feelsalike.comSign in
Carlito's Way poster

Movies that feel likeCarlito's Way (1993)

Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.

If you loved Carlito's Way, the closest films we have are Victoria (2015), The Untouchables (1987) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). All three share Carlito's Way'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 Layer Cake (2004).

🍅 84% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Brian De Palmagrittycontemplativetenseromantic
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Apple TV

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:Prime Video ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Carlito's Way streaming? →

If Carlito's Way hit the spot, these will too

Victoria poster
Victoria
2015 · dir. Sebastian Schipper
🍅 82%★ 7.5crime · thriller · romance

Gritty where it counts, tense underneath

The difference: Easier on the stillness than Carlito's Way

A young Spanish woman who has newly moved to Berlin finds her flirtation with a local guy turn potentially deadly as their night out with his friends reveals a dangerous secret.

The Untouchables poster
The Untouchables
1987 · dir. Brian De Palma
🍅 83%★ 7.8crime · history · thrillerParamount+

Both are Brian De Palma's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Takes it somewhere less contemplative than Carlito's Way does

Elliot Ness, an ambitious prohibition agent, is determined to take down Al Capone. In order to achieve this goal, he forms a group given the nickname “The Untouchables”.

The Talented Mr. Ripley poster
The Talented Mr. Ripley
1999 · dir. Anthony Minghella
🍅 85%★ 7.4thriller · crime · dramaParamount+Starz

Both rooted in New York City

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.

Dial M for Murder poster
Dial M for Murder
1954 · dir. Alfred Hitchcock
🍅 90%★ 8.1thriller · crime · drama

Common ground: love

The difference: 39 years apart, and the 1950s show

When her American lover visits London, a wealthy woman’s jealous husband hatches a plan to murder her and inherit her fortune.

We Own the Night poster
We Own the Night
2007 · dir. James Gray
🍅 57%★ 6.8drama · crime · thriller

Both are working the same pair: gangster, cocaine

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

A New York nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian mafia hitmen.

Once Upon a Time in America poster
Once Upon a Time in America
1984 · dir. Sergio Leone
🍅 86%★ 8.3drama · crimePrime Video

One thread runs through both: gangster

A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.

Transporter 3 poster
Transporter 3
2008 · dir. Olivier Megaton
🍅 40%★ 6.1action · thriller · crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: love

The difference: Leans harder into action than Carlito's Way does

Frank Martin puts the driving gloves on to deliver Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of a Ukrainian government official, from Marseilles to Odessa on the Black Sea. En route, he has to contend with thugs who want to intercept Valentina's safe delivery and not let his personal feelings get in the way of his dangerous objective.

True Romance poster
True Romance
1993 · dir. Tony Scott
🍅 93%★ 7.9action · crime · romanceNetflix

Both are built on the same subject: cocaine

Clarence marries hooker Alabama, steals cocaine from her pimp, and tries to sell it in Hollywood, while the owners of the coke try to reclaim it.

Insomnia poster
Insomnia
2002 · dir. Christopher Nolan
🍅 92%★ 7.2thriller · crime · dramaApple TV+

The same mix in both: stillness, then romance

Two Los Angeles homicide detectives are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn't set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.

Layer Cake poster
Layer Cake
2004 · dir. Matthew Vaughn
🍅 81%★ 7.2drama · thriller · crime

Gritty crime, and it commits to that

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...

Primal Fear poster
Primal Fear
1996 · dir. Gregory Hoblit
🍅 77%★ 7.7crime · drama · thrillerParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: lawyer

Defense attorney Martin Vail takes on jobs for money and prestige rather than any sense of the greater good. His latest case involves an altar boy, accused of brutally murdering the archbishop of Chicago. Vail finds himself up against his ex-pupil and ex-lover, but as the case progresses and the Church's dark secrets are revealed, Vail finds that what appeared a simple case takes on a darker, more dangerous aspect.

A Time to Kill poster
A Time to Kill
1996 · dir. Joel Schumacher
🍅 66%★ 7.5crime · drama · thriller

Common ground: lawyer

A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Carlito's Way’s defining feeling.