Movies like The Perfect Patient (2019)
The best movies like The Perfect Patient (2019) are True Crime (1999), Bordertown (2007) and Beck 03 - White Nights (1998). If The Perfect Patient 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 ratedCitizen Kane (1941)8.0/10 from 6,344 votes
- NewestKing Ivory (2025)Released 2025
True Crime (1999)
Boozer, skirt chaser, careless father. You could create your own list of reporter Steve Everett's faults but there's no time. A San Quentin Death Row prisoner is slated to die at midnight – a man Everett has suddenly realized is innocent.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBordertown (2007)
American corporations are using the North American Free Trade Agreement by opening large maquiladoras right across the United States–Mexico border. The maquiladoras hire mostly Mexican women to work long hours for little money in order to produce mass quantity products. Lauren Adrian, an impassioned American news reporter for the Chicago Sentinel wants to be assigned to the Iraq front-lines to cover the war. Instead, her editor George Morgan assigns her to investigate a series of slayings involving young maquiladora factory women in a Mexican bordertown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeck 03 - White Nights (1998)
When the police reveal a narcotic smuggling the driver is shot dead. It appears that the driver is Superintendent Martin Beck's son. Beck breaks down and moves out of the way. But on his colleagues request he returns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)
Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of Millennium magazine, has made his living exposing the crooked and corrupt practices of establishment Swedish figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and those in high office who abuse underage girls, Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKing Ivory (2025)
Based on extensive research involving law enforcement and gang members, a never-before-seen, authentic look inside the underworld of fentanyl trafficking from gangs inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester a.k.a. "Big Mac."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeck 04 - Eye for an Eye (1998)
In this film Beck and his team are trying to find a serial killer, whose victims are spread all over Sweden. An obvious connection is that all the victims are women, and they were all in the same class, and Beck thinks that a scandal back in the past has something to do with the murders. But no one wants to talk about the past and it becomes a struggle to find the perpetrator before the final murder - only one woman is still alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe American (2010)
Dispatched to a small Italian town to await further orders, assassin Jack embarks on a double life that may be more relaxing than is good for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNightcrawler (2014)
When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStranger on the Third Floor (1940)
Newspaper reporter Michael Ward plunges into a nightmare of guilt, fearing that his "evidence" has sentenced the wrong man to death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Life of David Gale (2003)
A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like this22 July (2018)
On 22 July 2011, neo-Nazi terrorist Anders Behring Breivik murdered 77 young people attending a Labour Party Youth Camp on Utøya Island outside of Oslo. This three-part story focuses on the survivors, the political leadership of Norway, and the lawyers involved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStreet Smart (1987)
A New York journalist lies when his fake story about a pimp describes a real pimp up for murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
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 thisFive Minutes of Heaven (2009)
The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)
Swedish thriller based on Stieg Larsson's novel about a male journalist and a young female hacker. In the opening of the movie, Mikael Blomkvist, a middle-aged publisher for the magazine Millennium, loses a libel case brought by corrupt Swedish industrialist Hans-Erik Wennerström. Nevertheless, he is hired by Henrik Vanger in order to solve a cold case, the disappearance of Vanger's niece
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Score to Settle (2019)
A former mob enforcer who is released from prison after serving 22 years for a crime he didn't commit sets out on a path for revenge against the people who wronged him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
Disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist investigates the disappearance of a weary patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander. As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrue Story (2015)
A drama centered on the relationship between journalist Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, an FBI Most Wanted List murderer who for years lived outside the U.S. under Finkel's name.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarget Number One (2020)
Ex heroin junkie, Daniel Léger, gets involved in a drug deal with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. When the deal goes sour, Daniel gets thrown into a Thai prison and slapped with a 100-year sentence. While he tries to survive his Bangkok incarceration, the news of his conviction captures the attention of Globe and Mail journalist Victor Malarek, who decides to go after the shady undercover cops responsible for wrongly accusing Daniel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNothing but the Truth (2008)
When reporter Rachel Armstrong writes a story that reveals the identity of a covert CIA operative, the government demands that Rachel reveal her source. She defies the special prosecutor and is thrown in jail. Meanwhile, her attorney, Albert Burnside argues her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest Seller (1987)
Hit man Cleve approaches writer/cop Dennis about a story for his next book: How Cleve made a living, working for one of the most powerful politicians in the country. To get the story right, they travel around the country to gather statements and evidence, while strong forces use any means they can to keep the story untold.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kiss-Off (1968)
A low rent detective, his stripper girlfriend, a runaway wife (who's joined a whorehouse) and a rapist / obscene phone caller / serial killer all factor into this piece of Los Angeles sleaze.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Bluebeard (1963)
Paris, France, during the First World War. While thousands of soldiers die every day on the battlefields, Henri Landru, a seemingly respectable furniture dealer, married and father of four children, relentlessly feeds his own sinister factory of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilence of God (2019)
Alberto is a journalist who dedicated his carreer to investigate organized crime, but now his only aim is different: to find Ana.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
Deadly Shots on Broadway (1969)
An FBI agent is killed by the mob after making off with five million in gold bars in a robbery gone bad. Agent Jerry Cotton is called in to bring the gang to justice and find out where his dead pal hid the missing gold.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Sweet Sting of the Black Widow (2022)
A serial killer is loose on the streets of LA, leaving behind a steaming trail of bodies marked with lipstick: the calling card of a Black Widow who loves them and leaves them dead. As homicide detectives unravel the case, they discover the victims all have one thing in common: they’re crooked ex-cops who escaped justice. But they didn’t escape the sting of the Black Widow. As the investigation hits ever closer to home, the police must consider that the killer could be one of their own, a vigilante who is taking the law into her own hands, and tracking these murders will take them through the dark and seedy underbelly of Los Angeles where they soon discover that revenge is a dish best served hot.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & drama
The Females (1970)
A young woman joins an exclusive health clinic and discovers that the town is populated almost entirely by women, and they have surprising intentions for any male tourists who visit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & drama
The 11th Hour (2007)
A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCitizen Kane (1941)
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBreakdown (1978)
A journalist lives his smooth citizen life, married to a woman from respected family. But, conflicts with manager at work are becoming more often, his marriage is unstable and the outer manifestation of all this is a strange skin disease. Doctors recommend resting in nature and self-examination. In the mountains, in a lonely house near the lake, he meets a woman, also unadjusted and lonely. The consequences of this encounter are beneficial. Capable to love again, he gets his moral strength, and disease retreats. He breaks off his contacts with his wife's family and with "petit bourgeois" of his former life, confronts his boss and wins, realizing that this is only a first victory which has straightened him up.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Perfect Patient?
The closest matches to The Perfect Patient are True Crime (1999), Bordertown (2007) and Beck 03 - White Nights (1998). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Perfect Patient?
Start with True Crime (1999), the closest match to The Perfect Patient.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Perfect Patient?
Citizen Kane (1941), rated 8.0/10 by 6,344 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Perfect Patient?
King Ivory (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Perfect Patient chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Perfect Patient, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.