Movies like American Muscle (2026)
The best movies like American Muscle (2026) are The Public Eye (1992), Suburbicon (2017) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966). If American Muscle hooked you with its crime and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBad Education (2004)7.4/10 from 1,112 votes
- NewestThe State of Us (2026)Released 2026
The Public Eye (1992)
A crime photographer gets involved in a conspiracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuburbicon (2017)
In the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Quiller Memorandum (1966)
After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller is sent to Berlin to investigate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
SnoozefestMovies like this180 (2026)
When an unexpected road rage incident puts his son in critical condition, an enraged father spirals down a dark path of emotional turmoil and vengeance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisRun (1991)
When a law student accidentally kills the son of a mob boss in a fight, he finds himself relentlessly pursued by the mob and the police.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKing Ivory (2025)
Based on extensive research involving law enforcement and gang members, a never-before-seen, authentic look inside the underworld of fentanyl trafficking from gangs inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester a.k.a. "Big Mac."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShimmer Lake (2017)
Shot in reverse day-by-day through a week—a local sheriff embarks on a quest to unlock the mystery of three small-town criminals and a bank heist gone wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInside Man (2023)
Based on true events. A disgraced police detective seeking redemption goes undercover to expose a violent crime syndicate. But as he sinks deeper into the mob, the price for absolution may be higher than he can afford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Locksmith (2023)
A thief fresh out of prison, tries to work his way back into the life of his daughter and ex-fiancé. Determined, he is forced to use the skills he has as a gifted locksmith. Things take a tumultuous turn after an unexpected disappearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlood Ties (2013)
Two brothers, on either side of the law, face off over organized crime in Brooklyn during the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrafficking (2023)
Fresh out of prison, a former debt collector working for a gangland boss is told he has a terminal brain tumour. In an attempt to atone for his past he rescues a young girl from trafficking, forcing him into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with his boss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive Minutes of Heaven (2009)
The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of Exile (2023)
Recently paroled thief Gabriel Russell tries to balance his life and mend a troubled family as an FBI agent hunts him down, along with his crew after a botched armored car robbery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViolent Ends (2025)
A man raised in a violent crime family struggles to build an honest life with his fiancée but is dragged back into the criminal world after his cousin’s armed robbery leaves an innocent person caught in the crossfire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Site (2022)
A group of officers based in a labyrinthine top-secret prison must fight for their lives against Hatchet, a brilliant and infamous high-value detainee. When he escapes, his mysterious and deadly agenda has far reaching and dire consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Devil You Know (2022)
Once-incarcerated Marcus Cowans is trying to turn over a new leaf with the support of his loving family. Upon discovering that one of his brothers may have been involved in a horrific crime, Marcus grapples with the limits of brotherhood and loyalty. He and his family, increasingly weary of the justice system’s failings, end up in the crosshairs of a seasoned but jaded detective.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbove the Rim (1994)
Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Stop in Yuma County (2024)
While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-gotten fortune.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Education (2004)
When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Divinity of a City (2024)
David Bono is a hitman hired to target Orshanabi Nazzar, a high-ranking priest-bureaucrat in a temple corporation in the fictional city of Babylonia (Brussels-based). The corporation has invented a way to avoid death by recording people's lives. While gathering information and preparing for the job, David meets Ellie, with whom they slept together. However, Ellie is a member of a cult called Children of Ishtar, and David's job would interrupt their life-recording ceremony. Facing an obsessive dilemma, David tries to find a way to do his mission without killing Ellie. First, he tries to convince Ellie not to attend the ceremony, and then he hires a local crook to kidnap her while he does the job. After the successful job, Ellie frees herself from the kidnapper, discovers the truth, and leaves for Akkadia. Meanwhile, David calls to receive the rest of his payment but gets ambushed by the contractor.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness (2018)
Pastor Dave responds to the unimaginable tragedy of having his church, located on the grounds of the local university, burned down.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLetter From Sally (2024)
Ezekiel gets a letter from his true love Sally stating she is being forced into marriage in a faraway town. On Horseback, he goes on a long journey to rescue her in the freezing winter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Funnybone (TBA)
A supernatural, darkly funny family drama about two estranged siblings who return home after their father’s death, only to discover an enormous prehistoric bone buried in their backyard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
476 A.D. Chapter One: The Last Light of Aries (2014)
After General Flavius Aetius frees the Roman Empire from the clutches of Attila the Hun, Rome is once again secure. However, this assurance is short-lived, as Attila is no longer a threat, it only brings the Germanic tribes to once again unite against Rome. As the growing power of General Flavius Aetius becomes a threat to the Roman Senate, and the Emperor of Rome, Flavius becomes a victim of assassination to the Roman political hierarchy, which leaves Rome to two decades of corruption and turmoil. This unrest causes an intense decline in its infrastructure, finally brings the Empire to its inevitable demise. Leaving the Barbarians to finally fulfil their 400 years old dream, to destroy Rome once and for all.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The State of Us (2026)
Tearaway Frankie breaks out his best friend Taylor for one final night out. Over a riotous few hours filled with laughter, heartbreak and some home truths, the boys will face the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDrink and Be Merry (2025)
At a struggling New York dive bar in the days leading up to Christmas 2019, Chet, a beleaguered bartender in a state of extended arrested development, must balance caring for his misanthropic, aging regulars — who have nowhere else to go, and rely on him for far more than pouring drinks — with his naive desires to muster some Christmas spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like American Muscle?
The closest matches to American Muscle are The Public Eye (1992), Suburbicon (2017) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after American Muscle?
Start with The Public Eye (1992), the closest match to American Muscle.
What is the highest-rated movie like American Muscle?
Bad Education (2004), rated 7.4/10 by 1,112 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like American Muscle?
The State of Us (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like American Muscle?
Yes: The Public Eye (1992), Suburbicon (2017) and The Quiller Memorandum (1966).
How are movies similar to American Muscle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside American Muscle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.