The Knack... and How to Get ItMovies like The Knack... and How to Get It
- Key Features:
- Cultural revolution, French New Wave, Social satire, Misogyny, Romantic Comedy, Coming-of-age, Male bonding, London, Cultural commentary, Ensemble cast
- Tone:
- humorous, whimsical, satirical
- Target Audience:
- Film buffs, Counter-culture enthusiasts, Fans of British cinema, Viewers interested in social commentary
- Emotional Arc:
- Amusement → Confusion
The Knack... and How to Get It

A nebbish schoolteacher begs his smooth (and misogynistic) pal to teach him 'the knack' – how to score with women. Serendipitously, the men meet up with a new girl in town, as well as a friendly lunatic who can’t help but paint things white.
The Knack... and How to Get It
Hapless Henry Palfrey is patronised by his self-important chief clerk at work, ignored by restaurant waiters, conned by shady second-hand car salesmen, and, worst of all, endlessly wrong-footed by unspeakably rotten cad Raymond Delauney who has set his cap at April, new love of Palfrey's life. In desperation Henry enrolls at the College of Lifemanship to learn how to best such bounders and win the girl.

There's a new girl in school, Angela, the Headmaster's neice. Every male will try to seduce her, even her uncle. Meanwhile she will drive the philosophy's teacher mad and her best friend Irma will have a good time with the classmates. Will they get the grades?

A playboy who refuses to give up his hedonistic lifestyle to settle down and marry his true love seeks help from a demented psychoanalyst who is having romantic problems of his own.

A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father's middle-aged employer while attempting to please her glamorously stuck-up roommate Meredith.

Two hopeful lads from Leatherhead trying to break into the movies stumble upon the opportunity of a lifetime. Frustrated by their arty film teacher, wannabe producer Joe and his talented but neurotic director friend Baggy head to London to sell what they know is a script made of gold.

Advertising executive Nick Marshall is as cocky as they come, but what happens to a chauvinistic guy when he can suddenly hear what women are thinking? Nick gets passed over for a promotion, but after an accident enables him to hear women's thoughts, he puts his newfound talent to work against Darcy, his new boss, who seems to be infatuated with him.

The story of Nola Darling's simultaneous sexual relationships with three different men is told by her and by her partners and other friends. All three men wanted her to commit solely to them; Nola resists being "owned" by a single partner.

Pressure from his boss and a skin-cream client produces a talking boil on a British adman's neck.

Steve, a happily married American man living in London meets Vicki, an English divorcée and run off to Marbella for a rollicking week of sex. They then return to London to set up a cozy menage, despite the fact that he loves his wife and children, and now realize that he and Vicki have also fallen in love.

A young but bright former window cleaner rises to the top of his company by following the advice of a book about ruthless advancement in business.

A woman must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries.

Giovanna, Carla, Francesca, Chiara. What these women have in common so different from each other? Which will never be the not insignificant detail that makes their lives secretly imperfect? And what mystery female is so intimate and private, that more private you can not? Whatever it is, all they want. A food designer, her first love and one sciampista for dogs are the stars of this comedy merrily shameless telling women what no one had ever dared to tell.

A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door.

Diana, a beautiful but shallow and easily distracted model and failed actress, toys with the affections of several men while attempting to gain fame and fortune in Swinging London.

Stanley Ford leads an idyllic bachelor life. He is a nationally syndicated cartoonist whose Bash Brannigan series provides him with a luxury townhouse and a full-time valet, Charles. When he wakes up the morning after the night before - he had attended a friend's stag party - he finds that he is married to the very beautiful woman who popped out of the cake - and who doesn't speak a word of English. Despite his initial protestations, he comes to like married life and even changes his cartoon character from a super spy to a somewhat harried husband.

A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.

A London aristocrat (Rupert Everett) rents out rooms in his posh estate to a pair of Italians who are wooing two wealthy British gals (Elle Macpherson, Judith Godrèche).

A down-and-out gangster hires a down-on-his-luck agent to make his girlfriend a recording star within six weeks.

When a well-loved headmaster decides to retire, his scheming pupils have other ideas. The cunning boys unleash a campaign of practical jokes, armed with gin, itching power, and bombs!

To save his career, an ad man wants a sex symbol to endorse a lipstick but in exchange, she wants him to pretend to be her lover.

A fanciful battle of the sexes ensues when the relationships of the staff and patrons of a quirky London café are unexpectedly turned upside down by sudden revelations of terribly embarrassing secrets having to do with their sexual misadventures. The food is not that good, but you can be yourselves and show yourselves for what you are: maniacs, perverts, gays, cheaters, violent old women, cross-dressers, whining singers, broken hearts... Come in, there is room!

Three women set out to find eligible millionaires to marry, but find true love in the process.

A girl born with enormous thumbs in the repressive era of the 1950s learns to turn her quirks into assets.

With a reputation for seducing members of the opposite sex, regardless of their marital status, a notorious womanizer discovers a beauty who seems impervious to his charms. However, as he continues to pursue the indifferent lady, he finds himself falling in love.

Eccentric 70-year-old widow purchases the Windmill Theatre in London as a post-widowhood hobby. After starting an innovative continuous variety review, which is copied by other theaters, they begin to lose money. Mrs. Henderson suggests they add female nudity similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

An obscure Eastern cult that practices human sacrifice pursues Ringo after he unknowingly puts on a ceremonial ring (that, of course, won't come off). On top of that, a pair of mad scientists, members of Scotland Yard, and a beautiful but dead-eyed assassin all have their own plans for the Fab Four.

Womanizer father teaches clumsy son the decalogue of seduction: ten foolproof rules to make any woman fall in love. But the results will be not what expected.

An Italian mechanic finds that he has inherited a billion-dollar company from his dead uncle, but he needs to be in San Francisco in 20 days to sign over the will. In the meantime, he is chased by kidnappers and the affected corporation's president.

A young man leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.

A high school girl encounters a variety of kookie characters and humorous sexual situations while searching for the meaning of life.

Two female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, compete to swindle a naïve tech prodigy out of his fortune. A remake of the 1988 comedy "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

Unscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookies, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers, and supposedly Jewish jewellers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.

A smooth-talking ad executive attributes his remarkable success with women to his ability to manipulate their emotions from the moment he first meets them. When his teenage nephew drops in for a visit, he soon learns that his approach isn't as foolproof as he thought when he attempts to teach the boy how to pick up women.

While pursuing his dream of having car sex, a goofy middle-aged man makes all the wrong moves and ends up enrolling in a number of crazy escapades.

Rita and Sue are two teenagers living on a run-down council estate in Bradford, who both share a job babysitting for Bob and Michelle's children. Whilst giving them a lift home one night, Bob decides to take Rita and Sue up to a deserted, country-side landscape. Clearly knowing what he has in mind, Rita and Sue are only too happy to oblige and both have a sexual encounter with him that becomes a regular occurrence.

After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop it.

A young Englishman marries a glamorous American. When he brings her home to meet the parents, she arrives like a blast from the future - blowing their entrenched British stuffiness out the window.

A straight-laced pharmacist's uneventful life spirals out of control when he starts an affair with a trophy wife customer who takes him on a joyride involving sex, drugs and possibly murder.

Two musicians witness a mob hit and need to quickly find a way out of Chicago. Their only opportunity comes in the form of joining an all-girl band as they prepare to leave on a tour. The two disguise themselves as women and struggle to keep their identities secret as the gangsters close in.

When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.

An unemployed Brit vents his rage on unsuspecting strangers as he embarks on a nocturnal London odyssey.

Londoner Harry Fabian is a second-rate con man looking for an angle. After years of putting up with Harry's schemes, his girlfriend, Mary, becomes fed up when he taps her for yet another loan.

When Andy hears his girlfriend Lauren sigh after sex, he panics. But even with the help of his friends, porn stars and tantric experts, he continues to stumble in the bedroom, finally realizing that in order to give Lauren the 'O' word, he first needs to say the 'L' word. Starring Josh Meyers, Krysten Ritter, Ian Somerhalder, Jenna Jameson and Ken Jeong.

A Beverly Hills hairdresser runs around town on the eve of the 1968 presidential election trying to make heads or tails of his financial and romantic entanglements. His attempts to gather the money to open his own salon are continually side-tracked by the distractions presented by his many lovers.

Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest movie. Benson has been in Paris supposedly working on the script for months, but instead has spent the time living it up. Benson now has just two days to the deadline and thus hires a temporary secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to help him finish on time.

Two doctors in Victorian England use manual stimulation of female genitalia to cure their patients' ills, leading to the invention of the vibrator.

A womanizer meets his match when he falls for the daughter of a gambling addict who is in debt to the mob.

Despite his outstanding intellect, associate professor Charlie Thurber is a chronic underachiever and has never received university tenure. Aided by his nutty best friend, Charlie launches a final effort to make the grade at Gray College. But a beautiful new teacher whose ascending star threatens to eclipse him shakes up Charlie's plans.

An art dealer, Charles Mortdecai, searches for a stolen painting rumored to contain a secret code that gains access to hidden Nazi gold.

Victor Maynard is a middle-aged, solitary assassin who lives to please his formidable mother, despite his own peerless reputation for lethal efficiency. His professional routine is interrupted when he finds himself drawn to one of his intended victims. After sparing her life, he unexpectedly acquires a young apprentice. Believing Victor to be a private detective, his two new companions tag along, while he attempts to thwart the murderous attentions of his unhappy client.

Expert conman Joe Thanks teams up with half-breed Bill and naive Lucy to steal $300,000 from the Indian-hating Major Cabot. Their elaborate plan is full of disguises, double-crosses, and chases, but Joe always seems to know what he's doing.

A director struggles with a difficult sex scene between a young actor and actress who can't stand one another. Aided by her loyal assistant, she is hell-bent on getting the scene right without compromise.

An American showgirl becomes entangled in political intrigue when the Prince Regent of a foreign country attempts to seduce her.

38-year-old Alice has everything to become the next editor-in-chief of Rebelle magazine except for her uptight image. But when the young and charming Balthazar, barely 20, crosses Alice's path, she realizes that he holds the key to her promotion.

In London's contemporary art world, everyone has a hustle. Art Spindle runs a high-end gallery: he hopes to flip a Mondrian for millions. One of his assistants, Beth, is sleeping with Art's most acquisitive client, Bob Macclestone. Beth wants Bob to set her up in her own gallery, so she helps him go behind Art's back for the Mondrian. Bob's wife, Jean, sets her eye on a young conceptual artist, Jo, who lusts after Art's newest assistant, Paige. Meanwhile, self-absorbed videographer Elaine is chewing her way through friends and lovers looking to make it: if she'll throw Dewey, her agent, under the bus, Beth may give her a show. And the Mondrian? No honor among thieves.

When their beloved school is threatened with closure should the powers that be fail to raise the proper funds, the girls scheme to steal a priceless painting and use the profits to pull St. Trinian's out of the red.

London high-society mouse, Roddy is flushed down the toilet by Sid, a common sewer rat. Hang on for a madcap adventure deep in the sewer bowels of Ratropolis, where Roddy meets the resourceful Rita, the rodent-hating Toad and his faithful thugs, Spike and Whitey.

A guy's life is turned around by an email, which includes the names of everyone he's had sex with and ever will have sex with. His situation gets worse when he encounters a femme fatale (Ryder) who targets men guilty of sex crime.

Gabriel can't resist a beautiful woman. But his womanizing attitude is taking a toll on his career and social life. He decides to hire a life coach to help him.

A womanizing reporter for a sleazy tabloid magazine impersonates his hen-pecked neighbor in order to get an expose on renowned psychologist Helen Gurley Brown.

Angie Rossini, an innocent New York City sales clerk from a repressive Italian-American family, engages in a short-lived affair with a handsome jazz musician named Rocky Papasano. When Angie becomes pregnant, she tracks down Rocky hoping he'll pay for her abortion.

A home, a motorcar, servants, the latest fashions: the most eligible and most finicky bachelor in Paris offers them all to Gigi. But she, who's gone from girlish gawkishness to cultured glamour before our eyes, yearns for that wonderful something money can't buy.

Eccentric bellhop Stanley Belt is recruited unexpectedly by the comedy team of a recently deceased entertainer. Stanley struggles to become a song-and-dance man as the team grooms him to become a star. But as the date of a high-stakes appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show grows near, they begin to fear that the only astonishing thing about Stanley is his utter lack of talent.

With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a "wacky weatherman" tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter, who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early-90s Los Angeles.

Sex and love. Some seek it, some need it, some spurn it and some pay for it, but we're all involved in it. Set on one afternoon on Hampstead Heath in north-west London, the film investigates the minutiae of seven couples. What makes us tick?

Paulette Van Der Beck and her husband have been running the housekeeping school of Bitche in Alsace for many years. Their mission is to train teenage girls to become the perfect housewives at a time when women were expected to be subservient to their husband. After the sudden death of her husband, Paulette discovers that the school is on the verge of bankruptcy and has to take her responsibilities. But while preparations are underway for the best housekeeping competition TV show, she and her lively students start questioning their beliefs as the nation-wide protests of May 1968 transform society around them. Reunited with her first love, André, and with the help of her eccentric stepsister Gilberte and strict nun Marie-Therese, Paulette joins forces with the schoolgirls to overcome their suppressed status and become liberated women.

New York City is full of lonely hearts seeking the right match, and what Alice, Robin, Lucy, Meg, Tom and David all have in common is the need to learn how to be single in a world filled with ever-evolving definitions of love.

After his girl leaves him for someone else, Herbert gets really depressed and starts searching for a job. He finally finds one in a big house which is inhabited by many, many women. Can he live in the same home with all these females?

A man and woman have great success in all of their dating pursuits. The woman uses her dating rules and fakes a car accident to capture the guy's attention, but she can't get him to succumb to her charm.

Ray Pluto has many problems. He is satirized in the tabloids as the "loser cop." His partner is starting to seem suspiciously attracted to him. A pair of screenwriters across the hall keep bugging him for help. The superintendent of his building is stabbed by hoodlums hired by his own rebellious daughter. To top it off, a sexually aggressive chiropractor may just be Ray's undoing.

Professors Vooshka and Crump decide to visit an archaeological site to study the artifacts there. Lo and behold, it's right next to a caravan site where all manner of people are staying. With a randy Major owning the site, a snobbish mother, and the two professors' constant innuendos, the story ends with a sinking caravan site and a striptease performance as a replacement for the cabaret night.

Con artist Lawrence Jamieson is a longtime resident of a luxurious coastal resort, where he enjoys the lavish fruits of his deceptions -- that is, until a competitor, Freddy Benson, shows up. When the new guy's lowbrow tactics impinge on his own sophisticated work and believing him to be the infamous conman 'The Jackal', Lawrence resolves to get rid of him. Confident of his own duplicitous talents, he challenges Freddy to a winner-takes-all competition: whoever swindles their latest mark, American heiress Janet Colgate, out of $50,000 first can stay, while the other must leave town.

Emma Woodhouse is a congenial young lady who delights in meddling in other people’s affairs. She is perpetually trying to unite men and women who are utterly wrong for each other. Despite her interest in romance, Emma is clueless about her own feelings, and her relationship with gentle Mr. Knightley.

Franssou, a charming Parisian English teacher, who shares part of her life with a boring middle-aged lover, dreams of another life. So, when she unexpectedly inherits 50,000 euros, she grasps the opportunity and goes to the French Riviera in order to take it easy in luxury. In the four-star hotel where she rents a room she comes across Stéphane, a strange guy who is in the process of arranging Elton John's next coming to the place. Intrigued by the noisy ostentatious fellow, she follows him until she finally comes into contact with him. She knows Stéphane is at bay and decides to take advantage of it.

Two wannabe Black American princesses aim to marry rich men, who will pay for their world's first combination hair salon and soul food restaurant.

Tom loves Sophie and Sophie loves Tom. But Tom and Sophie are of differering classes. Can they find a way through the mayhem to be true to love?

William has failed to kill himself so many times that he outsources his suicide to aging assassin Leslie. But with the contract signed and death assured within a week (or his money back), William suddenly discovers reasons to live... However Leslie is under pressure from his boss to make sure the contract is completed.

Cathy Timberlake is en route to a job interview when a car transporting businessman Philip Shayne covers her in mud. He sends his assistant, Roger, to apologize, but upon meeting Cathy, Roger knows that she would be a suitable match for his boss. Despite their mutual attraction, Cathy and Philip want different things. Philip wants a fling, while Cathy wants a marriage. As they travel to exotic locales, their differing motivations are put to the test.

Barry Munday, a libido-driven wage slave who spends all his time either ogling, fantasizing about or trying to pick up women, wakes up in hospital after a freak attack only to find that his testicles have been removed.

An accountant, who never quite grew out of his awkward teenage years, finds himself with a dating coach - she happens to be his high school crush as well. Thanks to his coach, he gets a pretty woman he has his sights on for some time, but realizes they are incompatible. Meanwhile, his dating lessons with his teenage crush reawaken old feelings. Not realizing the feelings are mutual, he finds himself unable to act on them due to his fear of being rejected by the one he truly loves.

Pierre is a clumsy, overly serious math teacher at an all-girls high school. His life is thrown into chaos after encountering a beautiful British actress and the paparazzi that follow her around.

Nerdy high schooler Ronald Miller rescues cheerleader Cindy Mancini from parental punishment after she accidentally destroys her mother's designer clothes. Ronald agrees to pay for the $1,000 outfit on one condition: that she will act as though they're a couple for an entire month. As the days pass, however, Cindy grows fond of Ronald, making him popular. But when Ronald's former best friend gets left behind, he realizes that social success isn't everything.

Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine 'Sharps', and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.

Unlucky in love, chemist Paul Matthews visits gypsy Madame Rosa for help. Quickly realizing he is a hopeless nerd, she gifts him with Love Potion No. 8, which makes anyone who wears it irresistible to the opposite sex for four hours. Paul and animal psychologist coworker Diane Farrow decide to test it on themselves. The awkward pair suddenly find themselves alluring to anyone they approach, but soon realize they are most attracted to each other.

A bright high-school senior has her impending status as valedictorian jeopardized when her bitter history teacher, Mrs. Tingle, gives her a poor grade on a project. When an attempt to get ahead in Mrs. Tingle's class goes awry, mayhem ensues and friendships, loyalties and trust are tested by the teacher's intricate mind-games.

Barcelona, Spain, in the late sixties. Eugenio, a young jeweler who has fallen in love with Conchita, a singer, to the point of learning to play the guitar to accompany her in her performances, will first have to learn to overcome his stage fright.

The journey of young, handsome New York City playboy Sam Wellman - man’s man and professional woman hater – and his relationship with Doc, his best (and only!) friend. One strange, drunken night Sam stumbles into an Old Curiosity Shop, where the elderly proprietor offers him tea along with sage advice on treasuring “the female of the species”. Sam awakens the next morning to find himself transformed into a woman.

On New Year's Eve, a young woman and an out-of-work actor complicate a pickpocket's plans to ply his trade.

Former London constable Nicholas Angel finds it difficult to adapt to his new assignment in the sleepy British village of Sandford. Not only does he miss the excitement of the big city, but he also has a well-meaning oaf for a partner. However, when a series of grisly accidents rocks Sandford, Angel smells something rotten in the idyllic village.

When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.

TV personality Robert Danvers, an exceedingly vain rotter, seduces young women daily, never staying long with one. He meets his match in Marion, an American, 19, who's available but refuses any romantic illusions.

Friends hatch a plot to retrieve a stolen cat by posing as drug dealers for a street gang.

Arthur, 15, has a crush on Ouassima, who does not even look at him... While he has never been upset, she goes out with Matt, the handsome kid from college. To get closer to her, Arthur gathers a group of single losers and offers to give them lessons in fishing, at 10 euros per lesson. In the changing rooms of the swimming pool, a long intimate and collective learning begins on "girls and love: instructions for use".

A hyper-repressed and schlubby accountant (Jonas Chernick) strikes a deal with a worldly but disorganized stripper (Emily Hampshire): he'll help her with her crushing debt if she helps him become a better lover.

Bored billionaire executive Thomas Crown entertains himself by stealing a Monet from a reputed museum with an elaborate diversion. When Catherine Banning, the insurance company's investigator, takes an interest in Crown, he may have met his match, and a complicated back-and-forth game with seductive undertones begins between them.

While a diamond advocate attempts to steal a collection of diamonds, troubles arise when he realises he’s not the only one after the collection.

London bookstore owner William Thacker's quiet life turns upside down when a chance encounter with famous actress Anna Scott sparks an unlikely romance challenged by their vastly different worlds.

An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his contacts and parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. Eventually a scandal occurs when her affair with the Minister of War goes public, threatening their lifestyles and their freedom.

