Movies like Theo (2020)
The best movies like Theo (2020) are The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Panic (2000) and The Young One (1960). If Theo hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedDead Poets Society (1989)8.3/10 from 13,159 votes
- NewestNot Without Hope (2025)Released 2025
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)
A tale of murder, crime and punishment set in the summer of 1949. Ed Crane, a barber in a small California town, is dissatisfied with his life, but his wife Doris' infidelity and a mysterious opportunity presents him with a chance to change it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPanic (2000)
Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful part of his life. He seeks the help of a therapist and meets a woman in the waiting room that he connects with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCollateral (2004)
Cab driver Max picks up a man who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMr. K (2025)
Mr. K, a traveling magician, finds himself in a Kafkaesque nightmare when he can’t find the exit of his hotel. His attempts to get out only pull him deeper, entangling him further with the hotel and its curious inhabitants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisPerformance. (1970)
In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNaked Lunch (1991)
Blank-faced bug killer Bill Lee and his dead-eyed wife, Joan, like to get high on Bill's pest poisons while lounging with Beat poet pals. After meeting the devilish Dr. Benway, Bill gets a drug made from a centipede. Upon indulging, he accidentally kills Joan, takes orders from his typewriter-turned-cockroach, ends up in a constantly mutating Mediterranean city and learns that his hip friends have published his work -- which he doesn't remember writing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlay Dirty (1969)
During World War II in North Africa, a group of British commandos disguised as Italian soldiers must travel behind enemy lines and destroy a vital Nazi oil depot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBunraku (2010)
In a world with no guns, a mysterious drifter, a bartender and a young samurai plot revenge against a ruthless leader and his army of thugs, headed by nine diverse and deadly assassins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisO.G. (2018)
Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done (2010)
Brad has committed murder and barricaded himself inside his house. With the help of his friends and neighbours, the cops piece together the strange tale of how this nice young man arrived at such a dark place.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlashbacks of a Fool (2008)
An aging Hollywood star, Joe Scott, lives a life of narcissistic hedonism, observed by his laconic personal assistant, Ophelia. The death of his childhood best friend, Boots, takes our protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970s Britain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrive (2011)
Driver is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he's been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene and her young son, Benicio. When Irene's husband gets out of jail, he enlists Driver's help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFirst Snow (2006)
A psychic's ominous reading sends a man into a tailspin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRope (1948)
Two young men attempt to prove they committed the perfect murder by hosting a dinner party for the family of a classmate they just strangled to death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDead Poets Society (1989)
At an elite, old-fashioned boarding school in New England, a passionate English teacher inspires his students to rebel against convention and seize the potential of every day, courting the disdain of the stern headmaster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFrom The Cabin (2025)
Two young men develop a strange bond. One spends his days delivering pizzas and takes photos on the side. The other lives in a cabin in the woods.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003)
An isolated lake, where an old monk lives in a small floating temple. The monk has a young boy living with him, learning to become a monk. We watch as seasons and years pass by.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHuman Nature (2001)
Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBarbershop (2002)
A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAgora (2009)
A historical drama set in Roman Egypt, concerning philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria and her relationship with her slave Davus, who is torn between his love for her and the possibility of gaining his freedom by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSweeney Todd (2006)
A BBC adaptation of the Victorian "penny dreadful" tale of 19th century "demon barber" Sweeney Todd, of Fleet Street, who cuts the throats of unsuspecting clients in his London shop.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe President's Barber (2004)
A well-meaning but politically naive barber gets pulled into the inner circle of the South Korean dictator Park Chung-Hee, with rather baleful consequences for his hapless family. This sharp political satire covers roughly twenty years in South Korean political history, from the viewpoint of the barber's son.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAfter the Hunt (2025)
A college professor finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil levels an accusation against one of her colleagues, and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisI'm Poor But Angry (1970)
A young barber comes to the small village to open a barbershop. He gradually gets to know with the locals and farmers, makes friends with them and even tries to organize the plans, activities and schedules of the village. He also runs a parallel, intimate life with the several village girls. When the locals realize that these plans will not come true, they blame him for the failure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Theo?
The closest matches to Theo are The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Panic (2000) and The Young One (1960). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Theo?
Start with The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), the closest match to Theo.
What is the highest-rated movie like Theo?
Dead Poets Society (1989), rated 8.3/10 by 13,159 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Theo?
Not Without Hope (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Theo?
Yes: The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Panic (2000) and The Young One (1960).
How are movies similar to Theo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Theo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.