Best movies like Circus
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Bruno, a sadistic criminal, wants clever con man Leo out of the way. Leo and his equally clever wife, Lily, are up to something. So too is Julius: he hires Leo to kill Gloria, Julius's wife. Leo does it, but then Julius shows up with the murder on tape, saying Gloria isn't his wife - it's blackmail. Leo's bookie, Troy, is also closing in, wanting to be paid. Bruno and Lily as well as Bruno and Julius have their own scams running, and Leo is their target. Maybe Leo can get Troy off his back, avoid Moose (Bruno's huge enforcer), send Gloria's corpse out of England, turn the tables on Bruno's murderous brother Caspar, and outfox Lily. Or is Lily his fox? It's a three-ring circus.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: stylized, neo noir, suspense, suspenseful, realistic, clever, dark comedy, serious, psychological, noir
Best tv shows and movies like Circus (2000):
Similar in 83%
The Hard Easy (2006)
Plot Summary:
Two separate teams of jewel thieves, one low-rent and one upscale, both desperate, converge on the same score at the exact same time, and a simple job turns out very complicated and very bloody.
IMDB Rating: 5.6
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, rough, serious, suspenseful, realistic
Similar in 89%
Swindle (2002)
Plot Summary:
No overview found.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Action, Crime, Thriller, Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, captivating, suspense, semi serious, independent film
Similar in 76%
Johnny Handsome (1989)
Plot Summary:
A career criminal who has been deformed since birth is given a new face by a kindly doctor and paroled from prison. It appears that he has gone straight, but he is really planning his revenge on the man who killed his mentor and sent him to prison.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: intense, suspense, harsh, neo noir, serious, tense, rough, realistic, suspenseful, erotic
Similar in 82%
24 Hours in London (2000)
Plot Summary:
London gangster Christian has a plan to kill off the opposition, but things get messy when a witness survives.
IMDB Rating: 3.5
IMDB Votes: 657
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, stylized, surprise ending
Similar in 81%
The Box (2007)
Plot Summary:
A disgraced former LAPD detective leads a home invasion in search of millions in stolen money. The plan goes awry and homicide detectives seeking answers interrogate the only survivors; a thief and a victim.
IMDB Rating: 4.6
IMDB Votes: 504
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, surprise ending, neo noir, detective
Similar in 82%
The Fighter (1983)
Plot Summary:
Jacques Darnay has served 8 years for robbing a jeweller. Now he is out of prison and looking for his loot worth 6 million francs.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: neo noir, exciting, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, poliziottesco, suspense
Similar in 75%
The Rise (2012)
Plot Summary:
A young man recently released from prison recruits his three best friends to rob the local drug kingpin who is responsible for his incarceration.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, serious, bleak, realistic
Similar in 82%
Detour (1998)
Plot Summary:
When Danny and his gang attempt to rob the warehouse of a mob boss, they find themselves on the run. Danny goes back to his hometown to find his mother has recently died leaving him the farm on the condition that he must open the dairy and run it for two years. However the gang is double crossed by Mo and the mob begin to hunt them down, meanwhile Danny and his gang consider robbing the mill in his town.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 330
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, neo noir
Similar in 79%
Ready 2 Die (2014)
Plot Summary:
After a violent bank robbery, the trio of hoods make their way across East L.A. carrying a blood-soaked bag of money. When word gets out, they must fend off gangs and crooked cops alike as they strive to keep the loot and stay alive.
IMDB Rating: 4.1
IMDB Votes: 851
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 80 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, suspenseful, exciting, realistic, crime drama, independent film
Similar in 81%
Body Count (1998)
Plot Summary:
A group of thieves attempt to rob an art gallery, but when plans backfire and one of the men winds up dead, the group head down south, running afoul of the law. Along the way, they meet up with a seductive con artist with ideas of her own.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: neo noir, hood, cult classic, independent film, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, slasher, cult film
Similar in 75%
Backflash (2001)
Plot Summary:
A woman is released from prison and heads home to help outwit a local mob boss and pull off the scam of a lifetime.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 723
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, suspense, action packed, realistic
Similar in 83%
Federal Protection (2002)
Plot Summary:
"Chop Chop" Frankie Carbone has made a career out of stealing cars for the mob in Chicago. An attempted assassination by a mob boss goes badly and Frankie retaliates, only to wind up in the hands of the Feds. Frankie agrees to testify against the mobsters and his life is suddenly worthless - unless he submits to going into federal protection. The FBI gives him a new name - Howard Akers - and relocates him to a sleepy middle-class suburb in Little Rock, AR. Howard catches the attention of his lovely neighbor, Leigh, a bored fund-raiser for a non-profit zoo whose husband, Dennis, is having an affair - and she knows it, but she doesn't know it's with her hot-blooded sister, Bootsie. Leigh becomes friends with the enigmatic Howard, but Dennis and Bootsie see an opportunity to earn the million-dollar bounty the mob has put on his head by turning him in to the mob.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 891
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 94 min
Plot tags: realistic, suspenseful, serious, touching, exciting
Similar in 84%
The Real McCoy (1993)
Plot Summary:
Karen McCoy is released from prison with nothing but the clothes on her back. Before being incarcerated Karen was the bank robber of her time, but now she wishes for nothing more than to settle down and start a new life. Unfortunately between a dirty parole officer, old business partners, and an idiot ex-husband she will have to do the unthinkable in order to save her son.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: suspense, entertaining, suspenseful, exciting, retro, realistic, stylized, semi serious, romantic, sexy
Similar in 83%
Sunset Heat (1992)
Plot Summary:
A former drug-dealer photojournalist (Michael Paré) returns to Los Angeles and helps friends terrorized by his ex-partner (Dennis Hopper).
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 480
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: erotic, independent film, neo noir, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 90%
Double Bang (2001)
Plot Summary:
An honest cop enters the dark world of murder and corruption.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 463
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 79%
Hard Boiled Sweets (2012)
Plot Summary:
Ex-con Johnny is forced into pulling a heist he wants nothing to do with. Mob boss ‘Shrewd’ Eddie has one million is dirty cash stashed at his home, just waiting to be stolen. But what Johnny doesn’t know is that seven other very dangerous criminals also have plans to steal the money.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 850
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: captivating, suspense, psychological, tense, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 80%
Four Dogs Playing Poker (2000)
Plot Summary:
With the help of their mentor Felix, a group of the best friends and first-time thieves steal a valuable statuette for a ruthless black market art dealer. After the amateurs botch the delivery of the objet d'art, the dealer kills Felix and forces the remaining four to "find" $1 million within a week's time or face certain death.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, serious, realistic, suspense, clever, biting, surprise ending, neo noir, independent film
Similar in 85%
Bad Company (1995)
Plot Summary:
Nelson Crowe is a CIA operative under the thumb of the Company for a disputed delivery of $50,000 in gold. They blackmail him into working for the Grimes Organization, which is set up as a private company for hire, to blackmail prominent individuals. Crowe, working with Margaret Wells (another former Covert Operations operative), blackmails and bribes a State Supreme Court judge, but the deal sours. One of Crowe's co-workers, Tod Stapp, discovers Crowe's current CIA involvement in a plot to overthrow Grimes, and blackmails him to be cut in on the deal. More blackmail occurs as Wells manipulates Crowe to kill Grimes, then the CIA uses that discovery to blackmail Wells into killing Crowe. Who can you trust???.
IMDB Rating: 5.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: tense, suspenseful, clever, psychological, neo noir, stylized, suspense, anamorphic, rough, serious
Similar in 89%
Spanish Judges (2000)
Plot Summary:
A con-artist hires two low-lifes to cover him during a deal, ending with three criminals, two dueling pistols, and one night they'll never forget.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 607
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film, neo noir
Similar in 89%
Face (1997)
Plot Summary:
Ray is an aging ex-socialist who has become a bankrobber after seeing the demise of socialism in 1980s Britain. Teaming up with a gang of other has-beenish crims, he commits one bank job too many. The gang dissolves in a murderous flurry of recriminations.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: political, independent film, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
City of Industry (1997)
Plot Summary:
A retired thief swears revenge on the lunatic who murdered his brother and partner, while going on the run with the loot they stole.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspenseful, hood, perverse, independent film, exciting, rough, bleak, serious, realistic
Similar in 82%
Men of Respect (1990)
Plot Summary:
In this modern day version of Shakespeare's Macbeth, a hitman heeds a spiritualist's prophesies that he will rise to the head of his family. He starts his ascension by clandestinely executing the heads of the family and casting the blame on others. However, with power comes consequences that are also predicted by the seer.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 935
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, suspense, independent film, rough, suspenseful, stylized
Similar in 79%
Mafioso: The Father The Son (2001)
Plot Summary:
When the head of a mafia clan is perceived to be weakening, his family suffers a series of attacks. It is up to his son, Frankie, to figure out who’s behind the plot before they are all wiped out.
IMDB Rating: 4.4
IMDB Votes: 270
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, suspense
Similar in 87%
Gloria (1999)
Plot Summary:
Sharon Stone plays a street-wise, middle-aged moll standing up against the mobs, all of which is complicated by a 6 year old urchin with a will of his own who she reluctantly takes under her wing after his family has been gunned down.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: suspense, serious, suspenseful, touching, erotic, neo noir, tense, rough, emotional, realistic
Similar in 88%
The Outfit (1973)
Plot Summary:
A two-bit criminal takes on the Mafia to avenge his brother's death. Earl Macklin is a small time criminal who is released from prison after an unsuccessful bank robbery only to discover that a pair of gunmen killed his brother.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 103 min
Plot tags: neo noir, serious, realistic, exciting, suspense, retro, grindhouse, hood, cult classic, crime thriller
Similar in 83%
The Crew (2008)
Plot Summary:
Hoping to raise enough capital to finance a legitimate business and leave behind his life of crime, Liverpool underworld boss Ged Brennan sends his brother Ratter and a crew to pull a daring final heist. But when Ratter kills a drug kingpin during the job, Brennan must turn to rival crook Franner to avert an all-out gangland war.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, crime drama
Similar in 81%
Deadfall (1993)
Plot Summary:
After he accidentally kills his father, Mike, during a sting, Joe tries to carry out Mike's dying wish by recovering valuables that Mike's twin brother Lou stole from him years earlier. But Uncle Lou is also a confidence artist, and Joe is soon drawn into his increasingly dangerous schemes.
IMDB Rating: 4.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: stylized, suspenseful, serious, realistic, neo noir, independent film
Similar in 83%
Caught Up (1998)
Plot Summary:
Daryl gets out of jail after 5 years. His mother has died, his girlfriend is married, and he can't find a job. His new girlfriend Vanessa, whom he meets when a gunman opens fire on them, gets him a job as a car driver. Hitmen are still after them, and Vanessa tells Daryl that this is her former lover Ahmad who wants revenge.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: hood, rough, realistic, serious, suspenseful, neo noir, independent film, fast, cult film
Similar in 83%
Blood Simple (1984)
Plot Summary:
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 103000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min
Plot tags: neo noir, suspense, suspenseful, psychological, independent film, tense, cult classic, atmospheric, dark comedy, serious
Similar in 80%
Fargo (1996)
Plot Summary:
Jerry, a small-town Minnesota car salesman is bursting at the seams with debt... but he's got a plan. He's going to hire two thugs to kidnap his wife in a scheme to collect a hefty ransom from his wealthy father-in-law. It's going to be a snap and nobody's going to get hurt... until people start dying. Enter Police Chief Marge, a coffee-drinking, parka-wearing - and extremely pregnant - investigator who'll stop at nothing to get her man. And if you think her small-time investigative skills will give the crooks a run for their ransom... you betcha!.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 711000
Genere: Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags: neo noir, black comedy, dark comedy, atmospheric, suspense, suspenseful, clever, independent film, funny, absurd