Movies like The Journalist (2012)
The best movies like The Journalist (2012) are Unfaithful (2002), Auto Focus (2002) and Intimacy (2001). If The Journalist hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHis Girl Friday (1940)7.4/10 from 994 votes
- NewestVultures (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchThe Third Lover (1962)Also in French
Unfaithful (2002)
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAuto Focus (2002)
A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter. This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntimacy (2001)
Failed musician Jay abandoned his family and now earns a living as head bartender in a trendy London pub. Every Wednesday afternoon, a woman comes to his house for graphic, almost wordless, sex. One day, Jay follows her and learns about her. This eventually disrupts their relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Third Lover (1962)
On a work assignment in Germany, failed journalist Albin crosses paths with Andreas, a successful writer, and his wife Hélène, who quickly becomes the apple of Albin’s eye. While Andreas is off on a business trip, Albin tries to seduce Hélèn and, eventually, take over Andreas’ life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOriginal Sin (2001)
A young man is plunged into a life of subterfuge, deceit and mistaken identity in pursuit of a femme fatale whose heart is never quite within his grasp.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove (2015)
Murphy is an American living in Paris who enters a highly sexually and emotionally charged relationship with the unstable Electra. Unaware of the seismic effect it will have on their relationship, they invite their pretty neighbor into their bed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Wish 3 (1985)
Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police chief to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighborhoods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Dreamers (2003)
When Isabelle and Theo invite Matthew to stay with them, what begins as a casual friendship ripens into a sensual voyage of discovery and desire in which nothing is off limits and everything is possible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYour Friends & Neighbors (1998)
Restless and unhappy, two couples get caught up in infidelity and deception. Barry is a sullen businessman married to Mary, a writer who is unsatisfied with their relationship. Mary begins an affair with Jerry, a smug theater professor and husband of her friend, Terri, who is also a writer. Adding to the adulterous mix are Cary, a callous doctor, and Cheri, an art-gallery assistant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisBob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)
After returning to Los Angeles from a group therapy session, documentary filmmaker Bob Sanders and his wife, Carol, find themselves becoming vigilante couples counselors, offering unsolicited advice to their best friends, Ted and Alice Henderson. Not wanting to be rude, the Hendersons play along, but some latent sexual tension among the four soon comes bubbling to the surface, and long-buried desires don't stay buried for long.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Flier (1997)
For cynical tabloid journo Richard Dees, facts are always stranger than fiction. Every headline is a dead-line. Serial killers, UFO abductions, tales of molestation, mayhem and murder. To some the tales are mere sleazy fantasy – but his faithful readers believe. And now there's a new story: The Night Flier. What is it that travels by night in a dark-winged Cessna, lands at secluded airfields and murders local residents? Dees begins to track the unknown killer in a Cessna of his own, uncovering clues that reveal a pilot more terrifying than he could have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man from Elysian Fields (2001)
A failed novelist's inability to pay the bills strains relations with his wife and leads him to work at an escort service, where he becomes entwined with a wealthy woman whose husband is a successful writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisVultures (2025)
Samuel, a journalist, and Ava, his intern and daughter, cover the murder of a young girl for their magazine. Through their investigation, they discover disturbing similarities with the murder of another woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImmoral Tales (1974)
Four erotic tales from various historical eras. The first, 'The Tide', is set in the present day, and concerns a student and his young female cousin stranded on the beach by the tide, secluded from prying eyes. 'Therese Philosophe' is set in the nineteenth century, and concerns a girl being locked in her bedroom, where she contemplates the erotic potential of the objects contained within it. 'Erzsebet Bathory' is a portrait of the sixteenth-century countess who allegedly bathed in the blood of virgins, while 'Lucrezia Borgia' concerns an incestuous fifteenth-century orgy involving Lucrezia, her brother, and her father the Pope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisStrange Darling (2024)
Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHostel (2006)
Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this8MM (1999)
A small, seemingly innocuous plastic reel of film leads surveillance specialist Tom Welles down an increasingly dark and frightening path. With the help of the streetwise Max, he relentlessly follows a bizarre trail of evidence to determine the fate of a complete stranger. As his work turns into obsession, he drifts farther and farther away from his wife, family and simple life as a small-town PI.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalvador (1986)
In 1980, an American journalist covering the Salvadoran Civil War becomes entangled with both the leftist guerrilla groups and the right-wing military dictatorship while trying to rescue his girlfriend and her children.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAzrael (2024)
In a world where no one speaks, a devout female hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHis Girl Friday (1940)
Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSnow Falling on Cedars (1999)
In the 1950s, a Japanese-American fisherman is suspected of killing his neighbour at sea. For Ishmael, a local reporter, the trial strikes a deep emotional chord when he finds his ex-lover is linked to the case. As he investigates the killing, he uncovers some startling clues that lead him to a shocking discovery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHistory of the Occult (2023)
During the last broadcast of 60 Minutes Before Midnight, the most watched journalistic program on television, Adrián Marcato could expose a conspiracy and link the government to a obscure secret society.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPalm Swings (2017)
After moving to Palm Springs, a young married couple puts their love to the test when they discover that their neighbors are swingers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisState of Play (2009)
When a congressional aide is killed, a Washington, D.C. journalist starts investigating the case involving the Representative, his old college friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEleven Days, Eleven Nights 2 (1991)
Sarah Asproon returns to New Orleans to act as executrix of the estate of a millionaire whom she was once the mistress of. She must decide which one of his surviving family members will inherit his fortune. It's not a decision that she's willing to make alone....
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Crocodile Dundee (1986)
When a New York reporter plucks crocodile hunter Mick Dundee from the Australian Outback for a visit to the Big Apple, it's a clash of cultures and a recipe for good-natured comedy as naïve Dundee negotiates the concrete jungle. He proves that his instincts are quite useful in the city and adeptly handles everything from wily muggers to high-society snoots without breaking a sweat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRing 0 (2000)
Taking place thirty years before the events of Ringu, Ringu 0 provides the shocking background story of how the girl on the video became a deadly, vengeful spirit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterview (2007)
After falling out with his editor, a fading political journalist is forced to interview America's most popular soap actress.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008)
Sidney Young is a down-on-his-luck journalist. Thanks to a stint involving a pig and a glitzy awards ceremony, Sidney turns his fortunes around, attracting the attention of Clayton Harding, editor of New York-based glossy magazine 'Sharps', and landing the holy grail of journalism jobs. The Brit jets off to the Big Apple and moves from one blunder to the next.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Journalist?
The closest matches to The Journalist are Unfaithful (2002), Auto Focus (2002) and Intimacy (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Journalist?
Start with Unfaithful (2002), the closest match to The Journalist.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Journalist?
His Girl Friday (1940), rated 7.4/10 by 994 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Journalist?
Vultures (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Journalist?
Yes: The Third Lover (1962), Love (2015) and Vultures (2025).
How are movies similar to The Journalist chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Journalist, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.