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The Little Things poster

Movies that feel likeThe Little Things (2021)

Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon joins forces with Sgt. Jim Baxter to search for a serial killer who's terrorizing Los Angeles. As they track the culprit, Baxter is unaware that the investigation is dredging up echoes of Deke's past, uncovering disturbing secrets that could threaten more than his case.

If you loved The Little Things, the closest films we have are The Lincoln Lawyer (2011), Donnie Brasco (1997) and Snowden (2016). All three share The Little Things' contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is The Parallax View (1974).

🍅 44% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. John Lee Hancockcontemplativegrittytenseparanoid
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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If The Little Things hit the spot, these will too

The Lincoln Lawyer poster
The Lincoln Lawyer
2011 · dir. Brad Furman
🍅 83%★ 7.3crime · drama · thriller

Both are built on the same subject: crime scene

The difference: Reviewed even better

Mick Haller is a charismatic defense attorney who does business out of his Lincoln Continental sedan. Mick spends most of his time defending petty crooks and other bottom-feeders, so it comes as quite a surprise when he lands the case of a lifetime: defending a Beverly Hills playboy who is accused of attempted murder. However, what Mick initially thinks is an open-and-shut case with a big monetary reward develops into something more sinister.

Donnie Brasco poster
Donnie Brasco
1997 · dir. Mike Newell
🍅 88%★ 7.7crime · drama · thrillerNetflix

Common ground: surveillance

The difference: 24 years apart, and the 1990s show

An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and identifies more with the mafia life at the expense of his regular one.

Snowden poster
Snowden
2016 · dir. Oliver Stone
🍅 61%★ 7.3drama · history · crimeNetflixStarz

Contemplative and gritty in the same breath

The difference: Leans harder into history than The Little Things does

CIA employee Edward Snowden leaks thousands of classified documents to the press.

Conclave poster
Conclave
2024 · dir. Edward Berger
🍅 93%★ 7.4drama · thrillerStarz

Both land tension and paranoia at once

The difference: Takes it somewhere less gritty than The Little Things does

After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.

The Negotiator poster
The Negotiator
1998 · dir. F. Gary Gray
★ 7.3action · crime · drama

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

The difference: Sits closer to action than The Little Things does

The police try to arrest expert hostage negotiator Danny Roman, who insists he's being framed for his partner's murder in what he believes is an elaborate conspiracy. Thinking there's evidence in the Internal Affairs offices that might clear him, he takes everyone in the office hostage and demands that another well-known negotiator be brought in to handle the situation and secretly investigate the conspiracy.

The Accountant² poster
The Accountant²
2025 · dir. Gavin O'Connor
🍅 75%★ 6.6mystery · crime · thrillerPrime VideoHulu

Gritty crime in both cases

The difference: Trades the stillness of The Little Things for an angle of its own

When an old acquaintance is murdered, Wolff is compelled to solve the case. Realizing more extreme measures are necessary, Wolff recruits his estranged and highly lethal brother, Brax, to help. In partnership with Marybeth Medina, they uncover a deadly conspiracy, becoming targets of a ruthless network of killers who will stop at nothing to keep their secrets buried.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit poster
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
2014 · dir. Kenneth Branagh
🍅 55%★ 6.2action · drama · thrillerParamount+Starz

One thread runs through both: surveillance

Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

The Baader Meinhof Complex poster
The Baader Meinhof Complex
2008 · dir. Uli Edel
🍅 85%★ 7.3action · crime · dramaPrime Video

Thriller built on tension, twice over

When German police viciously quell a protest against the shah of Iran, popular journalist Ulrike Meinhof rebels against her dishonest marriage, walks away from her children and joins radical anarchist Andreas Baader. Together with Baader's girlfriend, Gudrun Ensslin, they form the violent Red Faction Army, and together perpetrate a slew of terrorist attacks as a way of disrupting the fabric of what they see as an increasingly fascist state.

The Parallax View poster
The Parallax View
1974 · dir. Alan J. Pakula
🍅 87%★ 7.1crime · drama · thriller

Paranoid drama, and it commits to that

An ambitious reporter gets in trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

Public Enemies poster
Public Enemies
2009 · dir. Michael Mann
🍅 68%★ 6.9crime · history · drama

Crime with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger's charm and audacity endear him to much of America's downtrodden public, but he's also a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover and the fledgling FBI. Desperate to capture the elusive outlaw, Hoover makes Dillinger his first Public Enemy Number One and assigns his top agent, Melvin Purvis, the task of bringing him in dead or alive.

Marathon Man poster
Marathon Man
1976 · dir. John Schlesinger
🍅 82%★ 7.4thriller · crime · dramaParamount+

Gritty thriller, and it commits to that

A graduate student and obsessive runner in New York is drawn into a mysterious plot involving his brother, a member of the secretive Division.

White House Down poster
White House Down
2013 · dir. Roland Emmerich
🍅 52%★ 6.3action · drama · thrillerNetflixStarz

Drama with a pulse of tension, in both cases

Capitol Policeman John Cale has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service protecting President James Sawyer. Not wanting to let down his little girl with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation's government falling into chaos and time running out, it's up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Little Things’ defining feeling.