feelsalike.comSign in
Blow poster

Movies that feel likeBlow (2001)

The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.

If you loved Blow, the closest films we have are American Gangster (2007), Monster (2003) and Black Souls (2014). All three share Blow's gritty and contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is My Name Ain't Johnny (2008).

🍅 56% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ted Demmegrittycontemplative
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Apple TV · Paramount Plus Premium

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the Mood Map

If Blow hit the spot, these will too

American Gangster poster
American Gangster
2007 · dir. Ridley Scott
🍅 81%★ 7.8drama · crimeApple TV+Starz

The same two preoccupations: drug smuggling, and drug trafficking

The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Loosely based on the criminal career of Frank Lucas, a gangster from La Grange, North Carolina, who smuggled heroin into the United States on American service planes returning from the Vietnam War, before being detained by a task force led by Newark Detective Richie Roberts.

Monster poster
Monster
2003 · dir. Patty Jenkins
🍅 81%★ 7.3crime · drama

Both keep coming back to the same thing: a true story

In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.

Black Souls poster
Black Souls
2014 · dir. Francesco Munzi
🍅 89%★ 6.8crime · drama

Both are built on the same subject: drug smuggling

A former narcotics smuggler, now living peaceably in the Calabrian hills, is drawn back into his family’s drug-trade dynasty by his impetuous teenage son.

Freedom Writers poster
Freedom Writers
2007 · dir. Richard LaGravenese
🍅 69%★ 7.6crime · drama

Common ground: biography

A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.

Midnight Express poster
Midnight Express
1978 · dir. Alan Parker
🍅 90%★ 7.5drama · crime

The same preoccupation in both: a true story

The difference: 23 years apart, and the 1970s show

Billy Hayes is caught attempting to smuggle drugs out of a country. The courts decide to make an example of him, sentencing him to more than 30 years in prison. Hayes has two opportunities for release: the appeals made by his lawyer, his family, and the American government, or the "Midnight Express".

Molly's Game poster
Molly's Game
2017 · dir. Aaron Sorkin
🍅 82%★ 7.4drama · crimeParamount+

One thread runs through both: biography

Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile poster
🍅 54%★ 6.7drama · crimeNetflix

The same mix in both: grit, then stillness

A chronicle of the crimes of Ted Bundy, from the perspective of his longtime girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, who refused to believe the truth about him for years.

Green Fish poster
Green Fish
1997 · dir. Lee Chang-dong
★ 7drama · crime

Crime built on grit, twice over

Returning home and finding his town drastically changed, a former soldier falls in with gangsters.

GoodFellas poster
GoodFellas
1990 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 93%★ 8.7drama · crime

Common ground: drug trafficking

The true story of Henry Hill, a half-Irish, half-Sicilian Brooklyn kid who is adopted by neighbourhood gangsters at an early age and climbs the ranks of a Mafia family under the guidance of Jimmy Conway.

My Name Ain't Johnny poster
My Name Ain't Johnny
2008 · dir. Mauro Lima
★ 7.2crime · drama

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The true story of João Guilherme Estrella ("Johnny"), a young middle-class bon vivant who became a big-time cocaine dealer in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1990s.

Loving Pablo poster
Loving Pablo
2017 · dir. Fernando León de Aranoa
🍅 33%★ 6.4crime · drama

Crime with a pulse of grit, in both cases

The film chronicles the rise and fall of the world's most feared drug lord Pablo Escobar and his volatile love affair with Colombia's most famous journalist Virginia Vallejo throughout a reign of terror that tore a country apart.

Frozen River poster
Frozen River
2008 · dir. Courtney Hunt
🍅 88%★ 7.1drama · crime

Both lean on stillness more than on drama

A financially strapped mother joins a Mohawk woman to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States.

In the mood for more gritty?

all gritty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Blow’s defining feeling.