UPDATE (2025) — You can now ask and answer all your “Name That Movie” questions over at Filmfind. This article became so wildly popular that it was well-needed.
We all do it:
“What’s the name of that movie?”
“What’s that actor’s name?”
“What was that film called?”
Sometimes, you need to ease your mind because you just have to know. It’s just on the tip of your tongue, but driving you crazy that you cannot remember. Other times, maybe it’s some old nostalgic film from your childhood that you just have to track down and watch again.
These techniques also apply if you’re trying to find other info on movies, music, and even video games (directors, writers, voice actors, you name it).
Step 1: Try AI First (The Fastest Method)
This is now the quickest way to find a movie you can’t remember the name of. AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini are surprisingly accurate at identifying films from plot descriptions alone.
Simply describe what you remember:
- “A movie where a guy gets stuck reliving the same day over and over”
- “90s thriller where the main character has short-term memory loss and uses tattoos”
- “Animated film about emotions inside a girl’s head”
- “Action movie with a bus that can’t slow down”
The more details you provide (decade, actor’s name, specific scenes, genre), the better. AI can often identify movies even from vague or partially incorrect details.
Step 2: Search IMDb
Go to IMDb (Internet Movie Database). IMDb is still the most comprehensive database for finding any movie, actor’s name, or film details.
Before you can begin your search, you’ll need to at least have some piece of information that links to the film or whatever else you’re trying to find.
Here are some examples:
- Name of the Director
- Name of the Writer
- Name of the Composer
- Name of any of the Actors or Actresses no matter how big or small their role was
- Name of the Company that released the film
- The Year (or Decade) the film was released
- Plot Info
Basic IMDb Search
Use the search bar at the top of any IMDb page. You can search for an actor’s name, director, plot keywords, or character names.
Advanced IMDb Search
For more powerful searches, use IMDb’s Advanced Title Search at https://www.imdb.com/search/title/.
This lets you combine multiple criteria like release year ranges, genres, keywords, cast and crew names, user ratings, and more.
Reverse Method
It may be possible to find what you’re looking for even if you don’t know any direct facts about the movie you’re trying to find. Say that you at least recognize someone in the film and you’re aware of the title of another film they’re in. You can start your search there.
If you have an actor’s name, go to their IMDb page and look at their filmography. You can filter by the Actor section of their credits page. Even if you don’t know the exact year it came out, you should at least know a range, for example between 1970 and 1980.
The films are in order from newest to oldest. I’d start on the oldest film in your range and work your way up. Just seeing the title might not be enough to spark your memory. Think about what the movie is about and try and relate the titles to that. Most titles will make sense in relation to what the film is about. When you click on a movie title to investigate further, look at the poster or movie cover image, look at the character and actor names, and read the synopsis. If it’s the right movie, it should eventually click.
If you know the title of a movie that has an actor in it who is also in the film you’re looking for, but you don’t know the actor’s name (only recognize them), find that title on IMDb. Then, go through the cast of actors on that film and try and find that actor. Most actor pages are supported with celebrity pictures so you can verify it’s who you think it is before you start searching their filmography for the movie.
Step 3: Use Google to Search IMDb
If all you’re left with is pieces of the plot, we can utilize Google to search the IMDb database in a much more powerful way than IMDb’s own native search (this is true for most websites actually).
Simply use this format in Google:
site:imdb.com [your plot keywords here]
Examples:
- site:imdb.com robot apocalypse 1980s
- site:imdb.com twins comedy schwarzenegger
- site:imdb.com “red dress” dance scene 1990s
Put exact phrases in quotes and try to be vague and yet specific at the same time to get a substantial amount of results to browse, but also try and filter out obvious conflicting results. For instance, “future” would be much more helpful than something more generic like “day.”
Step 4: Ask Reddit or Filmfind
The subreddit r/tipofmytongue is incredibly active for finding movies you can’t remember. Post what you remember with the [TOMT] [Movie] tag. The community is fast and surprisingly accurate, even with minimal details.
Other helpful communities include r/movies and Filmfind, where you can describe whatever you remember and real movie enthusiasts will help track it down.
Tips
- If you’re looking for something other than a film or actor, just try relating the techniques to your search.
- Don’t give up. 9 out of 10 times, I find what I’m looking for if I keep at it.
- Check streaming services. If you remember watching it on a specific platform, browse their catalog or check your viewing history (Netflix has a “viewing activity” tab).
- Look at movie posters and trailers. Visual cues often trigger recognition faster than reading plot summaries.
- Don’t trust your memory completely. You might be combining elements from multiple movies. Stay flexible in your search.
- As a last resort, you could always ask a film expert by describing whatever it is as best as you can at Filmfind.
Good luck with your search!
Note: For some reason some people are getting the idea that my blog itself contains info on movies, which it does not. I keep seeing searches for plot keywords and actor’s names and whatnot done through my blog’s search form. Outside of this article, my blog does not contain any movie info. It is not a media database and won’t help your search in that way, unfortunately. You want to head over to IMDb or use one of the other options I’ve presented here. Thank you.