Movies like Blackmail for Beginners (2011)
The best movies like Blackmail for Beginners (2011) are Suicide Kings (1997), Millions (2005) and Thick as Thieves (1999). If Blackmail for Beginners 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 ratedFargo (1996)7.8/10 from 9,581 votes
- NewestDead Man's Wire (2026)Released 2026
Suicide Kings (1997)
Carlo, a former mobster, is abducted by five privileged young men desperate to raise a $2 million ransom to save the sister of a friend. As Carlo plays mind games, however, his captors splinter -- each wondering whether one of their own had a hand in the crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMillions (2005)
Two boys, still grieving the death of their mother, find themselves the unwitting benefactors of a bag of bank robbery loot in the week before the United Kingdom switches its official currency to the Euro. What's a kid to do?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThick as Thieves (1999)
Two master thieves go at odds with one another as one sets the other up for a crime. The first, a suave pro who does his job and then hides in his own privacy, listening to old jazz records and caring for his ailing dog, Wally. The other is a local gangster with a taste for the finer life, who decides to eliminate the competition. This ignites a war between the two men and their aides. An angry mob boss and a female police officer try to sort the mess before things get too out of hand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Heels and Low Lifes (2001)
Two friends are drawn into a seedy underworld of extortion and violence when they try to blackmail a gang of bank robbers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Plot (1976)
Spiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeist (2001)
Joe Moore has a job he loves. He's a thief. His job goes sour when he gets caught on security camera tape. His fence, Bergman, reneges on the money he's owed, and his wife may be betraying him with the fence's young lieutenant. Moore and his partner, Bobby Blane, and their utility man, Pinky Pincus, find themselves broke, betrayed, and blackmailed. Moore is forced to commit his crew to do one last big job.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPalookaville (1996)
Jerry and his two pals, Russ and Syd, are just looking for some easy money to help them break out of their nowhere lives in their nowhere town. Despite a bungled jewelry store heist which exposes their incompetence as criminals, a fateful event (and an old black-and-white film) convinces them that they can pull off an armored-truck robbery. While they are busy plotting their caper, their dysfunctional families spin out of control, all around them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisJohn Q (2002)
John Quincy Archibald is a father and husband whose son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart and then finds out he cannot receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. Therefore, he decides to take a hospital full of patients hostage until the hospital puts his son's name on the donor's list.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJohnny Dangerously (1984)
An honest, goodhearted man is forced to turn to a life of crime to finance his neurotic mother's skyrocketing medical bills.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBefore the Devil Knows You're Dead (2007)
When two brothers organize the robbery of their parents' jewelry store, the job goes horribly wrong, triggering a series of events that send them and their family hurtling towards a shattering climax.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMarlowe (1969)
Mysterious Orfamay Quest hires Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother. Though the job seems simple enough, it leads Marlowe into the underbelly of the city, turning up leads who are murdered with ice picks, exotic dancers, blackmailed television stars, and self-preserving gangsters. Soon, Marlowe's life is on the line right along with his case.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhantom Halo (2014)
Two brothers barely scrape by as their father continues to gamble and drink away the money they do bring home. They hatch a plan for a robbery but at what price?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDead Man's Wire (2026)
In 1977, former real estate developer Tony Kiritsis puts a dead man's switch on himself and the mortgage banker who did him wrong, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFargo (1996)
Jerry Lundegaard is a small-town Minnesota car salesman deeply in debt and willing to do almost anything to get out. Police chief Marge Gunderson discovers a string of violent crimes as Jerry's schemes spiral out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Forger (2014)
A former child art prodigy and second generation petty thief arranges to buy his way out of prison to spend time with his ailing son, only to be forced to alter his plans and commit one more job for the man who financed his release.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Betrayed (2008)
Kidnappers force a young mother to recover money stolen by her shady husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Drop (2014)
Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFun with Dick and Jane (1977)
When an upwardly mobile couple find themselves unemployed and in debt, they turn to armed robbery in desperation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Day in Paradise (1998)
In the hope of a big score, two junkie couples team up to commit various drug robberies which go disastrously wrong, leading to dissent, violence, and murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCriminal Activities (2015)
Four young men make a risky investment together that gets them into trouble with the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Newton Boys (1998)
The story of the Newton gang, the most successful bank robbers in history, owing to their good planning and minimal violence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wrong Arm of the Law (1963)
The crooks in London know how it works. No one carries guns and no one resists the police. Then a new gang appears that go one better. They dress as police and steal from the crooks. This upsets the natural order of the police/criminal relationship and the police and the crooks join forces to catch the IPOs (Impersonating Police Officers), including an armoured car robbery in which the police must help the gangs to set a trap.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVictim (1961)
In early 1960s London, barrister Melville Farr is on the path to success. With his practice winning cases and a loving marriage to his wife, Laura, Farr's professional and personal life are nearly idyllic. However, when blackmailers link Farr to a young gay man, everything Farr's worked for is threatened.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLady Killer (1933)
An ex-gang member tries to resist his old cohorts' criminal influence after he suddenly becomes a Hollywood movie star.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & crime
Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
In 1927, a Kansas City, Missouri cornet player and his band perform nightly at a seedy speakeasy until a racketeer tries to extort them in exchange for protection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Expecting the usual tedium that accompanies a summer in the Catskills with her family, 17-year-old Frances 'Baby' Houseman is surprised to find herself stepping into the shoes of a professional hoofer—and unexpectedly falling in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKunstgriff (2002)
Kunstgriff is a brilliantly filmed black and white short film. Andre F. Nebe gives proof of his storytelling abilities in this 6 minute film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Secret Call (1931)
The Secret Call is adapted from The Woman, a play by William C. DeMille (brother of Cecil B.) Peggy Shannon plays Wanda Kelly, the daughter of a disgraced politician. Reduced to working as a switchboard operator, Wanda is privy to the many secrets and indiscretions of the clients of a big-city hotel. She also finds romance in the form of handsome Tom Blake (Richard Arlen). The huge cast of characters comes in handy for the film's multitude of subplots, none of which ever get their wires crossed. Peggy Shannon acquits herself nicely in her first major role, but by the end of the decade her career was in decline.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Crossroads (1942)
A French diplomat who's recovered from amnesia is blackmailed over crimes he can't remember.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Girls Gone Psycho (2006)
Life's always been easy for trust-fund baby Sasha Childers (Kinsey Packard), who spends her nights with her glitterati friends at the hottest clubs in town. When a sex tape surfaces that puts Sasha in the tabloids, she takes revenge on the club owner who leaked it. But her crime puts her on someone else's hit list, sending Sasha and her friends someplace they've never been: on the run. Deanna Dozier, Monterey Salka and Robert Berson co-star.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Blackmail for Beginners?
The closest matches to Blackmail for Beginners are Suicide Kings (1997), Millions (2005) and Thick as Thieves (1999). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Blackmail for Beginners?
Start with Suicide Kings (1997), the closest match to Blackmail for Beginners.
What is the highest-rated movie like Blackmail for Beginners?
Fargo (1996), rated 7.8/10 by 9,581 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Blackmail for Beginners?
Dead Man's Wire (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Blackmail for Beginners chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Blackmail for Beginners, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.