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Knives Out poster

Movies that feel likeKnives Out (2019)

When renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate. From Harlan's dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts through a web of red herrings and self-serving lies to uncover the truth behind Harlan's untimely death.

If you loved Knives Out, the closest films we have are Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Zero Effect (1998) and Brick (2006). All three share Knives Out's gritty and twisty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Estômago: A Gastronomic Story (2008).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Rian Johnsonwittyplayfulgrittytwistyatmospheric
5 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Knives Out hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) · Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025)

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang poster
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005 · dir. Shane Black
🍅 86%★ 7.4comedy · crime · mystery

A murder plot narrated with a smirk and solved with style

The difference: Raunchy and self-aware — it mocks the mystery it's telling

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...

Zero Effect poster
Zero Effect
1998 · dir. Jake Kasdan
🍅 66%★ 6.9mystery · crime · comedy

A brilliant, eccentric detective and a blackmail case full of turns

The difference: Shaggy 90s obscurity — low stakes and a lot less polish

Daryl Zero is a private investigator and—along with his assistant, Steve Arlo—he solves impossible crimes and puzzles. Although Daryl's a master investigator, he doesn't know what to do with himself when he's not working; he has no social skills, writes bad music and drives Steve crazy.

Brick poster
Brick
2006 · dir. Rian Johnson
🍅 79%★ 7.1drama · mystery · crime

Rian Johnson's first puzzle — hard-boiled sleuthing, rewired setting

The difference: Deadly serious teen noir — no laughs and no cozy mansion

A teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.

The Nice Guys poster
The Nice Guys
2016 · dir. Shane Black
🍅 91%★ 7.4comedy · crime · action

A funny, shabby investigation where the case is genuinely tangled

The difference: Grubby 1970s LA, with violence and sleaze under the jokes

A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.

The Keeper of Lost Causes poster
The Keeper of Lost Causes
2013 · dir. Mikkel Nørgaard
🍅 70%★ 7.2thriller · mystery · crime

Mismatched sleuths reopening a case everyone else closed

The difference: Grim Scandi procedural — cruelty and cold where yours is fun

Denmark, 2013. Police officers Carl Mørck and Hafez el-Assad, sole members of Department Q, which is focused on closing cold cases, investigate the disappearance of politician Merete Lynggaard, vanished when she and her brother were traveling aboard a ferry five years ago.

Andhadhun poster
Andhadhun
2018 · dir. Sriram Raghavan
🍅 100%★ 8.2crime · mystery · thrillerRent or buy

A darkly funny crime spiral where every twist tops the last

The difference: Bollywood rhythm and songs — wilder swings, less structure

A series of mysterious events changes the life of a blind pianist who now must report a crime that was actually never witnessed by him.

Murder Mystery poster
Murder Mystery
2019 · dir. Kyle Newacheck
🍅 43%★ 6.1comedy · mystery · crimeNetflix

A locked-circle whodunit staged as light comedy among the wealthy

The difference: Sitcom-simple, with no craft in the plotting and no bite

On a long-awaited trip to Europe, a New York City cop and his hairdresser wife scramble to solve a baffling murder aboard a billionaire's yacht.

Estômago: A Gastronomic Story poster
Estômago: A Gastronomic Story
2008 · dir. Marcos Jorge
★ 7.8drama · comedy · mystery

Witty where it counts, playful underneath

The difference: Trades the atmosphere of Knives Out for an angle of its own

In a dog-eat-dog world, Raimundo Nonato has found an alternative way to move ahead: he cooks. No matter what social strata this deceptively innocent young man inhabits, he hones his skills and sharpens his knives—and then he falls in love. Jorge's nimble comic fable provides a smartly constructed gastronomic allegory for ambition and survival.

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective poster
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
1994 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 48%★ 6.9comedy · crime · mystery

A detective whose absurd presence throws every scene off balance

The difference: Pure broad farce — the mystery barely matters at all

He's Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. The Ace is on the case to find the Miami Dolphins' missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino. He goes eyeball to eyeball with a man-eating shark, stakes out the Miami Dolphins and woos and wows the ladies. Whether he's undercover, under fire or underwater, he always gets his man… or beast!

Insomnia poster
Insomnia
1997 · dir. Erik Skjoldbjærg
🍅 95%★ 7.2thriller · crime · mysteryPrime Video

An investigator sinking into a case that implicates him too

The difference: Bleak Nordic guilt trip — no wit, no warmth, endless daylight

Detectives Jonas and Erik are called to the midnight sun country of northern Norway to investigate a recent homicide, but their plan to arrest the killer goes awry, and Jonas mistakenly shoots Erik. The suspect escapes, and a frightened Jonas pins Erik's death on the fugitive. Jonas continues to pursue the killer as he seeks to protect himself; however, his mounting guilt and the omnipresent sun plague him with an insomnia that affects his sanity.

The Big Sleep poster
The Big Sleep
1946 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 96%★ 7.9mystery · crime · thriller

Wealthy family rot unpicked by a detective nobody can rattle

The difference: Classic 1946 noir — famously tangled, and it never winks at you

Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.

The Killers poster
The Killers
1946 · dir. Robert Siodmak
🍅 97%★ 7.7crime · mystery · thriller

Gritty and twisty in the same breath

The difference: Takes it somewhere less witty than Knives Out does

Two hit men walk into a diner asking for a man called "the Swede". When the killers find the Swede, he's expecting them and doesn't put up a fight. Since the Swede had a life insurance policy, an investigator, on a hunch, decides to look into the murder. As the Swede's past is laid bare, it comes to light that he was in love with a beautiful woman who may have lured him into pulling off a bank robbery overseen by another man.

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