Dynamic Watchlist Hub: Jan 21, 2026

10 Best Movies Like Watching the Detective

If you loved Watching the Detective, we've curated the perfect watchlist for you based on shared genres, themes, and directorial style.

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Expert Review & Ratings

See our full critical analysis and audience score for Watching the Detective.

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#1
Chungking Express

Chungking Express

1994★ 8.0

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Watching the Detective for fans of Drama. It captures a similar light-hearted atmosphere.

Two melancholic Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant....

#2
Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

2023★ 8.0

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Watching the Detective for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II....

#3
Joker

Joker

2019★ 8.1

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Watching the Detective for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure....

#4
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

2019★ 7.4

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Watching the Detective for fans of Drama. It captures a similar light-hearted atmosphere.

Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie indust...

#5
Back to the Future

Back to the Future

1985★ 8.3

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Watching the Detective for fans of Adventure. It captures a similar light-hearted atmosphere.

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty mu...

#6
The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption

1994★ 8.7

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to Watching the Detective for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

Imprisoned in the 1940s for the double murder of his wife and her lover, upstanding banker Andy Dufresne begins a new life at the Shawshank prison, where he puts his accounting ski...