Movies like The Cruise (1998)
The best movies like The Cruise (1998) are Dark Days (2000), Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2006) and Surfwise (2007). If The Cruise hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Cove (2009)8.0/10 from 705 votes
- NewestMegadoc (2025)Released 2025
Dark Days (2000)
A cinematic portrait of the homeless population who live permanently in the underground tunnels of New York City.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPlagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2006)
The Salton Sea: An inland ocean of massive fish kills, rotting resorts, and 120 degree nights located just minutes from urban Southern California. This film details the rise and fall of the Salton Sea, from its heyday as the "California Riviera" where boaters and Beach Boys mingled in paradise to its present state of decaying, forgotten ecological disaster.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Surfwise (2007)
The inspiring and tumultuous story of 85-year old surfer, health advocate and sex guru, Dr. Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, his wife Juliette, and their nine children who were all home-schooled and raised in a small camper on the beach, where they surfed and had to adhere to the strict diet and lifestyle of animals in the wild.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
The Cove (2009)
The Cove tells the amazing true story of how an elite team of individuals, films makers and free divers embarked on a covert mission to penetrate the hidden cove in Japan, shining light on a dark and deadly secret. The shocking discoveries were only the tip of the iceberg.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Endless Summer (1966)
Documentary filmmaker Bruce Brown, himself a competition-level surfer, follows surfers Michael Hynson and Robert August on an around-the-world surfing adventure. With Brown's wry, sardonic narration and a twangy, guitar-driven instrumental soundtrack by The Sandals playing over the silent footage, Mike and Rob leave their California home to visit Hawaii, Australia, South Africa and other secluded surfing spots in a search for the surfer's holy grail that Brown dubs "The Perfect Wave.”
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMan on Wire (2008)
On August 7th 1974, French tightrope walker Philippe Petit stepped out on a high wire, illegally rigged between New York's World Trade Center twin towers, then the world's tallest buildings. After nearly an hour of performing on the wire, 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan, he was arrested. This fun and spellbinding documentary chronicles Philippe Petit's "highest" achievement.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisView from a Blue Moon (2015)
From the dreamy blue perfection of the South Pacific to the darkest uncharted waters of Africa (and everywhere in between), John Florence faces a broad spectrum of emotions as he continues to seal his legacy as one of the most gifted surfers ever. And while the young Hawaiian is pulled in increasingly different directions, there is no form of pressure that will keep him from his ultimate goal — to redefine what is possible in the ocean.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Hawaiian: The Legend of Eddie Aikau (2013)
Director Sam George chronicles the remarkable life and times of the late Eddie Aikau, the legendary Hawaiian big wave surfer, pioneering lifeguard and ultimately doomed crew member of the Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokulea.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Dogtown and Z-Boys (2002)
This award-winning, thrilling story is about a group of discarded kids who revolutionized skateboarding and shaped the attitude and culture of modern day extreme sports. Featuring old skool skating footage, exclusive interviews and a blistering rock soundtrack, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS captures the rise of the Zephyr skateboarding team from Venice's Dogtown, a tough "locals only" beach with a legacy of outlaw surfing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrumb (1995)
This movie chronicles the life and times of R. Crumb. Robert Crumb is the cartoonist/artist who drew Keep On Truckin', Fritz the Cat, and played a major pioneering role in the genesis of underground comix. Through interviews with his mother, two brothers, wife, ex-wife and ex-girlfriends, as well as selections from his vast quantity of graphic art, we are treated to a darkly comic ride through one man's subconscious mind.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMegadoc (2025)
Presenting a behind-the-scenes account of a visionary at work. From Oscar-nominated Mike Figgis, Megadoc gives audiences an unfiltered and intimate look at the making of Francis Ford Coppola’s epic sci-fi drama Megalopolis.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Manufactured Landscapes (2006)
MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCarts of Darkness (2008)
In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned bottle-picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping cart racing. Enduring hardships from everyday life on the streets of Vancouver, this sub-culture depicts street life as much more than stereotypes portrayed in mainstream media. The films takes a deep look into the lives of the men who race carts, the adversity they face, and the appeal of cart racing despite the risk.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Grass (1999)
Marijuana is the most controversial drug of the 20th century. Smoked by generations to little discernible ill effect, it continues to be reviled by many governments on Earth. In this Genie Award-winning documentary, veteran Canadian director Ron Mann and narrator Woody Harrelson mix humour and historical footage together to recount how the United States has demonized a relatively harmless drug.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDarwin's Nightmare (2005)
Africa in the sixties. The Nile perch, a ravenous predator, is introduced into Lake Victoria as a scientific experiment, causing the extinction of many native species. Its meat is exported everywhere in exchange for weapons, creating a globalized evil alliance on the lake shores. An infernal nightmare in the real world that wipes out Darwin's Theory of Evolution.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Crasy Life (1992)
Jean-Pierre Gorin’s gripping and unique film about a Samoan street gang in Long Beach, California, is, like other works by the filmmaker, a probing look at a closed community with its own rules, rituals, and language. Part observational documentary, part fiction invisibly scripted and shaped by the director, My Crasy Life, which won a special jury prize at Sundance, is an enthralling and intensely focused contemplation of violence and dislocation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (2005)
Twelve men who belong to one of the world's most exclusive fraternities -- people who've walked on the surface of the moon -- are paid homage in this documentary. Using newsreel footage, rare NASA photographs, and digitally animated re-creations, Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon examines the Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972 which put astronauts on the moon.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Workingman's Death (2005)
Is heavy manual labour disappearing or is it just becoming invisible? Where can we still find it in the 21st century? Workingman's Death follows the trail of the HEROES in the illegal mines of the Ukraine, sniffs out GHOST among the sulphur workers in Indonesia, finds itself face to face with LIONS at a slaughterhouse in Nigeria, mingles with BROTHERS as they cut a huge oil tanker into pieces in Pakistan, and joins Chinese steel workers in hoping for a glorious FUTURE.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Grizzly Man (2005)
Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBurden of Dreams (1982)
The Amazon rain forest, 1979. The crew of Fitzcarraldo (1982), a film directed by German director Werner Herzog, soon finds itself with problems related to casting, tribal struggles and accidents, among many other setbacks; but nothing compared to dragging a huge steamboat up a mountain, while Herzog embraces the path of a certain madness to make his vision come true.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBones Brigade: An Autobiography (2012)
When six teenage boys came together as a skateboarding team in the 1980s, they reinvented not only their chosen sport but themselves too – as they evolved from insecure outsiders to the most influential athletes in the field.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisLost in La Mancha (2002)
Fulton and Pepe's 2000 documentary captures Terry Gilliam's attempt to get The Man Who Killed Don Quixote off the ground. Back injuries, freakish storms, and more zoom in to sabotage the project.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiding Giants (2004)
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bridge (2006)
The Bridge is a controversial documentary that shows people jumping to their death from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco - the world's most popular suicide destination. Interviews with the victims' loved ones describe their lives and mental health.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSherman's March (1986)
Documentarian Ross McElwee originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War. Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Legend of Cocaine Island (2018)
Rodney is an American dreamer. His glass is not only half full, but it's half full of the finest wine you've ever tasted. But when the great recession wipes out his construction business in Central Florida, his family faces a nightmare of debt. One evening around a campfire, Rodney hears a story from an old, bare-footed hippy that just might solve his family's problems. There's an island. There's a map. And there's buried treasure...$2 million dollars just waiting for someone to dig it up. Rodney is hooked. But there's just one slight, itty-bitty problem...he doesn't have a shovel. Oh, and the $2 million dollars just happens to be in cocaine form.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
And Everything Is Going Fine (2010)
From the first time he performed Swimming to Cambodia - the one-man account of his experience of making the 1984 film The Killing Fields - Spalding Gray made the art of the monologue his own. Drawing unstintingly on the most intimate aspects of his own life, his shows were vibrant, hilarious and moving. His death came tragically early, in 2004; this compilation of interview and performance footage nails his idiosyncratic and irreplaceable brilliance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Looking for Richard (1996)
Al Pacino's deeply-felt rumination on Shakespeare's significance and relevance to the modern world through interviews and an in-depth analysis of "Richard III."
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwimming to Cambodia (1987)
Spalding Gray sits behind a desk throughout the entire film and recounts his exploits and chance encounters while playing a minor role in the film 'The Killing Fields'. At the same time, he gives a background to the events occurring in Cambodia at the time the film was set.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Gray's Anatomy (1996)
The film documents, in an often dramatic and humorous fashion, Gray's investigations into alternative medicine for an eye condition (Macular pucker) he had developed.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Cruise and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Cruise?
The closest matches to The Cruise are Dark Days (2000), Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2006) and Surfwise (2007). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Cruise?
People who watched The Cruise most often go on to Dark Days (2000), Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2006) and Surfwise (2007).
What is the highest-rated movie like The Cruise?
The Cove (2009), rated 8.0/10 by 705 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Cruise?
Megadoc (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Cruise?
Yes: Dark Days (2000), Plagues and Pleasures on the Salton Sea (2006) and Surfwise (2007).
How are movies similar to The Cruise chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Cruise, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.