Movies like Criminal Activities (2015)
The best movies like Criminal Activities (2015) are The Forger (2014), The Town (2010) and Donnie Brasco (1997). If Criminal Activities hooked you with its thriller and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Departed (2006)8.2/10 from 16,909 votes
- NewestCaught Stealing (2025)Released 2025
The 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 thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Town (2010)
A proficient group of thieves rob a bank and hold the manager hostage. Things begin to get complicated when one of the crew members falls in love with her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDonnie Brasco (1997)
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Air I Breathe (2007)
A gambler’s bet spiraling into chaos, a gangster's prophetic visions, a pop star’s dark entanglement, a doctor’s desperate race against time to rescue his beloved... Four interconnected stories reveal life unfolding through four emotional pillars — joy, passion, grief, and love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Departed (2006)
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the mob kingpin, a career criminal rises through the police ranks. But both sides soon discover there's a mole among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDiablo (2025)
Ex-con Kris Chaney seizes the daughter of a Colombian gangster to fulfill a noble promise to the young girl's mother. When her father enlists both the criminal underworld and a psychotic killer to exact his revenge, Kris relies on everything he's ever learned to stay alive and keep his word.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFace (1997)
Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Usual Suspects (1995)
The lone survivor of an explosive heist gone wrong recounts for interrogators the events that began with five disparate criminals assembled for a police lineup - with alleged criminal mastermind Keyser Soze at the center of it all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 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 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 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 thisSleepless (2017)
Undercover Las Vegas police officer Vincent Downs, who has a lot of enemies, is caught in a high stakes web of corrupt cops and the mob-controlled casino underground. When a heist goes wrong, a crew of homicidal gangsters kidnap Downs’ teenage son T. In one sleepless night, Downs will have to rescue his son, evade an internal affairs investigation, and bring the kidnappers to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisHeist 88 (2023)
A criminal mastermind recruits a group of young bank employees to steal 80 million dollars in one of the largest bank heist in US history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRocknRolla (2008)
When a Russian mobster sets up a real estate scam that generates millions of pounds, various members of London's criminal underworld pursue their share of the fortune. Various shady characters, including Mr One-Two, Stella the accountant, and Johnny Quid, a druggie rock-star, try to claim their slice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhat Doesn't Kill You (2008)
Two childhood friends from South Boston turn to crime as a way to get by, ultimately causing a strain in their personal lives and their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReservoir Dogs (1992)
A botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse. Crime begets violence as the survivors -- veteran Mr. White, newcomer Mr. Orange, psychopathic parolee Mr. Blonde, bickering weasel Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie -- unravel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Boondock Saints (1999)
Tired of the crime overrunning the streets of Boston, Irish Catholic twin brothers Conner and Murphy are inspired by their faith to cleanse their hometown of evil with their own brand of zealous vigilante justice. As they hunt down and kill one notorious gangster after another, they become controversial folk heroes in the community. But Paul Smecker, an eccentric FBI agent, is fast closing in on their blood-soaked trail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHeat (1995)
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTrance (2013)
A violent gang enlists the help of a hypnotherapist in an attempt to locate a painting which somehow vanished in the middle of a heist.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky Baskhar (2024)
A middle-class bank clerk who longs to trade stability for adventure gets more than he bargained for when he unexpectedly becomes a wealthy man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrother (2000)
A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScarface (1932)
In 1920s Chicago, Italian immigrant and notorious thug, Antonio 'Tony' Camonte, aka Scarface, shoots his way to the top of the mobs while trying to protect his sister from the criminal life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA History of Violence (2005)
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuicide 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: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPusher 3 (2005)
Milo is aging, he is planning his daughter's 25th birthday, and his shipment of heroin turns out to be 10,000 pills of ecstasy. When Milo tries to sell the pills anyway, all Hell breaks loose and his only chance is to ask for help from his ex-henchman and old friend Radovan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisYakuza and Constitution (2016)
Since the enactment of the Anti-Boryokudan Act and Yakuza exclusion ordinances, the number of Yakuza members reduced to less than 60,000. In the past 3 years, about 20,000 members have left from Yakuza organizations. However, just numbers can’t tell you the reality. What are they thinking, how are they living now? The camera zooms in on the Yakuza world. Are there basic human rights for them?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Urtajo (2025)
A toxic spill threatens the town of Urtajo: tackle the problem or cover it up? Javier will learn that not everything can be bought with money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Caught Stealing (2025)
Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of late 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTransfusion (2023)
Ryan Logan, a former Special Forces operative, is battling to cope with life after the loss of his wife. He is thrusted into the criminal underworld to keep his only son from being taken from him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Criminal Activities?
The closest matches to Criminal Activities are The Forger (2014), The Town (2010) and Donnie Brasco (1997). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Criminal Activities?
Start with The Forger (2014), the closest match to Criminal Activities.
What is the highest-rated movie like Criminal Activities?
The Departed (2006), rated 8.2/10 by 16,909 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Criminal Activities?
Caught Stealing (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Criminal Activities?
Yes: The Forger (2014), The Town (2010) and Donnie Brasco (1997).
How are movies similar to Criminal Activities chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Criminal Activities, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.