Movies Like Motherless Brooklyn

If you liked Motherless Brooklyn (2019), a drama and thriller movie directed by Edward Norton, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
L.A. Confidential (1997)
★ 7.8/10Also thriller
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.
2
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
★ 6.5/10Also thriller and drama
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the…
3
The Naked City (1948)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and thriller
After a former model is drowned in her bathtub, Detective James Halloran and Lieutenant Dan Muldoon attempt to piece together her murder.
4
Blue Velvet (1986)
★ 7.6/10Also thriller
The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of psychopathic criminals who have kidnapped her child.
5
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
★ 8.4/10Also drama
A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
6
Gotti (1996)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
John Gotti, the head of a small New York mafia crew breaks a few of the old family rules. He rises to become the head of the Gambino family and the most well-known mafia boss in America. Life is good, but suspicion…
7
Shutter Island (2010)
★ 8.2/10Also drama and thriller
World War II soldier-turned-U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels investigates the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane, but his efforts are compromised by troubling visions and a mysterious doctor.
8
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
★ 6.3/10Also drama and thriller
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
9
The Godfather Part II (1974)
★ 8.6/10Also drama
In the continuing saga of the Corleone crime family, a young Vito Corleone grows up in Sicily and in 1910s New York. In the 1950s, Michael Corleone attempts to expand the family business into Las Vegas, Hollywood and…
10
Cop Land (1997)
★ 6.8/10Also drama and thriller
Freddy Heflin is the sheriff of a place everyone calls “Cop Land” — a small and seemingly peaceful town populated by the big city police officers he’s long admired. Yet something ugly is taking place behind the town’s…
11
Bad Influence (1990)
★ 6/10Also thriller
Wimpy young executive Michael is about to get pulverized by a jealous boyfriend in a bar when a handsome, mysterious stranger steps in—and then disappears. Later that night, Michael runs into a stranger on a pier, who…
12
The Truth About Emanuel (2013)
★ 6/10Also drama and thriller
A troubled young woman becomes obsessed with her mysterious new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to the girl's dead mother.
13
Carlito's Way (1993)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and thriller
Free after years in prison, Carlito Brigante intends to give up his criminal ways, but it's not long before the ex-con is sucked back into the New York City underworld.
14
Cruising (1980)
★ 6.6/10Also thriller
When New York is caught in the grip of a sadistic serial killer who preys on patrons of the city's underground bars, rookie cop Steve Burns infiltrates the gay S&M subculture to try and lure him out of the shadows.
15
Too Late (2016)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Private investigator Mel Sampson is tasked with tracking down the whereabouts of a missing woman from his own past.
16
Tyler Perry's Duplicity (2025)
★ 6.6/10Also thriller and drama
High-powered attorney Marley faces her most personal case yet when she is tasked with uncovering the truth behind the murder of her best friend Fela’s husband. With the help of her boyfriend – a former cop turned…
17
Panic (2000)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Alex is going through a midlife crisis and it has become a very difficult time for him. His marriage is struggling, he's worried about his son, and his job of killing people for his family has become the most stressful…
18
The Alto Knights (2025)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Two of New York's most notorious organized crime bosses, Frank Costello and Vito Genovese, vie for control of the city's streets. Once the best of friends, petty jealousies and a series of betrayals place them on a…
19
Q & A (1990)
★ 5.9/10Also thriller
A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him.
20
The Hate U Give (2018)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds…