Movies Like 21 Grams (2003)

21 Grams is a 2003 crime, drama, thriller film from Alejandro González Iñárritu with a MovieMagicScore of 7.3/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Magnolia and Things We Lost in the Fire.

Crime Drama Thriller

Magnolia

1999

On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will each become part of a dazzling multiplicity of plots, but one story.

7.7

MagicScore

Things We Lost in the Fire

2007

A recent widow invites her husband's troubled best friend to live with her and her two children. As he gradually turns his life around, he helps the family cope and confront their loss.

6.6

MagicScore

Secret Sunshine

2007

Shin-ae moves to her recently late husband’s hometown. Despite her efforts to settle in this unfamiliar and too-normal place, she finds that she can’t fit in. After a sudden tragedy, Shin-ae turns to Christianity to relieve her pain, but when even this is not permitted, she wages a war against God.

7.2

MagicScore

La Strada

1954

When Gelsomina, a naïve young woman, is purchased from her impoverished mother by brutish circus strongman Zampanò to be his wife and partner, she loyally endures her husband's coldness and abuse as they travel the Italian countryside performing together. Soon Zampanò must deal with his jealousy and conflicted feelings about Gelsomina when she finds a kindred spirit in Il Matto, the carefree circus fool, and contemplates leaving Zampanò.

7.9

MagicScore

The Poseidon Adventure

1972

When their ocean liner capsizes, a group of passengers struggle to survive and escape.

7.1

MagicScore

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

1962

Dr. Bill Cortner and his fiancée, Jan Compton, are driving to his lab when they get into a horrible car accident. Compton is decapitated. But Cortner is not fazed by this seemingly insurmountable hurdle. His expertise is in transplants, and he is excited to perform the first head transplant. Keeping Compton's head alive in his lab, Cortner plans the groundbreaking yet unorthodox surgery. First, however, he needs a body.

4.7

MagicScore

One Night Only

2016

A gambler, fresh out of prison, and a beautiful hooker find themselves caught in an underground scheme that's spinning wildly out of control.

6.1

MagicScore

City of Angels

1998

When a guardian angel – who invisibly watches over the citizens of Los Angeles – becomes captivated by a strong-willed heart surgeon, he ponders trading in his pure, otherworldly existence for a mortal life with his beloved. The couple embarks on a tender but forbidden romance spanning heaven and Earth.

6.8

MagicScore

A Mighty Heart

2007

Based on Mariane Pearl's account of the terrifying and unforgettable story of her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl's life and death.

6.4

MagicScore

#10

The Hitcher

2007

While driving through the New Mexico Desert during a rainy night, college students Jim Halsey and his girlfriend Grace Andrews give a ride to a hitchhiker. While in their car, the stranger proves to be a psychopath threatening the young couple with a knife, but Jim successfully throws him out of the car. This sets off a chain of events that will change all of their lives forever.

5.9

MagicScore

#11

Harold and Maude

1971

The young Harold lives in his own world of suicide-attempts and funeral visits to avoid the misery of his current family and home environment. Harold meets an 80-year-old woman named Maude who also lives in her own world yet one in which she is having the time of her life. When the two opposites meet they realize that their differences don’t matter and they become best friends and love each other.

7.6

MagicScore

#12

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

1992

A suburban family chooses seemingly sweet Peyton Flanders as their newborn's nanny. Only much later does the infant's mother, Claire Bartel, realize Peyton's true intentions -- to destroy Claire and replace her in the family. The nail-biting suspense builds quickly in this chilling psychological thriller about deception and bitter revenge.

6.9

MagicScore

#13

Ghost Town

2008

Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!

6.5

MagicScore

#14

Snow Cake

2006

A drama focused on the friendship between a high-functioning autistic woman and a man who is traumatized after a fatal car accident.

7.1

MagicScore

#15

Dolls

2002

Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.

7.6

MagicScore

#16

Tell No One

2006

A man receives a mysterious email appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.

7.2

MagicScore

#17

Reservation Road

2007

Two fathers' lives intersect when one of them is involved in a terrible and sudden hit-and-run car accident that leaves the other's son dead. In response, the two men react in unexpected ways as a reckoning looms in the near future.

6.5

MagicScore

#18

Hostiles

2017

A legendary Native American-hating Army captain nearing retirement in 1892 is given one last assignment: to escort a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory back to his Montana reservation.

6.9

MagicScore

#19

Wrong Turn

2003

Chris crashes into a carload of other young people, and the group of stranded motorists is soon lost in the woods of West Virginia, where they're hunted by three cannibalistic mountain men who are grossly disfigured by generations of inbreeding.

6.4

MagicScore

#20

Shot Pattern

1982

A Paris flea market vendor is transformed into a vigilante after his fiancée is murdered by three vicious thugs on a commuter train. As the revenge-minded young man tracks the killers, a veteran police inspector leads a parallel investigation.

6.2

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like 21 Grams?

The top films similar to 21 Grams by MovieMagicScore are Magnolia (7.7), Things We Lost in the Fire (6.6), Secret Sunshine (7.2). Each shares crime/drama/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is 21 Grams worth watching?

21 Grams holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.3/10 from 3,260 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is 21 Grams?

21 Grams (2003) is a crime, drama, thriller film directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro.

Where can I find more recommendations like 21 Grams?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more crime recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Magnolia Movies like Things We Lost in the Fire Movies like Secret Sunshine Movies like La Strada Movies like The Poseidon Adventure Movies like The Brain That Wouldn't Die

About movies like 21 Grams

This ranked list pairs 21 Grams (2003), a crime and drama and thriller film from Alejandro González Iñárritu, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Sean Penn take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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