Best movies like Michael Clayton

Similar in 84%

In the Valley of Elah (2007)

Plot Summary:

A career officer and his wife work with a police detective to uncover the truth behind their son's disappearance following his return from a tour of duty in Iraq.

Similar in 76%

Money Monster (2016)

Plot Summary:

Financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes over their studio.

Similar in 90%

The Whole Truth (2016)

Plot Summary:

A defense attorney works to get his teenage client acquitted of murdering his wealthy father.

Similar in 89%

Miss Sloane (2016)

Plot Summary:

An ambitious lobbyist faces off against the powerful gun lobby in an attempt to pass gun control legislation.

Similar in 85%

Jagged Edge (1985)

Plot Summary:

San Francisco heiress Page Forrester is brutally murdered in her remote beach house. Her husband Jack is devastated by the crime but soon finds himself accused of her murder. He hires lawyer Teddy Barnes to defend him, despite the fact she hasn't handled a criminal case for many years. There's a certain chemistry between them and Teddy soon finds herself defending the man she loves.

Similar in 84%

Nothing But the Truth (2008)

Plot Summary:

When reporter Rachel Armstrong writes a story that reveals the identity of a covert CIA operative, the government demands that Rachel reveal her source. She defies the special prosecutor and is thrown in jail. Meanwhile, her attorney, Albert Burnside argues her case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Similar in 81%

The Rainmaker (1997)

Plot Summary:

When Rudy Baylor, a young attorney with no clients, goes to work for a seedy ambulance chaser, he wants to help the parents of a terminally ill boy in their suit against an insurance company. But to take on corporate America, Rudy and a scrappy paralegal must open their own law firm.

Similar in 83%

Edge of Darkness (2010)

Plot Summary:

As a seasoned homicide detective, Thomas Craven has seen the bleakest side of humanity. But nothing prepares him for the toughest investigation of his life: the search for his only daughter Emma's killer. Now, he is on a personal mission to uncover the disturbing secrets surrounding her murder, including corporate corruption, government collusion and Emma's own mysterious life.

Similar in 77%

State of Play (2009)

Plot Summary:

Handsome, unflappable U.S. Congressman Stephen Collins is the future of his political party: an honorable appointee who serves as the chairman of a committee overseeing defense spending. All eyes are upon the rising star to be his party's contender for the upcoming presidential race. Until his research assistant/mistress is brutally murdered and buried secrets come tumbling out.

Similar in 84%

The Firm (1993)

Plot Summary:

Mitch McDeere is a young man with a promising future in Law. About to sit his Bar exam, he is approached by 'The Firm' and made an offer he doesn't refuse. Seduced by the money and gifts showered on him, he is totally oblivious to the more sinister side of his company. Then, two Associates are murdered. The FBI contact him, asking him for information and suddenly his life is ruined. He has a choice - work with the FBI, or stay with the Firm. Either way he will lose his life as he knows it. Mitch figures the only way out is to follow his own plan.

Similar in 79%

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)

Plot Summary:

A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.

Similar in 77%

A Civil Action (1998)

Plot Summary:

Jan Schlickmann is a cynical lawyer who goes out to "get rid of" a case, only to find out it is potentially worth millions. The case becomes his obsession, to the extent that he is willing to give up everything - including his career and his clients' goals, in order to continue the case against all odds.

Similar in 89%

The Pelican Brief (1993)

Plot Summary:

Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. One lone law student has stumbled upon the truth. An investigative journalist wants her story. Everybody else wants her dead.

Similar in 88%

The Devil's Advocate (1997)

Plot Summary:

A hotshot lawyer gets more than he bargained for when he learns his new boss is Lucifer himself.

Similar in 88%

Runaway Jury (2003)

Plot Summary:

A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Similar in 88%

The Constant Gardener (2005)

Plot Summary:

Justin Quayle is a low-level British diplomat who has always gone about his work very quietly, not causing any problems. But after his radical wife Tessa is killed he becomes determined to find out why, thrusting himself into the middle of a very dangerous conspiracy.

Similar in 90%

The Ghost Writer (2010)

Plot Summary:

A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident. In director Roman Polanski's tense drama, the author realizes that his discovery threatens some very powerful people who will do anything to ensure that certain episodes from Lang's past remain buried.

Similar in 85%

Side Effects (2013)

Plot Summary:

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

Similar in 84%

The Lives of Others (2006)

Plot Summary:

A tragic love story set in East Berlin with the backdrop of an undercover Stasi controlled culture. Stasi captain Wieler is ordered to follow author Dreyman and plunges deeper and deeper into his life until he reaches the threshold of doubting the system.

Similar in 83%

Syriana (2005)

Plot Summary:

The Middle Eastern oil industry is the backdrop of this tense drama, which weaves together numerous story lines. Bennett Holiday is an American lawyer in charge of facilitating a dubious merger of oil companies, while Bryan Woodman, a Switzerland-based energy analyst, experiences both personal tragedy and opportunity during a visit with Arabian royalty. Meanwhile, veteran CIA agent Bob Barnes uncovers an assassination plot with unsettling origins.

Similar in 88%

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Plot Summary:

Glengarry Glen Ross, follows the lives of four unethical Chicago real estate agents who are prepared to go to any lengths (legal or illegal) to unload undesirable real estate on unwilling prospective buyers.

Similar in 82%

Margin Call (2011)

Plot Summary:

A thriller that revolves around the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis.

Similar in 78%

Fracture (2007)

Plot Summary:

A husband is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, in what is seemingly an open/shut case for the ambitious district attorney trying to put him away. However, there are surprises for both around every corner, and, as a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse is played out, each must manipulate and outwit the other.

Similar in 78%

Primal Fear (1996)

Plot Summary:

An arrogant, high-powered attorney takes on the case of a poor altar boy found running away from the scene of the grisly murder of the bishop who has taken him in. The case gets a lot more complex when the accused reveals that there may or may not have been a 3rd person in the room. The intensity builds when a surprise twist alters everyone's perception of the crime.

Similar in 90%

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

Plot Summary:

Dolores Claiborne was accused of killing her abusive husband twenty years ago, but the court's findings were inconclusive and she was allowed to walk free. Now she has been accused of killing her employer, Vera Donovan, and this time there is a witness who can place her at the scene of the crime. Things look bad for Dolores when her daughter Selena, a successful Manhattan magazine writer, returns to cover the story.

Similar in 84%

Mississippi Burning (1988)

Plot Summary:

Two FBI agents investigating the murder of civil rights workers during the 60s seek to breach the conspiracy of silence in a small Southern town where segregation divides black and white. The younger agent trained in FBI school runs up against the small town ways of his, former Sheriff, partner.

Similar in 82%

Gone Baby Gone (2007)

Plot Summary:

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons - they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live. As the case progresses, Kenzie and Gennaro face drug dealers, gangs and pedophiles. When they are about to solve the case, they are faced with a moral dilemma that tears them apart.

Similar in 88%

L.A. Confidential (1997)

Plot Summary:

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

Similar in 80%

The Life of David Gale (2003)

Plot Summary:

A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.

Similar in 87%

A Few Good Men (1992)

Plot Summary:

When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.