Movies like Maria Full of Grace (2004)
The best movies like Maria Full of Grace (2004) are Traffic (2000), The Infiltrator (2016) and Veronica Guerin (2003). If Maria Full of Grace 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 ratedJackie Brown (1997)7.4/10 from 7,236 votes
- NewestWardriver (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishBarren Land (2025)Also in Spanish
Traffic (2000)
An exploration of the United States of America's war on drugs from multiple perspectives. For the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the war becomes personal when he discovers his well-educated daughter is abusing cocaine within their comfortable suburban home. In Mexico, a flawed, but noble policeman agrees to testify against a powerful general in league with a cartel, and in San Diego, a drug kingpin's sheltered trophy wife must learn her husband's ruthless business after he is arrested, endangering her luxurious lifestyle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Infiltrator (2016)
A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVeronica Guerin (2003)
In this true story, Veronica Guerin is an investigative reporter for an Irish newspaper. As the drug trade begins to bleed into the mainstream, Guerin decides to take on and expose those responsible. Beginning at the bottom with addicts, Guerin then gets in touch with John Traynor, a paranoid informant. Not without some prodding, Traynor leads her to John Gilligan, the ruthless head of the operation, who does not take kindly to Guerin's nosing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParadise Highway (2022)
A truck driver has been forced to smuggle illicit cargo to save her brother from a deadly prison gang. With FBI operatives hot on her trail, Sally's conscience is challenged when the final package turns out to be a teenage girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisLayer Cake (2004)
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShaft (1971)
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Principal (1987)
Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBraven (2018)
A logger defends his family from a group of dangerous drug runners.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEcho Valley (2025)
Kate lives a secluded life—until her troubled daughter shows up, frightened and covered in someone else's blood. As Kate unravels the shocking truth, she learns just how far a mother will go to try to save her child.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Baker (2023)
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back into a life he tried to put behind him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight Train (2023)
Mother Holly McCord is driven to extremes to save the life of her young son. Even if it means hauling black market drugs in her souped-up truck, with the Feds in hot pursuit. With two bounties on her head and her son’s life on the line, Holly climbs behind the wheel of “Night Train,” ready to outrun, out gun, and outlast them all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBarren Land (2025)
Barren Land is the story of three friends. All three trapped between the abandonment of the institutions, the violent and unstoppable rise of the narco in the province and the dangerous increase of social discontent. Three friends trapped in a powder keg that will test their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStraight from the Barrio (2008)
A young drug dealer falls in love while facing disruption among the men in his gang, and being offered a career as a Reggaetón singer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMidnight Express (1978)
Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like this25th Hour (2002)
On the eve of a seven-year prison sentence, a New York drug dealer spends his final day of freedom confronting his past, his relationships, and the choices that led to his downfall in a city still reeling from 9/11.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKids (1995)
A group of bored, disaffected New York City teenagers spend a day skating, smoking, drinking, partying, deflowering virgins, and getting into fights.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlow (2001)
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWardriver (2026)
He’s a Wardriver: a hacker who steals from banks, not people—until he’s noticed. Now the money turns violent, and the woman caught in it could save him or kill them both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPaid in Full (2002)
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRipley Under Ground (2007)
Now living a quiet, luxurious life at his French estate—funded by past crimes and his marriage to an heiress—Tom Ripley finds that an art scam he supports—selling forged paintings by a supposedly living artist named Derwatt—beginning to collapse. An inquisitive American collector suspects his Derwatt painting is fake and demands answers. As the situation escalates, Ripley turns to murder and elaborate identity deception to protect his reputation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisMurder Over New York (1940)
When Charlie's old friend from Scotland Yard is murdered when they attend a police convention in New York, Chan picks up the case he was working on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)
When hundreds of videotapes showing torture, murder and dismemberment are found in an abandoned house, they reveal a serial killer's decade-long reign of terror and become the most disturbing collection of evidence homicide detectives have ever seen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPro-Black Sheep (2009)
Character-driven satirical drama about a young, extraordinarily intellectual "black activist" wannabe who is discovered as the political critic sending out anonymous emails that criticize today's black leadership. Instead of holding it against him, the black leader who finds him out hires his worst critic as a second adviser.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
De amores y delitos: Bituima 1780 (1995)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Neon Demon (2016)
When aspiring model Jesse moves to Los Angeles, her youth and vitality are devoured by a group of beauty-obsessed women who will take any means necessary to get what she has.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDe amores y delitos: El alma del maíz (1995)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blonde (2022)
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisIn My Life (2009)
A headstrong woman moves to New York and must come to terms with her estranged gay son and his partner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bitter Taste (2024)
In the wake of Glasgow’s rapid deindustrialization and economic decline in the 90s, a young Fraser falls victim to knife crime and is indelibly marked with a “Glasgow smile”, irrevocably impacting his sense of self and relationship to food.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Maria Full of Grace and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Maria Full of Grace?
The closest matches to Maria Full of Grace are Traffic (2000), The Infiltrator (2016) and Veronica Guerin (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Maria Full of Grace?
Start with Traffic (2000), the closest match to Maria Full of Grace.
What is the highest-rated movie like Maria Full of Grace?
Jackie Brown (1997), rated 7.4/10 by 7,236 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Maria Full of Grace?
Wardriver (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Maria Full of Grace?
Yes: Barren Land (2025), Straight from the Barrio (2008) and De amores y delitos: Bituima 1780 (1995).
How are movies similar to Maria Full of Grace chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Maria Full of Grace, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.