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Side Effects poster

Movies that feel likeSide Effects (2013)

A woman turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband's upcoming release from prison.

If you loved Side Effects, the closest films we have are You Were Never Really Here (2017), The Devil All the Time (2020) and Hard Candy (2006). All three share Side Effects' tense and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Charley Varrick (1973).

🍅 82% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Steven Soderberghtensegrittycontemplativemelancholy
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Side Effects hit the spot, these will too

You Were Never Really Here poster
You Were Never Really Here
2017 · dir. Lynne Ramsay
🍅 89%★ 6.7crime · drama · thrillerPrime Video

New York City shapes both of them

A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.

The Devil All the Time poster
The Devil All the Time
2020 · dir. Antonio Campos
🍅 65%★ 7.1crime · drama · thrillerNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: murder

In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.

Hard Candy poster
Hard Candy
2006 · dir. David Slade
🍅 67%★ 7drama · thriller

Both land tension and grit at once

Hayley’s a smart, charming teenage girl. Jeff’s a handsome, smooth fashion photographer. An Internet chat, a coffee shop meet-up, an impromptu fashion shoot back at Jeff’s place. Jeff thinks it’s his lucky night. He’s in for a surprise.

21 Grams poster
21 Grams
2003 · dir. Alejandro G. Iñárritu
🍅 80%★ 7.6drama · crime · thriller

Contemplative where it counts, melancholy underneath

Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife and mother of two girls; and Jack Jordan, a born-again ex-con, are brought together by a terrible accident that changes their lives.

Hell or High Water poster
Hell or High Water
2016 · dir. David Mackenzie
🍅 97%★ 7.6western · crime · dramaMax

Tense crime, and it commits to that

The difference: Leans harder into western than Side Effects does

A divorced dad and his ex-con brother resort to a desperate scheme in order to save their family's farm in West Texas.

Contagion poster
Contagion
2011 · dir. Steven Soderbergh
🍅 85%★ 6.8drama · thriller · science fictionMax

Steven Soderbergh directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

The difference: Easier on the grit than Side Effects

As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself.

Death Wish poster
Death Wish
2018 · dir. Eli Roth
🍅 18%★ 6.3action · crime · thriller

Both lean on grit more than on thriller

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.

Thief poster
Thief
1981 · dir. Michael Mann
🍅 80%★ 7.4crime · thriller · dramaPrime Video

Contemplative drama in both cases

The difference: 32 years apart, and the 1980s show

Frank is an expert professional safecracker, specialized in high-profile diamond heists. He plans to use his ill-gotten income to retire from crime and build a nice life for himself complete with a home, wife and kids. To accelerate the process, he signs on with a top gangster for a big score.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father poster
🍅 94%★ 8.5documentary · crimePrime Video

Both are built on the same subject: psychiatrist

The difference: Trades the tension of Side Effects for an angle of its own

In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.

Frailty poster
Frailty
2002 · dir. Bill Paxton
🍅 76%★ 7.2drama · thriller · crime

Thriller built on melancholy, twice over

A mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to kill people who were in fact "demons."

Charley Varrick poster
Charley Varrick
1973 · dir. Don Siegel
🍅 82%★ 7.5crime · thriller · drama

Crime with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Charley Varrick robs a bank in a small town with his friends, but instead of obtaining a small amount of money, they discover they stole a very large amount of money belonging to the mob. Charley must now come up with a plan to not only evade the police but the mob as well.

Short Term 12 poster
Short Term 12
2013 · dir. Destin Daniel Cretton
🍅 98%★ 7.9dramaPrime Video

Gritty drama in both cases

Grace, a compassionate young supervisor at a foster care facility, helps at-risk teens. But when a new charge dredges up memories of her own troubled past, Grace's tough exterior begins eroding.

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The best-reviewed films that share Side Effects’ defining feeling.