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A Simple Plan poster

Movies that feel likeA Simple Plan (1998)

Captivated by the lure of sudden wealth, the quiet rural lives of two brothers erupt into conflicts of greed, paranoia and distrust when over $4 million in cash is discovered at the remote site of a downed small airplane. Their simple plan to retain the money while avoiding detection opens a Pandora's box when the fear of getting caught triggers panicked behavior and leads to virulent consequences.

If you loved A Simple Plan, the closest films we have are The Yards (2000), Dogville (2003) and Pusher 3 (2005). All three share A Simple Plan's gritty and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Red Rock West (1993).

πŸ… 91% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.5 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Sam Raimigrittycontemplativetensewarm
8 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video Β· Hulu Β· Paramount Plus Premium

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If A Simple Plan hit the spot, these will too

The Yards poster
The Yards
2000 Β· dir. James Gray
πŸ… 64%β˜… 6.4crime Β· drama Β· thrillerParamount+

Gritty and contemplative in the same breath

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.

Dogville poster
Dogville
2003 Β· dir. Lars von Trier
πŸ… 70%β˜… 8crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both keep coming back to the same thing: friendship

A woman on the run from the mob is reluctantly accepted in a small Colorado community in exchange for labor, but when a search visits the town, she learns that their support has a price.

Pusher 3 poster
Pusher 3
2005 Β· dir. Nicolas Winding Refn
πŸ… 93%β˜… 7.3action Β· thriller Β· crime

Common ground: friendship

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than A Simple Plan does

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.

Bad Education poster
Bad Education
2004 Β· dir. Pedro AlmodΓ³var
πŸ… 88%β˜… 7.4drama Β· crime

Crime with a pulse of warmth, in both cases

The difference: Trades the tension of A Simple Plan for an angle of its own

When an old friend brings filmmaker Enrique Goded a semi-autobiographical script chronicling their adolescence, Enrique is forced to relive his youth spent at a Catholic boarding school. Weaving through past and present, the script follows a transvestite performer who reconnects with a grade school sweetheart. Spurred on by this chance encounter, the character reflects on her childhood sexual victimization and the trauma of closeting her sexual orientation.

End of Watch poster
End of Watch
2012 Β· dir. David Ayer
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Both lean on tension more than on drama

Two young officers are marked for death after confiscating a small cache of money and firearms from the members of a notorious cartel during a routine traffic stop.

The Talented Mr. Ripley poster
The Talented Mr. Ripley
1999 Β· dir. Anthony Minghella
πŸ… 85%β˜… 7.4thriller Β· crime Β· dramaParamount+Starz

Gritty thriller in both cases

Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody. Opportunity knocks in the form of a wealthy U.S. shipbuilder who hires Tom to travel to Italy to bring back his playboy son, Dickie. Ripley worms his way into the idyllic lives of Dickie and his girlfriend, plunging into a daring scheme of duplicity, lies and murder.

Red Rock West poster
Red Rock West
1993 Β· dir. John Dahl
πŸ… 95%β˜… 7crime Β· thriller

Both are built on the same subject: bag of money

When a promised job for Texan Michael fails to materialize in Wyoming, Mike is mistaken by Wayne to be the hitman he hired to kill his unfaithful wife, Suzanne. Mike takes full advantage of the situation, collects the money, and runs. During his getaway, things go wrong, and soon get worse when he runs into the real hitman, Lyle.

Thelma & Louise poster
Thelma & Louise
1991 Β· dir. Ridley Scott
πŸ… 87%β˜… 7.6drama Β· crimePrime VideoHulu

Crime built on stillness, twice over

Taking a break from their dreary lives, close friends Thelma and Louise embark on a short weekend trip that ends in unforeseen incriminating circumstances. As fugitives, both women rediscover the strength of their bond and their newfound resilience.

36th Precinct poster
36th Precinct
2004 Β· dir. Olivier Marchal
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.1crime Β· drama Β· thriller

Tense drama, and it commits to that

In Paris, two cops are competing for the vacant job of chief of police, in the middle of the search for a gang of violent thieves. The movie is directed by Olivier Marchal, a former police officer who spent 12 years with the French police before creating this story, taken in part from real events of the 1980s.

The Experiment poster
The Experiment
2001 Β· dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel
πŸ… 72%β˜… 7.7drama Β· thriller

Thriller with a pulse of grit, in both cases

20 volunteers agree to take part in a seemingly well-paid experiment advertised by the university. It is supposed to be about aggressive behavior in an artificial prison situation. A journalist senses a story behind the ad and smuggles himself in among the test subjects. They are randomly divided into prisoners and guards. What seems like a game at the beginning soon turns into bloody seriousness.

21 poster
21
2008 Β· dir. Robert Luketic
πŸ… 36%β˜… 6.8drama Β· crime

Crime built on warmth, twice over

Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.

Midnight Cowboy poster
Midnight Cowboy
1969 Β· dir. John Schlesinger
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.8drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Made in the 1960s, in a different era of the craft

Joe Buck is a wide-eyed hustler from Texas hoping to score big with wealthy New York City women; he finds a companion in Enrico "Ratso" Rizzo, an ailing swindler with a bum leg and a quixotic fantasy of escaping to Florida.

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies β†’

The best-reviewed films that share A Simple Plan’s defining feeling.