Movies like Outlier (2016)
The best movies like Outlier (2016) are A Dry White Season (1989), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025). If Outlier hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedI Confess (1953)7.1/10 from 506 votes
- Newest180 (2026)Released 2026
A Dry White Season (1989)
During the 1976 Soweto uprising, a white school teacher's life and values are threatened when he asks questions about the death of a young black boy who died in police custody.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Truth About Emanuel (2013)
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)
High-powered attorney Marley faces her most personal case yet when she is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the murder of her best friend Fela’s husband. With the help of her boyfriend – a former cop turned private investigator – Marley’s search for what really happened leads her down a treacherous maze of deception and betrayal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe House on Carroll Street (1988)
A reporter, fired after refusing to give names to a 1951 House Un-American Activities Committee, takes a part-time job as companion to an old lady. While working she overhears a noisy argument in the neighboring house, being conducted largely in German and involving her HUAC prosecutor. She begins to investigate, enlisting the help of the FBI Agent initially detailed to surveil her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisLight It Up (1999)
On a winter day in a southside Queens high school, events collide and six students are suddenly in an armed standoff with the NYPD. At the school, classrooms freeze, teachers come and go, resources are scant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe White Orchid (2018)
A social services investigator helps a local sheriff solve the brutal murder of a beautiful blonde known only as The White Orchid.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Caveman's Valentine (2001)
Romulus, a misunderstood musician turned recluse hiding from personal demons in a New York City cave, finds the frozen body of a young drifter in a tree. The authorities, including his police officer daughter, claim the death is accidental. Romulus is convinced the man was murdered by a prominent art photographer but how can he prove he's right when everyone thinks he's insane?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Lords of Discipline (1983)
Will arrives for his last year at Military Academy, in the Deep South USA, in the 1960's. A black student, Pearce, has been accepted, for the first time and Will is asked to keep an eye out for the inevitable racism. The racists come in the form of The Ten, a secret group of the elite students. They want Pearce to leave on his own free will, but are prepared to torture him to make it 'his free will'. Will is forced to help Pearce and he is prepared to risk his own career to do so.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLockdown (2000)
Avery (Jones) returns to college as a competitive swimmer after getting his life back on track. But his life takes another unexpected turn when he and his two friends (Bonds, Casseus) are wrongly accused of murder and end up in prison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Deadly Affair (1967)
Charles Dobbs is a British secret agent investigating the apparent suicide of Foreign Office official Samuel Fennan. Dobbs suspects that Fennan's wife, Elsa, a survivor of a Nazi Germany extermination camp, might have some clues, but other officials want Dobbs to drop the case. So Dobbs hires a retiring inspector, Mendel, to quietly make inquiries. Dobbs isn't at all sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home with his errant wife, whom he very much loves, having frequent affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, who he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who in fact assassinated Fennan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuilty by Suspicion (1991)
Owing to his alleged involvement with communist parties, film director David Merrill is forbidden from working in Hollywood. He decides to fight for his rights and faces numerous challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLila & Eve (2015)
Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own hands to track down her son’s killers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Operative (2019)
A young Western woman is recruited by the Mossad to go undercover in Tehran where she becomes entangled in a complex triangle with her handler and her subject.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Island (2023)
When his brother is killed, LAPD officer Mark leaves the city to return to the island he grew up on. Seeking answers and ultimately vengeance, he soon finds himself in a bloody battle with the corrupt tycoon who's taken over the island paradise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 355 (2022)
A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Devils Are Here (2025)
After a heist, four criminals lay low in a remote safehouse, waiting for orders. As paranoia builds, one thing becomes clear — the real threat may not be outside, but among them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Confess (1953)
When a priest hears a murderer’s confession, he becomes bound by his vow of silence—even as circumstantial evidence turns suspicion toward him. Torn between faith and self-preservation, he faces public scandal and trial for a crime he cannot reveal the truth about.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisV3 (2023)
Human rights commission of India appoint Sivagami, an ex-IAS officer, to interrogate the police officials in-charge of the encounter of five youngsters, for allegedly raping and murdering an innocent girl, Vindhya and find out what had actually happened. Sivagami's interrogation leads to a series of revelations that shock Sivagami and the parents of the youngsters who died in the encounter.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
Jesse Stone: Night Passage (2006)
A prequel to "Stone Cold", the story picks up after Jesse Stone is fired from the Los Angeles Police Department. He becomes an unlikely candidate recruited by a town council to become police chief of Paradise, MA, a small fishing town on Boston's North Shore. The board hopes his failed experience will keep him from digging too deep into the town's secrets. His first assignment is to investigate the murder of his predecessor whose death may be tied to a local domestic disturbance case, with connections to money laundering and murder involving some of the town's most affluent names as possible suspects.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKilling Words (2004)
A mild-mannered psychopath plays mind-games with a woman he has tied to a chair in his basement.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bedroom Window (1987)
Baltimore, Maryland. Sylvia sees a girl being attacked from her lover Terry's bedroom window. The assailant flees and his victim is saved. But that same night another girl is found murdered.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnconditional Love (2002)
After her husband leaves her, a woman travels to London for the funeral of the pop star, Victor Fox, she's adored all her life. There, she meets the lover of the dead pop star, and convinces him to come back to Chicago with her to figure out who killed the singer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Valley of Elah (2007)
A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife Eternal (2015)
Brenner returns to Graz, the city where he grew up. When confronted with his old friends, his former girlfriend and the major sin he committed when he was young, murders and a fateful gunshot to the head result. After Brenner comes out of a coma, he begins to search for the person who tried to kill him - however, everybody claims that he himself is responsible. In the beginning Brenner was at the end of his rope, but he could face a new beginning in the end.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Bloodstained Butterfly (1971)
When a young female student is savagely killed in a park during a thunderstorm, the culprit seems obvious: TV sports personality Alessandro Marchi, seen fleeing the scene of the crime by numerous eyewitnesses. The evidence against him is damning... but is it all too convenient? And when the killer strikes again while Marchi is in custody, it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to the case than meets the eye...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreen for Danger (1946)
In the midst of Nazi air raids, a postman dies on the operating table at a rural hospital. But was the death accidental?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Outlier?
The closest matches to Outlier are A Dry White Season (1989), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Outlier?
Start with A Dry White Season (1989), the closest match to Outlier.
What is the highest-rated movie like Outlier?
I Confess (1953), rated 7.1/10 by 506 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Outlier?
180 (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Outlier?
Yes: A Dry White Season (1989), The Truth About Emanuel (2013) and Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025).
How are movies similar to Outlier chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Outlier, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.