Movies Like Scales

If you liked Scales (2020), a drama and thriller movie directed by Nathan Hannawin, 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
The Infiltrator (2016)
★ 6.7/10Also drama and thriller
A U.S Customs official uncovers a massive money laundering scheme involving Pablo Escobar.
2
Heatwave (2022)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller and drama
A woman's life takes an unexpected turn when she falls for her boss's wife. She must soon defend herself as she becomes entangled in a web of malice.
3
Blow (2001)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
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.
4
Rise of the Footsoldier (2007)
★ 6.3/10Also thriller
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
5
Crisis (2021)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller and drama
Three stories about the world of opioids collide: a drug trafficker arranges a multi-cartel Fentanyl smuggling operation between Canada and the U.S., an architect recovering from an OxyContin addiction tracks down the…
6
The Hummingbird Project (2019)
★ 6.2/10Also thriller and drama
A pair of high-frequency traders go up against their old boss in an effort to make millions in a fiber-optic cable deal.
7
Raging Bull (1980)
★ 7.9/10Also drama
The life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it.
8
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Recently divorced career woman Alex Greville begins a romantic relationship with glamorous mod artist Bob Elkin, fully aware that he's also intimately involved with middle-aged doctor Daniel Hirsh. For both Alex and…
9
Clockers (1995)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
Strike is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little. When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the…
10
Jawbone (2017)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner…
11
The Baker (2023)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A quiet, stoic man, lives a monk-like existence in self-imposed exile. When his estranged son is killed in a drug deal gone bad, he is left to look after a granddaughter he never knew existed, and he is forced back…
12
American Gangster (2007)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
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…
13
The Smashing Machine (2025)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
In the late 1990s, up-and-coming mixed martial artist Mark Kerr aspires to become the greatest fighter in the world. However, he must also battle his opioid dependence and a volatile relationship with his girlfriend…
14
Blood Simple (1985)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and thriller
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them…
15
Snitch (2013)
★ 6.1/10Also drama and thriller
Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence…
16
A Perfect Murder (1998)
★ 6.6/10Also thriller and drama
Millionaire industrialist Steven Taylor is a man who has everything but what he craves most: the love and fidelity of his wife. A hugely successful player in the New York financial world, he considers her to be his…
17
Bound (1996)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and thriller
Corky, a tough female ex-convict working on an apartment renovation in a Chicago building, meets a couple living next door, Caesar, a paranoid mobster, and Violet, his seductive girlfriend, who is immediately attracted…
18
Rapid Fire (1992)
★ 6.4/10Also thriller and drama
College student Jake Lo is pursued by smugglers, mobsters and crooked federal agents after he witnesses a murder by a Mafia kingpin.
19
Layer Cake (2004)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and thriller
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
20
Only God Forgives (2013)
★ 5.8/10Also drama and thriller
Julian, who runs a Thai boxing club as a front organization for his family's drug smuggling operation, is forced by his mother Crystal to find and kill the individual responsible for his brother's recent death.