Movies like Erik Friedlander (1998)
The best movies like Erik Friedlander (1998) are The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), The Terminal (2004) and Georgetown (2019). If Erik Friedlander hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Erik Friedlander
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSoul (2020)8.1/10 from 11,901 votes
- NewestThe Astronaut (2025)Released 2025
The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
Outlaw and self-appointed lawmaker Judge Roy Bean rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town, while dispensing his his own quirky brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Terminal (2004)
An Eastern European tourist unexpectedly finds himself stranded in JFK airport, and must take up temporary residence there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGeorgetown (2019)
Ulrich Mott is an eccentric and versatile social climber with grandiose plans to affect United States foreign policy. Encouraged in his attempts by his strategically chosen (and much older) wife, the well-connected journalist Elsa Brecht, Mott has a knack for making himself indispensable and impossible to ignore. The only one seemingly immune to his charms is Elsa's daughter Amanda, who might simply disapprove of her mother marrying a much younger man - or perhaps she senses something more sinister beneath the smooth-talking surface?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisNimic (2020)
A professional cellist has an encounter with a stranger on the subway which has unexpected and far-reaching ramifications on his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Hunt (1981)
Yukon Territory, Canada, November 1931. Albert Johnson, a trapper who lives alone in the mountains, buys a dog almost dead after a brutal dogfight, a good deed that will put him in trouble.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Fountainhead (1949)
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSoul (2020)
Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Host (2013)
A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race's mission of taking over the Earth, "Wanda" (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPawn Sacrifice (2015)
During the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Astronaut (2025)
After returning from her first space mission, astronaut Sam Walker is placed under NASA’s care at a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEscape Plan (2013)
Ray Breslin is the world's foremost authority on structural security. After analyzing every high security prison and learning a vast array of survival skills so he can design escape-proof prisons, his skills are put to the test. He's framed and incarcerated in a master prison he designed himself. He needs to escape and find the person who put him behind bars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAliens (1986)
Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisYoung Man with a Horn (1950)
Taken in by the musical world as a young orphan, Rick Martin grows up with a desire to play pure jazz instead of the commercial gigs he lands, whilst also coping with the problems caused by his tempestuous marriage to an aloof heiress.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rainmaker (1997)
Fresh out of law school and desperate for work, idealistic rookie Rudy Baylor takes on a powerful insurance company accused of denying a dying boy’s claim. Teaming up with a scrappy, unlicensed paralegal, he finds himself in a David-versus-Goliath courtroom battle that tests his ethics, courage, and belief in justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Young One (1960)
A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFrontera (2014)
After crossing the border illegally for work, Miguel, a hard-working father and devoted husband, finds himself wrongfully accused of murdering a former sheriff’s wife. After learning of his imprisonment, Miguel’s pregnant wife tries to come to his aid and lands in the hands of corrupt coyotes who hold her for ransom. Dissatisfied with the police department’s investigation, the former sheriff tries to uncover the truth about his wife’s death and discovers disturbing evidence that will destroy one family’s future, or tear another’s apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBilly Two Hats (1974)
After a bank robbery, runaway Scottish outlaw Arch Deans and his young half-breed Kiowa partner Billy Two Hats develop a father-son relationship, but Sheriff Henry Gifford is determined to capture or kill them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958)
Aliens from Outer Space are slowly switching places with real humans -- one of the first being a young man about to get married. Slowly, his new wife realizes something is wrong, and her suspicions are confirmed when her husband's odd behaviour begins to show up in other townspeople.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Came By (2022)
A rebellious young graffiti artist, who targets the homes of the wealthy elite, discovers a shocking secret that leads him on a journey endangering himself and those closest to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Erik Friedlander?
The closest matches to Erik Friedlander are The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), The Terminal (2004) and Georgetown (2019). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Erik Friedlander?
Start with The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), the closest match to Erik Friedlander.
What is the highest-rated movie like Erik Friedlander?
Soul (2020), rated 8.1/10 by 11,901 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Erik Friedlander?
The Astronaut (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Erik Friedlander?
Yes: The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), The Terminal (2004) and Georgetown (2019).
How are movies similar to Erik Friedlander chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Erik Friedlander, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.