
Emotional Arc:
['Conviction → Doubt']

Hot Potato

1979-11-16
Hot Potato Poster - Find Similar Movies

A factory worker known for his tough attitude and for fighting for workers' rights starts losing credibility when friends and co-workers see him helping a young gay man.

Genres
Comedy
Cast
Renato Pozzetto, Massimo Ranieri, Edwige Fenech, Mario Scarpetta, Clara Colosimo, Adriana Russo, Luca Sportelli, Sergio Ciulli, Loris Bazzocchi, Nazzareno Natale
Crew
Steno, Steno, Enrico Vanzina, Giorgio Arlorio, Giorgio Arlorio
Rating
6.2(82 votes)
Hot PotatoHot Potato
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A Drama of Jealousy (and other things)

Construction worker Oreste and young fiancee Adelaide meet Nello, a cook in a pizzeria. This love triangle often goes to communist rallies, and enjoys the filthy beaches of Ostia. Will the hostile environment pave a way to jealousy?



Fireworks
Fireworks(2023)
7.454

The troubled relationship between Gianni and Nino, set in the narrow-minded and prejudicial Sicily of 1982.



Mascarpone
5.9

Antonio is a 30 year old family man, whose life finds an unexpected twist when he's suddenly dumped by his husband, whom he depends both psychologically and economically: he needs to find a new place to stay, a job and a new purpose in life. Antonio finds a room in an apartment owned by Denis and starts to work in a bakery owned by Luca, while attending pastry school. Through this process he discovers that it was wrong of him to give up his independence for the sake of his relationship in the past.



Made in Italy
6.067

Riko is an honest and hardworking man who can count on a group of real friends and a loving wife. Things change after he loses his job and experiences a midlife crisis.



Palazzina LAF
6.865

Caterino is a worker at the Ilva factory in Taranto. When the company executives decide to use him as a spy to identify the workers they should get rid of, Caterino starts to track his colleagues, in search of reasons to report them. He then asks to be assigned himself to the Palazzino LAF where as punishment, some employees sit out their time with no job assignment. There he discovers that what looks like paradise is actually a strategy to psychologically break troublesome workers.



Unfair Competition

Two linen fabric dealers with their shops close to one another, battle against each other for more and more costumers. Umberto constantly loses clients because of the tough competition brought by Leone, who offers the best prices in the neighborhood. But they leave differences aside when the rise of Fascism places Anti-Semitic politics which rigidly control business like the one conducted by the Jewish Leone, and those new regulations are viewed by Umberto as completely unfair. The long rivalry soon becomes a great friendship.



The Closet
6.409

A man spreads the rumor of his fake homosexuality with the aid of his neighbor, to prevent his imminent firing at his work.



The Working Class Goes to Heaven

After losing a finger in a work accident, an Italian worker becomes increasingly involved in political and revolutionary groups.



Nati stanchi
6.839

Salvo and Valentino are two happy Sicilian friends, who do not want to work, because they know that if they find a permanent job, their girlfriends will ask them to marry them.



Different from Whom?

Political strategists in a northern Italian city push gay-rights campaigner Piero into the mayoral race, pairing him with uptight conservative toughie Adele. Piero and his partner, Remo, are the stable ones, while buttoned-up divorcee Adele nurses her bitterness.



Camerieri
Camerieri(1995)
5.627

Four waiters and a cook working at a seaside restaurant hate one another but still keep working together for lack of better opportunities.



Io sono Tempesta
5.8

To avoid jail, a tax-dodging businessman is sentenced to a year of community service in a homeless shelter.



Al posto tuo
5.61

Two very different men have something in common: the work. When their companies are bought by a bigger one, who will take the only place of boss of the new company?



We Can Do That
7.2

The film follows Nello, the recently hired director of a newly developed work cooperative of former mental patients. After the closure of state psychiatric hospitals and asylums in Italy under the Basaglia Law many former patients were left with few resources and little hope of reintegrating into society. With the intention of actually improving the lives of his pupils, rather than just sedating them, Nello encourages them to expand their individual abilities and explore the wider world around them although, regardless of intention, there is sometimes a price to pushing boundaries too quickly.



The Front
The Front(1976)
7

A cashier poses as a writer for blacklisted talents to submit their work through, but the injustice around him pushes him to take a stand.



Happily Mixed Up
6.138

A psychoanalyst learns to have an illness and as a consequence he decides to quit his job. All his patients get together to find a way to make him feel better.



Because of a Boy

When Vincent finds himself a victim of outing in his high school, he must accept to live with the drastic changes it provokes, and redefine his relationships with his friends and family.



Fantozzi: White Collar Blues

A good-natured but unlucky Italian is constantly going on a difficult situations, but never lose his mood.



Mambo Italiano
5.937

When an Italian man comes out of the closet, it affects both his life and his crazy family.



What a Drag
5.835

A closeted gay man's attempt to "act straight" for the sake of his job has unexpected consequences.



Our Life
Our Life(2010)
6.5

Claudio is a construction worker living in the outskirts of Rome. He's happily married and his wife is pregnant with their third child. However, a dramatic event comes to upset this simple and happy life.



The Organizer
7.484

In the late 19th century, a former high school teacher turned unionist tries to organize workers laboring with inhuman conditions at a textile factory in Turin, Italy.



As Needed
As Needed(2018)
6.714

A 40-year-old world-famous chef with anger management issues is assigned to run a cooking class at a centre for young people with autism.



The Factory
6.203

When a factory is bound to close, a group of workers decides to take action against the owner.



Sun, Heart, Love
5.858

Eli has four children, an unemployed husband and a job with an almost impossible commute. Vale is single and makes ends meet by working in clubs as a dancer. Tied by a profound emotional bond of true sisterhood, the two women's lives are two sides of the same coin, but their mutual solidarity isn’t always enough to lighten the load of their difficult circumstances.



Couch Potatoes
5.2

Giorgio and Tito, father and son. A successful journalist and a lazy teenager apparently impossible to understand. Giorgio's dream is to take Tito to the Nasca Hill in Liguria, but Tito prefers to spend his entire day with his group of friends, eating, talking about nothing and playing video games. Until one day when he suddenly informs his father that he would join him in this trip. After a series of accidents and misunderstandings, at the end, somehow father and son will find the way to communicate … or at least they will try.



In the Name of the Italian People

An obscure Italian magistrate suspects that a well-known industrialist commited murder, and decides to investigate him, and bring him to court, whatever it takes. But - will the magistrate have it in him to go against impossible odds, in the name of the Italian people he represents?



Non c'è 2 senza te

Gay couple is jeopardized when one of them falls for a sexy woman.



Property Is No Longer a Theft

A young bank teller, literally allergic to paper money, becomes the worst nightmare of his best customer, a wealthy butcher who manages his business unscrupulously.



A Difficult Life

Silvio refuses to fight for the fascists and joins the resistance with Elena. After the war, his vitriolic newspaper articles cause him to be sentenced to imprisonment.



Contromano
5.8

Mario Cavallaro is 50 and lives in the same district of always in Milano and fears changes until arrives Oba, a Senegalese seller of socks so he decides to kidnap Oba and take him back to Senegal.



Boys on the Outside
6.75

Young men with no future have little in the present as well. Natale is released from prison: he takes up with his friends again but none can find work. Claudio, from Palermo, gets out of juvenile detention in Naples and he's met by Vita, a girl who's come from home to run away with him. Where can they go? A young dad, whose potato stall at the market is shut down because he has no permit, takes his two small children to the beach and yells at them. Mario, gay, a prostitute in drag, gets a visit from his mom; he offers tea, then finds the water to his apartment is shut off. Social workers drop by, parole officers file reports. What hope is there? What options besides crime?



L'uomo perfetto
6

Lucia is a young and talented advertiser but is out of luck when it comes to love. Madly in love with her best friend's boyfriend, she struggles with her feelings when they are set to get married.



Pride
Pride(2014)
7.689

In 1984, a group of LGBT activists decide to raise money to support the National Union of Mineworkers during their lengthy strike. There is only one problem: the Union seems embarrassed to receive their support.



Addio fottuti musi verdi

Young Ciro Priello, an ultra-skilled Neapolitan graphic, can not find a job that satisfies and appreciates him. After sending the curriculum practically everywhere, he just have to send a copy in space. He will thus be able to work for an alien society based on competence and meritocracy.



A Small Southern Enterprise

Mamma Stella is on edge. As if she hadn't got enough trouble already with her daughter Rosa Maria, who has left her husband now Costantino, her son, has disrobed. Afraid to be the talk of the village, relegates him to a distant lighthouse belonging to the family. But Costantino does not remain far from the madding crowd for long. It does not take long indeed before all the local (or even distant) outcasts flock together there: Magnolia, a retired escort girl; Arturo, Rosa Maria's estranged husband; Valbona, a lesbian; Rosa Maria herself; and, to crown it all, two eccentric workers accompanied by a little girl... After a period of chaos, this small world gradually discovers that unity makes strength.



Il vegetale
5.707

Fabio struggles with a cumbersome father and a capricious and spoiled little sister who consider him a good for nothing, a “vegetable” in fact. The unfortunate recent graduate looks for a job reacts to the contempt of his family and demanding employers, when an unexpected event remixes roles…



The Turning Point
6.171

A slacker who does his best to avoid confrontation strikes up an unlikely friendship with a dangerous thug who suddenly forces his way into his life.



Carne
Carne(1968)
6.284

A woman who works in a meat packing plant is continuously preyed upon by lecherous men.



My Piece of the Pie

France, a factory worker, lives with her three daughters in Dunkirk. The factory where she worked has been closed, leaving France and all of her workmates without a job. She decides to go to Paris to look for work. There she finds a cleaning job at the home of a rich man, Steve, whose world is radically different from her own. As their paths keep crossing, she discovers that her employer played a part in closing the factory in Dunkirk...



Human Capital
7.5

The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve.



Strawberry and Chocolate

Set in 1979, following a young Communist man's relationship with a gay Catholic writer, exploring tolerance, inclusion, homophobia and challenging its Cuban audience with great humour. Based on the short story by Cuban writer Senel Paz.



Still Fabulous
5.581

Stuck in a dead-end career and on a string of terrible dates, the life of 30-something Maddalena is a total mess until one day, she meets an unlikely imaginary friend who comes to her in the form of real-life porn star Valentina Nappi. Her mission? To teach Maddalena everything she needs to know about life, sex, and love.



7 Minutes
7 Minutes(2016)
7

Women in a failing silk factory, fight to find a way to keep their jobs.



Things from Another World

Maroso Golfetto, a firm manager from Veneto, is known for his frequent yelling at his employees, who are either immigrants or Southern Italians. He regularly appears on the local TV channel to denounce the evils of immigration, and his popularity extends to children. His speeches resonate more deeply with people than those of Lucia, their anti-racist schoolmistress. One morning, a miracle occurs: by invoking the help of God to rid Veneto of its immigrants, all the immigrants disappear. However, is this truly a blessing?



The Dream Factory

Four friends come up with an unusual idea to make some money and have fun doing it. For a small fee, they will impersonate and act out any character role for their customers. In the course of executing this novel service, they encounter a whole spectrum of people in society, finding ways to genuinely help them boost their morale and overcome their fears, while gaining unusual and new insights into the human condition.



An Italian Name
6.3

Paolo is an outgoing and handsome real estate broker married to Simona, a beautiful woman from the rough outskirts of Rome who has become an author of spicy bestsellers and is pregnant with their child. Betta, Paolo’s sister and her husband Sandro organise a dinner party with Paolo, Simona and their childhood friend, the eccentric musician Claudio. During the lively gathering Paolo reveals what he would like to name his son, causing reactions to steam up and a torrent of revelations to follow reaching climactic proportions.



Ears
Ears(2016)
7.1

A man wakes up one morning with an annoying ringing sound in his ears. A note on the fridge says: "Your friend Luigi has died. P.S. I took the car". The problem is that he does not even remember who this guy Luigi is. This is just the beginning of a tragicomic day during which he will be plunged into the folly of the world. One of those days that changes your life forever.



We Accept Miracles
5.851

Fired from his HR job in the big city, Fulvio returns home and sees a leaky pipe in his brother's church as the way to save the crumbling town.



Not for the Young

Frustrated with their lack of upward mobility, some young Italians move to Cuba to start a wi-fi café and attempt to build a new life.



One Kiss
One Kiss(2016)
6.7

Lorenzo, Blue and Antonio have a lot in common: they are sixteen, attending the same class in the same school in a small town in the northeast, each have a family that loves them. And all three, though for different reasons, have come to be isolated from other peers. Their new friendship helps them to resist, until the mechanical attraction and fear the judgment of others do not grasp them unprepared.



The Fifth Wheel
6.5

The life of a working-class boy in Rome through the '70s and '80s, choosing his own path with his friends and family.



The Great Pumpkin
6.7

An epileptic 12-year-old girl, Pippi, is hospitalized in the psychiatric ward instead of the neurological ward, due to an administration error. Out of this mistake begins the difficult journey towards being cured.



His Secret Life
7.3

When Antonia's husband Massimo is killed in a car accident, she accidentally discovers that he has been having a same-sex affair with a produce wholesaler named Michele.



Consequences
6

After being sent to a youth detention centre, 18-year-old Andrej has to fight for his place within the group of inmates while getting closer to Željko, their informal leader, and struggling to keep his repressed secret in the dark.



Il ragazzo di campagna

A man is forced to completely change his habits when he decides to move from the country to the city.



Ricky & Barabba
5.791

A wealthy millionaire decided to commit suicide but meets a homeless with whom he experiences a lot of funny adventures until finally makes order in his life.



Café Express
7.037

An Italian laborer foils anyone who tries to stop him from selling espresso on the Milan-to-Naples night train.



The Guest
The Guest(2019)
6.62

Dumped by his girlfriend and finding himself stranded on different couches at friends’ places, Guido tries to transform his drift into an opportunity for a new beginning.



ClownTown
ClownTown(2017)
4.326

Whilst on their way to a concert four friends get sidetracked and stranded in a seemingly abandoned town and whilst looking for help find themselves stalked and terrorised by a gang of violent clown dressed psychopaths who will stop at nothing ensnaring them into their sinister blood thirsty games.



Magic Touch
5.672

Andrea, a forty-year old engineer, suddenly becomes unemployed while his wife France gets a promotion. He is very down hearted and since he does not want to be a burden to his family he takes the place of the house maid.



Yes or No
Yes or No(2010)
6.897

Traditional girl Pie is initially uncomfortable with her tomboyish new roommate. But as time goes on, she finds herself increasingly attracted to her.



There Is a Light
6.856

Paolo is a sceptical 30-year-old who works unwillingly as a sales clerk in a Turin department store. Mia is a back-up singer in a band and lives her life haphazardly, which leads her to being practically homeless. One night, they bump into each other by chance, in a gay club in Turin. It will be the beginning of an emotional adventure and a journey across the country looking for the father of Mia’s baby.



Adua and Her Friends

When a brothel closes because of new laws, four of the prostitutes decide to go into business running a restaurant. They discover they cannot escape their past.



At War
At War(2018)
7

After promising 1100 employees that they would protect their jobs, the managers of a factory decide to suddenly close up shop. Laurent takes the lead in a fight against this decision.



Bread and Chocolate
7.193

An Italian immigrant tries to make a new life in Switzerland, taking on a series of increasingly menial jobs in order to do it. He attempts to fit into his new home and society but fails at every turn. Unable to go home again, will his tenacity and optimism be enough to live on?



Le Havre
Le Havre(2011)
7.005

In the French harbor city of Le Havre, fate throws young African refugee Idrissa into the path of Marcel Marx, a well-spoken bohemian who works as a shoe-shiner. With innate optimism and the tireless support of his community, Marcel stands up to officials pursuing the boy for deportation.



Life Is a Wonderful Thing

A policeman who spies on the lives of others, an important banker married to a housewife who poses as a noblewoman. A precarious young masseuse and an electrician madly in love. Very different lives that end up intertwining. But also extremely complicated and troubled lives ... Even if, after all, life is a wonderful thing ...



We All Loved Each Other So Much

Three partisans bound by a strong friendship return home after the war, but the clash with everyday reality puts a strain on their bond.



Discount
Discount(2014)
6.006

To fight against the introduction of automatic checkouts that threaten their jobs, staff members at Hard Discounts secretly create their own "Alternative Discount" outlet by salvaging products that would otherwise have been wasted.



Tramite amicizia
5.1

Lorenzo works for a rent-a-friend company. One day, his services are required for suicidial businessman Alberto.



Too Neapolitan
6.3

When Debora's ex-husband, a popular neomelodic singer, loses his life in a stage dive, she worries that her 11-year-old son Ciro may be showing symptoms of depression. Taken to a child psychologist, shy Tommaso, Ciro eventually confesses to him that it's not his father's death that has got him down, it's love for his classmate, the cute Ludovica. The two make a deal: Tommaso will help Ciro to win the affections of Ludovica, while Ciro will give Tommaso a hand at having a chance with his mother.



Complexes
Complexes(1965)
6.956

In the first episode, Quirino tries to conquer co-worker Gabriella. In the second episode, Prof. Beozi ends up in a raid of the police in a local for homosexuals when trying to avoid a scandal. In the third episode, Guglielmo passes all tests in order to become reader of the television news brilliantly, although the commission works with all subtleness's to exclude him.



A Woman as a Friend
5.253

Francesco and Claudia are best friends. They're inseparable and tell each other everything, until another man enters the picture stealing Claudia's heart. Francesco then realizes that friendship between man and woman is a complicated thing.



Summer Storm
6.8

Tobi and Achim, the pride of the local crew club, have been the best of friends for years and are convinced that nothing will ever stand in the way of their friendship. They look forward to the upcoming summer camp and the crew competition. Then the gay team from Berlin arrives and Tobi is totally confused. The evening before the races begin, the storm that breaks out is more than meteorological.



Men Vs Women
5.779

From married couples to platonic roommates to testy rivals with romantic chemistry, the never-ending battle of the sexes gets personal.



Macho
Macho(2016)
5.874

A fashion designer pretends to be gay in order to be closer to female models.



Familia
Familia(2024)
6.961

Luigi has lived with his mother and little brother since their abusive father Franco left when he was 10. Now a young man brimming with rage, he joins a far-right gang in search of belonging, but Franco's return poisons everything.



Sotto una buona stella

A wealthy broker, Federico Picchioni, within two days forfeits his partner and work, finishing well to living with two children and granddaughter (abandoned by her father). He is, at this point, in the face of many difficulties of adjustment but finds comfort in the help of his neighbor.



Basette
Basette(2008)
7.508

Antonio's first day as a thief is marked by tears. During an incursion at the mall, his mother is arrested. Some 20 years later, Antonio along with his two inseparable friends, after some minor robberies, take on a post office. Things don't go as planned.



Nasty Baby
5.155

A gay couple enlists the help of their friend Polly to create a baby. Meanwhile, they must also contend with their homophobic neighbour who becomes a big nuisance.



Human Resources
6.855

"Good son" Franck returns to his hometown to do a trainee managerial internship in the Human Resources department of the factory where his anxious, taciturn father has worked for 23 years.



Some Say No
5.7

Some Say No is a new Italian comedy with a very serious subject: the way the country's society is corroded by favoritism that pushes inferior people to the top in virtually every field. In Florence, three thirty-somethings band together to wage their own war on the system. Each of them is a person of talent who has been pushed out by "favorites" or raccomandati, people who have muscled in on the promotions they ought to have gotten by pulling strings.



Firefighters
5.8

In the barracks of the "Settecamini" fire brigade in Rome, the shabby Squadra 17 tackles missions with resounding failures, waiting in vain for a chance for redemption.



An Almost Perfect Country

Pietramezzana, a remote village in the Lucan Dolomites, is likely to disappear. Its inhabitants, led by the volcanic Dominic do not give up and, believing that the opening of a factory may be the solution to all their troubles, they want to make sure that the project is successful ...



Kinky Boots
6.7

Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the flamboyant drag queen cabaret singer Lola and everything changes.



Me, Myself and Her

Two women -- a restaurateur and an architect -- have a seemingly idyllic romantic relationship, until the latter encounters a man she had a fling with.



Fat People
6.056

Due to many reasons, ranging from insecurity to trauma, a group of people have gained a lot of weight in recent times.



Caramelo
Caramelo(2025)
7.79

After a life-changing diagnosis, a promising chef finds hope and humor with the help of a fur-midable dog friend.



Hawaii
Hawaii(2013)
7.01

Eugenio offers his childhood friend Martin work for the summer. With a game of power and desire a relationship starts to grow that goes beyond their friendship.



Ovosodo
Ovosodo(1997)
7.2

From childhood to fatherhood, Piero learns things the hard way while growing up in a working-class neighborhood of Livorno.



Stutterer
Stutterer(2015)
7.4

A lonely typographer with a cruel speech impediment but an eloquent inner voice must face his greatest fear.



Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today

A boy and a girl fall in love but their fathers take a strong dislike to each other, clashing repeatedly during the preparations for the upcoming marriage.



The Mayor of Rione Sanità

Antonio Barracano is a respected figure among the Neapolitan underworld, keeping order and administering justice according to his own criteria, beyond the law. One day he's faced with a dilemma after a youth asks him permission to kill his father.



Tomboy
Tomboy(2011)
7.3

Ten-year-old Laure isn't like most girls. She prefers football to dolls and sweaters to dresses. When Laure and her family move to a new neighbourhood, local girl Lisa mistakes Laure for a boy. Indulging in this exciting new identity, Laure becomes Mickaël, and so begins a summer of long sunny afternoons, playground games and first kisses. Yet with the school term fast approaching, and with suspicions arising amongst friends and family, Laure must face up to an uncertain future.



Senza nessuna pietà

Mimmo is a construction worker who only wants to live in peace, but has to work as a debt collector for his uncle. Everything changes when he meets Tanya, a beautiful, street-smart girl who shares his dream.



Fists in the Pocket
7.789

A deeply disturbed and epileptic young man benignly decides to murder other members of his dysfunctional family for altruistic reasons.



Gold Brick
6.1

Determined to even the scales and profit from his thankless job, a factory worker schemes to traffic luxury perfumes from under his employer's nose.



The King of the Street Cleaners

Going through his daily routine in a stereotypical neighborhood, a street cleaner falls in love with a charwoman. Unfortunately for him, so does his superior officer.

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