Movies like The Amateur (1999)
The best movies like The Amateur (1999) are Romancing the Stone (1984), A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) and Hammett (1982). If The Amateur hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedA Matter of Life and Death (1946)7.8/10 from 497 votes
- NewestIdols (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishThree Steps Above Heaven (2010)Also in Spanish
Romancing the Stone (1984)
Though she can spin wild tales of passionate romance, novelist Joan Wilder has no life of her own. Then one day adventure comes her way in the form of a mysterious package. It turns out that the parcel is the ransom she'll need to free her abducted sister, so Joan flies to South America to hand it over. But she gets on the wrong bus and winds up hopelessly stranded in the jungle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHammett (1982)
Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFigures in a Landscape (1970)
Two escaped convicts are on the run in an unnamed Latin American country. But everywhere they go, they are followed and hounded by a menacing black helicopter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Steps Above Heaven (2010)
Babi, a sheltered upper-class girl, and Hache, a reckless rebel obsessed with illegal motorcycle races, fall into a forbidden love that pulls them deeper into passion and risk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEat Pray Love (2010)
A married woman realizes how unhappy her marriage really is, and that her life needs to go in a different direction. After a painful divorce, she takes off on a round-the-world journey to "find herself".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSara's Notebook (2018)
Laura has spent years looking for her sister Sara who went missing in the depths of the jungle in the Congo. Neither the NGO she works for, nor the embassy, have news on her whereabouts until a photo appears of Sara in a mining town. Apparently, Sara is being held captive by The Hawk, the fearsome rebel leader who controls the mafias behind the prized mineral coltan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Red Thread (2025)
Abril, a rebellious and daring stewardess, and Manuel, a shy and traditional businessman, meet on a plane and instantly feel an undeniable attraction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBig Trouble in Little China (1986)
Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry a girl with green eyes in order to return to the human realm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Matter of Life and Death (1946)
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCentauro (2022)
Rafa's hooked on the pure, fiery feelings he gets from speed racing, but when his kid's mom gets mixed up with drug dealers, he burns rubber to save her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Age of Adaline (2015)
After 29-year-old Adaline recovers from a nearly lethal accident, she inexplicably stops growing older. As the years stretch on and on, Adaline keeps her secret to herself until she meets a man who changes her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAn Autumn Romance (2021)
When librarian Taylor Harris suddenly loses her job, she decides to visit her brother in a small town in Montana. There, she gets involved in the fight to help save her brother's hotel from tycoon Joel Sheenan, who wants to renovate it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bikeriders (2024)
After a chance encounter, headstrong Kathy is drawn to Benny, member of Midwestern motorcycle club the Vandals. As the club transforms into a dangerous underworld of violence, Benny must choose between Kathy and his loyalty to the club.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil Death (2007)
Anthony Stowe is a dirty cop who is hooked on heroin—and everyone hates him. After a serious accident, he is placed into an induced coma, but emerges from it a better person who wants to put things right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisJack Hunter and the Quest for Akhenaten's Tomb (2008)
Adventurer Jack Hunter sets off in pursuit of a legendary tomb, meeting dangerous old adversaries, and even more dangerous old flames, along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sun Is Also a Star (2019)
Two young New Yorkers begin to fall in love over the course of a single day, as a series of potentially life-altering meetings loom over their heads - hers concerning her family’s deportation to Jamaica, and his concerning an education at Dartmouth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIdols (2026)
A fiery young motorcycle racer throws away his shot at the junior championship in a reckless crash, only to receive a surprise offer from a top Moto2 team that gives him a chance at redemption. But to claim it, he must train under his estranged father, a disgraced former world champion haunted by a tragic past. As the father and son battle personal demons, media scrutiny, and a ruthless racing circuit, their fractured bond is pushed to the limit by ambition, love, and the unforgiving speed of the sport. With a wildcard entry into MotoGP on the line, they must confront the wreckage of their relationship to seize a future—on and off the track.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimpinero: Blood and Oil (2024)
When Juan, a young gasoline smuggler, is forced to work for a mysterious organization in the desert bordering Colombia and Venezuela, his girlfriend Diana embarks on a journey to uncover the secrets that inhabit this no-man’s-land.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAna (2020)
Ana meets Rafa in a chance encounter and they embark on a road trip to try and save him from bankruptcy, or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Amateur?
The closest matches to The Amateur are Romancing the Stone (1984), A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) and Hammett (1982). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Amateur?
Start with Romancing the Stone (1984), the closest match to The Amateur.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Amateur?
A Matter of Life and Death (1946), rated 7.8/10 by 497 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Amateur?
Idols (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like The Amateur?
Yes: Three Steps Above Heaven (2010), Sara's Notebook (2018) and The Red Thread (2025).
How are movies similar to The Amateur chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Amateur, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.