Movies like Role of a Lifetime (2020)
The best movies like Role of a Lifetime (2020) are Lady in a Cage (1964), Wicker Park (2004) and Earthquake Bird (2019). If Role of a Lifetime 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 ratedMy Policeman (2022)7.5/10 from 799 votes
- NewestPet Shop Days (2025)Released 2025
Lady in a Cage (1964)
A woman trapped in a home elevator is terrorized by a group of vicious hoodlums.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWicker Park (2004)
Matthew, a young advertising executive in Chicago, puts his life and a business trip to China on hold when he thinks he sees Lisa, the love of his life who left him without a word two years earlier, walking out of a restaurant one day.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEarthquake Bird (2019)
Tokyo, Japan, 1989. Lucy Fly, a foreigner who works as a translator, begins a passionate relationship with Teiji, a mysterious man obsessed with photography.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlackwater Lane (2024)
An American school teacher in England drives past an abandoned car late one night, unaware that the driver was the victim of a murder. As she comes to terms with the realization, seemingly supernatural events start to affect the gothic manor she lives in with her husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Secret (2014)
In 1860s Paris, a young woman, Therese, is trapped in a loveless marriage to the sickly Camille by her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin. She spends her days behind the counter of a small shop and her evenings watching Madame play dominos with an eclectic group. After she meets her husband’s alluring friend, Laurent, she embarks on an illicit affair that leads to tragic consequences. Based on Emile Zola’s novel, Thérèse Raquin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDot the I (2003)
A fiery Spanish woman is about to marry a kind British man when she meets a Brazilian actor who ignites in her a flame of lust she can't ignore.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPossession (2002)
Maud Bailey, a brilliant English academic, is researching the life and work of poet Christabel La Motte. Roland Michell is an American scholar in London to study Randolph Henry Ash, now best-known for a collection of poems dedicated to his wife. When Maud and Roland discover a cache of love letters that appear to be from Ash to La Motte, they follow a trail of clues across England, echoing the journey of the couple over a century earlier.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWatcher (2022)
As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia — a young actress who just moved to town with her husband — notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Betrayed (2008)
Kidnappers force a young mother to recover money stolen by her shady husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisDressed to Kill (1980)
After witnessing a mysterious woman brutally slay a homemaker, prostitute Liz Blake finds herself trapped in a dangerous situation. While the police thinks she is the murderer, the real killer is intent on silencing her only witness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGoodnight Mommy (2022)
When twin brothers arrive home to find their mother’s demeanor altered and face covered in surgical bandages, they begin to suspect the woman beneath the gauze might not be their mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both horror & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIntrusion (2021)
When a husband and wife move to a small town, a home invasion leaves the wife traumatized and suspicious that those around her might not be who they seem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
SnoozefestMovies like thisWinter's Tale (2014)
A burglar falls for an heiress as she dies in his arms. When he learns that he has the gift of reincarnation, he sets out to save her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & mystery
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDead Ringer (1964)
The working class twin sister of a callous wealthy woman impulsively murders her out of revenge and assumes the identity of the dead woman. But impersonating her dead twin is more complicated and risky than she anticipated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & horror
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Sister's Secret (2018)
Twin sisters secretly swap places on their thirtieth birthday. The harmless prank becomes a nightmare when one of them is murdered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSplit (2016)
When Inanna, a young actress, becomes obsessed with a mask maker, she sacrifices parts of her life in order to win his love. At the same time she enters a mythic journey in the theater that blurs her performance, her dreams and her real life and results in a provocative and powerful confrontation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Bodyguard (1992)
A former Secret Service agent grudgingly takes an assignment to protect a pop idol who's threatened by a crazed fan. At first, the safety-obsessed bodyguard and the self-indulgent diva totally clash. But before long, all that tension sparks fireworks of another sort, and the love-averse tough guy is torn between duty and romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Story (2019)
Blue Story is a tragic tale of a friendship between Timmy and Marco, two young boys from opposing postcodes. Timmy, a shy, smart, naive and timid young boy from Deptford, goes to school in Peckham where he strikes up a friendship with Marco, a charismatic, streetwise kid from the local area. Although from warring postcodes, the two quickly form a firm friendship until it is tested and they wind up on rival sides of a street war. Blue Story depicts elements of Rapman's own personal experiences and aspects of his childhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Policeman (2022)
In the late 1990s, the arrival of elderly invalid Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previous: the passionate relationship between Tom and Patrick at a time when homosexuality was illegal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKiller Heat (2024)
An expat PI is hired to investigate a suspicious death in Crete, Greece, where jealousies run deep amongst the victim's powerful family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisPet Shop Days (2025)
On the run from his unforgiving father in Mexico, Alejandro finds himself in New York City, where he meets Jack, a pet store employee with similar parental baggage. Together the two enter a whirlwind romance sending them down the rabbit hole of drugs and depravity in Manhattan’s underworld. When Alejandro’s past threatens to catch up with him, Jack is forced to choose between his family and a life on the run.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Barrio Boy (2014)
A Latino barber quietly falls in love with a handsome stranger over the course of a haircut during a hot and sweaty summer afternoon in a macho Brooklyn hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Three Summer Days (2014)
Little by little, a relationship develops between Gem, a teenager fascinated by tattoos, and his best friend that goes beyond just friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
And Then Came Lola (2009)
A talented, but distracted photographer, Lola, on the verge of success in both love and work, could lose it all if she doesn't make it to a crucial meeting on time. But, as usual, Lola is late. With her job and girlfriend on the line, she has three chances to make it right. In a desperate race through the streets and back rooms of San Francisco, time grows short-will Lola make it? Will she come at all? With a pop sensibility that mixes live action, animation and still photography, And Then Came Lola explores love's age old question in a fresh new way, "If you try, try again, will you finally get it right?" (Written by M. Siler and E. Seidler)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Houseboy (2007)
Distraught after he overhears his two 30-something lovers talking about finding a new "toy" to replace him, young Ricky looks for love through a series of random sexual encounters while house-sitting for the couple over the Christmas holidays. Meanwhile, he contemplates suicide. But when Ricky meets a compassionate new friend, he may be experiencing the sparks of real love in this compelling and sexy gay drama.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Matinee (2024)
A matinee draws a young man into desire and fear.
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 thisAkulah Vivian (1977)
Biography of Vivian Rubianty, the first legally-recognized trans person in Indonesia
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Adjust-A-Dream (2014)
On the verge of moving in together, a gay male couple's anxieties escalate as they shop for their first mattress.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bear Creek (2017)
A pack of friends in Denver's gay bear community go for the camping trip of a life time filled with fun, laughs and a hot encounter. It all seems innocent enough until a rampaging sociopath joins them ensuring a trip they'll never forget.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both horror
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Role of a Lifetime?
The closest matches to Role of a Lifetime are Lady in a Cage (1964), Wicker Park (2004) and Earthquake Bird (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Role of a Lifetime?
Start with Lady in a Cage (1964), the closest match to Role of a Lifetime.
What is the highest-rated movie like Role of a Lifetime?
My Policeman (2022), rated 7.5/10 by 799 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Role of a Lifetime?
Pet Shop Days (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Role of a Lifetime?
Yes: Lady in a Cage (1964), Wicker Park (2004) and Earthquake Bird (2019).
How are movies similar to Role of a Lifetime chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Role of a Lifetime, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.