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Catch Me If You Can poster

Movies that feel likeCatch Me If You Can (2002)

A true story about Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully conned millions of dollars worth of checks as a Pan Am pilot, doctor, and legal prosecutor. An FBI agent makes it his mission to put him behind bars. But Frank not only eludes capture, he revels in the pursuit.

If you loved Catch Me If You Can, the closest films we have are American Hustle (2013), Blow (2001) and Casino (1995). All three share Catch Me If You Can's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is A Prophet (2009).

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.1 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Steven Spielbergcontemplativegrittyplayful
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · HBO Max · Amazon Prime Video

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If Catch Me If You Can hit the spot, these will too

American Hustle poster
American Hustle
2013 · dir. David O. Russell
🍅 92%★ 7.2drama · crime

The giddy thrill of a con and the loneliness of everyone running one

The difference: Messier and more cynical — nobody here is quite as sympathetic

A conman and his seductive partner are forced to work for a wild FBI agent, who pushes them into a world of Jersey power-brokers and the Mafia.

Blow poster
Blow
2001 · dir. Ted Demme
🍅 56%★ 7.5crime · drama

A charming operator's rise, told with real affection and real sorrow

The difference: The fall is far darker — drugs and ruin, not a boyish chase

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.

Casino poster
Casino
1995 · dir. Martin Scorsese
🍅 79%★ 8.2crime · dramaPrime Video

The seduction of a beautifully run racket, and the slow leak in it

The difference: Cold and brutal — Scorsese lets you watch it rot, with real violence

In Las Vegas, two best friends--a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.

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

A true-crime life spiraling as the lies stop working

The difference: Unrelentingly grim — desperation where Frank had glamour

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.

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

A young hustler improvising an empire and narrating it at a sprint

The difference: Talkier and more legalistic — argument where Spielberg gives you motion

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.

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

Another stranger-than-fiction true story driven by sheer persistence

The difference: Earnest classroom uplift — zero con-artist mischief

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

Inside Man poster
Inside Man
2006 · dir. Spike Lee
🍅 86%★ 7.6crime · drama · thriller

A clever criminal and a smart cop enjoying the game more than the stakes

The difference: One tense standoff in one building — no sweep of years or cities

When an armed, masked gang enter a Manhattan bank, lock the doors and take hostages, the detective assigned to effect their release enters negotiations preoccupied with corruption charges he is facing.

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

A true story that lets you feel the pull of a life outside the rules

The difference: The violence is real and constant — charm curdles fast here

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.

The Usual Suspects poster
The Usual Suspects
1995 · dir. Bryan Singer
🍅 87%★ 8.5drama · crime · thrillerMax

The pleasure of watching someone spin a story better than the truth

The difference: Colder and darker, built around a puzzle rather than a relationship

Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.

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

A patient lawman and an elegant criminal circling each other for years

The difference: Heroin and bodies replace the wink — nothing playful about this chase

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.

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

Another magnetic liar whose charm is the whole disguise

The difference: The charm hides a killer — seductive menace, not playful pursuit

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.

A Prophet poster
A Prophet
2009 · dir. Jacques Audiard
🍅 96%★ 7.8crime · drama

The same mix in both: stillness, then grit

The difference: Takes it somewhere less playful than Catch Me If You Can does

Sentenced to six years in prison, Malik El Djebena is alone in the world and can neither read nor write. On his arrival at the prison, he seems younger and more brittle than the others detained there. At once he falls under the sway of a group of Corsicans who enforce their rule in the prison. As the 'missions' go by, he toughens himself and wins the confidence of the Corsican group.

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The best-reviewed films that share Catch Me If You Can’s defining feeling.