Movies like The Last Detective (2003)
The best movies like The Last Detective (2003) are The Kid Detective (2020), Who's Harry Crumb? (1989) and God Told Me To (1976). If The Last Detective hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedGone Girl (2014)7.9/10 from 20,670 votes
- NewestReptile (2023)Released 2023
The Kid Detective (2020)
A once-celebrated kid detective, now 31, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity. Until a naive client brings him his first 'adult' case, to find out who brutally murdered her boyfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWho's Harry Crumb? (1989)
Harry Crumb is a bumbling and inept private investigator who is hired to solve the kidnapping of a young heiress which he's not expected to solve because his employer is the mastermind behind the kidnapping.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Told Me To (1976)
A New York detective investigates a series of murders committed by random citizens who claim that 'God told them to'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisLady in the Lake (1946)
Private eye Phillip Marlowe wants to get out of the detective racket and into crime writing. But when he's called to the office of editor Adrienne Fromsett, it's not to talk about his story ideas — she wants him to locate the missing wife of her boss, Mr. Kingsby. The assignment quickly becomes complicated when bodies start turning up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDetective Story (1951)
Tells the story of one day in the lives of the various people who populate a police detective squad. An embittered cop, Det. Jim McLeod, leads a precinct of characters in their grim daily battle with the city's lowlife. The characters who pass through the precinct over the course of the day include a young petty embezzler, a pair of burglars, and a naive shoplifter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Marple: The Murder at the Vicarage (1986)
Faced with two false confessions and numerous suspects after a despised civil magistrate is found shot in the local vicarage, Detective Inspector Slack reluctantly accepts help from Miss Marple.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReptile (2023)
Following the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, a hardened detective attempts to uncover the truth in a case where nothing is as it seems, and by doing so dismantles the illusions in his own life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGone Girl (2014)
With his wife's disappearance having become the focus of an intense media circus, a man sees the spotlight turned on him when it's suspected that he may not be innocent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisKiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
A veteran homicide detective who has witnessed his socialite girlfriend kill her husband sees his inexperienced brother assigned to the case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Hair Day (2015)
Monica is desperate to be prom queen, but on the big night, her hair is an uncontrollable mess. Meanwhile, FBI agent Liz Morgan is on the hunt for a jewel thief who is looking for a stolen necklace, which Monica has in her possession. Soon, she and the agent chase the jewel thief, and she's whizzed on a wild adventure in the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThirteen at Dinner (1985)
Actress Jane Wilkinson wants a divorce, but her husband, Lord Edgware, refuses. She convinces Hercule Poirot to use his famed tact and logic to make her case. Lord Edgware turns up murdered, a well-placed knife wound at the base of his neck. It will take the precise Poirot to sort out the lies from the alibis - and find the criminal before another victim dies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Favorite Brunette (1947)
Ronnie Jackson is a lowly baby photographer who secretly fantasizes about being a private detective. When a lovely baroness actually mistakes him for one and asks him to help locate her missing husband, Baron Montay, Ronnie finds himself agreeing. Several days later he is on death row whiling away the hours until his execution by recounting to a group of reporters the bizarre tale of how he ended up there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mirror Crack'd (1980)
Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI See You (2019)
When a 12-year-old boy goes missing at a local park, a detective investigates the case to help the boy's family find answers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Beautiful Place to Die: A Martha's Vineyard Mystery (2020)
After being forced into early retirement, former detective Jeff Jackson returns to a quiet life on Martha's Vineyard. Quiet, at least, until a body washes up and he's drawn back into crime solving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSecret in Their Eyes (2015)
A tight-knit team of FBI investigators, along with their District Attorney supervisor, is suddenly torn apart when they discover that one of their own teenage daughters has been brutally murdered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLuther: The Fallen Sun (2023)
A gruesome serial killer is terrorizing London while brilliant but disgraced detective John Luther sits behind bars. Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, Luther decides to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFaces in the Crowd (2011)
Anna is living with "face-blindness" after surviving a serial killer's attack. As she lives with her condition, one in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them, the killer closes in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Last Detective?
The closest matches to The Last Detective are The Kid Detective (2020), Who's Harry Crumb? (1989) and God Told Me To (1976). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Last Detective?
Start with The Kid Detective (2020), the closest match to The Last Detective.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Last Detective?
Gone Girl (2014), rated 7.9/10 by 20,670 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Last Detective?
Reptile (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Last Detective?
Yes: The Kid Detective (2020), Who's Harry Crumb? (1989) and God Told Me To (1976).
How are movies similar to The Last Detective chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Last Detective, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.