Best movies like The Cheap Detective

Similar in 79%

Fatal Instinct (1993)

Plot Summary:

A spoof of the late 80s and early 90s suspense thrillers and murder mysteries, including Basic Instinct, Sleeping With The Enemy, Cape Fear and others. A cop/attorney (yes he's both) is seduced by a woman while his wife is having an affair with a mechanic. Lots of other sublots and visual gags in the style of Naked Gun.

Similar in 88%

Seems Like Old Times (1980)

Plot Summary:

Writer Nick Gardenia is kidnapped from his California cliffhouse and forced to rob a bank. Now a fugitive, he seeks help from his ex, Glenda. She is a public defender remarried to a prosecutor, and we get a houseful of hijinks.

Similar in 79%

Radioland Murders (1994)

Plot Summary:

In 1939, WBN, a fourth radio network, is about to take to America's airwaves. As if the confusion of the premiere night wasn't enough, Penny Henderson, the owner's secretary, must deal with an unhappy sponsor, an overbearing boss and a soon-to-be ex-husband who desperately wants her back. As the broadcast begins, a mysterious voice breaks the broadcast and suddenly members of the cast turn up dead. It's up to her husband Roger, to find out whodunit as the police chase him through the halls of WBN.

Similar in 80%

The Alphabet Murders (1965)

Plot Summary:

The Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates a series of murders in London in which the victims are killed according to their initials.

Similar in 87%

Goodbye Lover (1998)

Plot Summary:

Police investigate when a man having an affair with his brother's wife disappears suddenly.

Similar in 83%

Hexed (1993)

Plot Summary:

Lowly hotel clerk Matthew Welch stumbles unto a chance to go on a date with supermodel Hexina by pretending he is someone else. But something goes wrong on the date, she tries to kill him! Soon she kills a couple more people, and unfortunately all the evidence points to Matthew. Gloria, who has been wishing Matthew would ask her on a date, thinks he is innocent and is willing to help, but hardnosed Detective Ferguson is hot on the clues, and closing in on Matthew.

Similar in 86%

Zero Effect (1998)

Plot Summary:

Daryl Zero is a private investigator. Along with his assistant, Steve Arlo he solves impossible crimes and puzzles. Though a master investigator, when he is not working, Zero doesn't know what to do with himself. He has no social skills, writes bad music, and drives Arlo crazy. In his latest case, Zero must find out who is blackmailing a rich executive, and when his client won't tell him, why.

Similar in 81%

The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)

Plot Summary:

Bumbling cop Frank Drebin is out to foil the big boys in the energy industry, who intend to suppress technology that will put them out of business.

Similar in 78%

Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)

Plot Summary:

Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he is to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for when he escapes. Frank's wife, Jane, is desperate for a baby.. this adds to Frank's problems. A host of celebrities at the Academy awards ceremony are humiliated by Frank as he blunders his way trying to foil Rocco.

Similar in 78%

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001)

Plot Summary:

CW Briggs is a veteran insurance investigator, with many successes. Betty Ann Fitzgerald is a new employee in the company he works for, with the task of reorganizing the office. They don't like each other - or at least that's what they think. During a night out with the rest of the office employees, they go to watch Voltan, a magician who secretly hypnotizes both of them.

Similar in 77%

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

Plot Summary:

When the incompetent Officer Frank Drebin seeks the ruthless killer of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.

Similar in 82%

Clue (1985)

Plot Summary:

Clue finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy -- who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy's chatty butler must suss out the culprit before the body count rises.

Similar in 81%

Murder by Death (1976)

Plot Summary:

Lionel Twain invites the world's five greatest detectives to a 'dinner and murder'. Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false identities and more plot turns and twists than are decently allowed.

Similar in 76%

Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Plot Summary:

Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by paroled convict Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma, former seedy nightclub dancer.

Similar in 76%

The Long Goodbye (1973)

Plot Summary:

Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.

Similar in 84%

Charade (1963)

Plot Summary:

After Regina Lampert falls for the dashing Peter Joshua on a skiing holiday in the French Alps, she discovers upon her return to Paris that her husband has been murdered. Soon, she and Peter are giving chase to three of her late husband's World War II cronies, Tex, Scobie and Gideon, who are after a quarter of a million dollars the quartet stole while behind enemy lines. But why does Peter keep changing his name?.

Similar in 90%

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Plot Summary:

A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role.