50 Movies Like Cruella (2021) You Need to Watch Next
Updated August 2026
View Cruella details →Craig Gillespie's 2021 crime comedy-drama reimagines a familiar villain's beginnings in 1970s London amid the punk-rock upheaval. A young grifter named Estella, hungry to make her name through her fashion designs, falls in with a pair of young thieves who share her taste for mischief, building a life together on the city's streets. When her talent catches the eye of the fearsome fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, a chain of revelations pushes Estella to embrace her wilder, wicked side. Stylish and irreverent, it leans on period costume, attitude and an origin-story arc. It's aimed at viewers who enjoy glamorous, mischievous character pieces and a heroine leaning gleefully into villainy.
If you loved Cruella (2021) by Craig Gillespie, here are 50 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are Roofman, Sneakers, BlacKkKlansman. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
The Best Movies Similar to Cruella
Selected for their real similarity in content, these are the movies that share the most with Cruella in terms of theme, narrative tone, and cinematic style. Every recommendation goes beyond genre — we evaluate the type of conflict, pacing, dramatic context, and the experience they create for viewers.
Roofman
2025 · Derek Cianfrance
A former Army Ranger and struggling father turns to robbing McDonald’s restaurants by cutting holes in their roofs, earning him the nickname "Roofman." After escaping prison, he secretly lives inside
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
Sneakers
1992 · Phil Alden Robinson
When shadowy U.S. intelligence agents blackmail a reformed computer hacker and his eccentric team of security experts into stealing a code-breaking 'black box' from a Soviet-funded genius, they uncove
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
BlacKkKlansman
2018 · Spike Lee
Colorado Springs, late 1970s. Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer, and Flip Zimmerman, his Jewish colleague, run an undercover operation to infiltrate the Ku Klux Klan.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
War Dogs
2016 · Todd Phillips
Based on the true story of two young men, David Packouz and Efraim Diveroli, who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America's allies in Afghanistan.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
American Made
2017 · Doug Liman
The true story of pilot Barry Seal, who transported contraband for the CIA and the Medellin cartel in the 1980s.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
Hustlers
2019 · Lorene Scafaria
A crew of savvy former strip club employees band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013 · Martin Scorsese
A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort's autobiography.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
Striptease
1996 · Andrew Bergman
Bounced from her job, Erin Grant needs money if she's to have any chance of winning back custody of her child. But, eventually, she must confront the naked truth: to take on the system, she'll have to
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
The Longest Yard
2005 · Peter Segal
Disgraced pro football quarterback Paul Crewe lands in a Texas federal penitentiary, where manipulative Warden Hazen recruits him to advise the institution's football team of prison guards. Crewe sugg
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
The Sting
1973 · George Roy Hill
A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
I Care a Lot
2021 · J Blakeson
A court-appointed legal guardian defrauds her older clients and traps them under her care. But her latest mark comes with some unexpected baggage.
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
In Bruges
2008 · Martin McDonagh
Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ke
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
Monster
2003 · Patty Jenkins
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. S
In common: Crime · Drama
Little Man
2006 · Keenen Ivory Wayans
After leaving prison, dwarf criminal Calvin Sims joins his moron brother Percy in stealing an expensive huge diamond from a jewelry store for the mobster Walken. They are chased by the police, and Cal
In common: Comedy · Crime
Police Academy
1984 · Hugh Wilson
New rules enforced by the Lady Mayoress mean that sex, weight, height and intelligence need no longer be a factor for joining the Police Force. This opens the floodgates for all and sundry to enter th
In common: Comedy · Crime
Horrible Bosses
2011 · Seth Gordon
For Nick, Kurt and Dale, the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-to
In common: Comedy · Crime
Life
1999 · Ted Demme
Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.
In common: Comedy · Crime
The Instigators
2024 · Doug Liman
Rory and Cobby are unlikely partners thrown together for a heist. But when it goes awry, they team up with an unusual accomplice — Rory's therapist — to outrun police, backward bureaucrats, and a veng
In common: Comedy · Crime
Pink Flamingos
1976 · John Waters
Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against Connie & Raymond Marble, a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given t
In common: Comedy · Crime
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
1998 · Guy Ritchie
A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be oper
In common: Comedy · Crime
Going in Style
2017 · Zach Braff
Desperate to pay the bills and come through for their loved ones, three lifelong pals risk it all by embarking on a daring bid to knock off the very bank that absconded with their money.
In common: Comedy · Crime
White Chicks
2004 · Keenen Ivory Wayans
Two FBI agent brothers, Marcus and Kevin Copeland, accidentally foil a drug bust. To avoid being fired they accept a mission escorting a pair of socialites to the Hamptons--but when the girls are disf
In common: Comedy · Crime
Heathers
1989 · Michael Lehmann
A girl who halfheartedly tries to be part of the "in crowd" of her school meets a rebel who teaches her a more devious way to play social politics: by killing the popular kids.
In common: Comedy · Crime
The Hustle
2019 · Chris Addison
Two female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, compete to swindle a naïve tech prodigy out of his fortune. A remake of the 1988 comedy "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."
In common: Comedy · Crime
Wolfs
2024 · Jon Watts
Hired to cover up a high-profile crime, a fixer soon finds his night spiralling out of control when he's forced to work with an unexpected counterpart.
In common: Comedy · Crime
Mean Girls
2004 · Mark Waters
Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Friday
1995 · F. Gary Gray
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Big Short
2015 · Adam McKay
The men who made millions from a global economic meltdown.
In common: Comedy · Drama
Lolita
1962 · Stanley Kubrick
Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon
In common: Comedy · Drama
Fried Green Tomatoes
1991 · Jon Avnet
Amidst her own personality crisis, a southern housewife meets an outgoing old woman who tells her the story of Idgie Threadgoode and Ruth Jamison, two young women who experienced hardships and love in
In common: Comedy · Drama
Blow
2001 · Ted Demme
A boy named George Jung grows up in a struggling family in the 1950's. His mother nags at her husband as he is trying to make a living for the family. It is finally revealed that George's father canno
In common: Crime · Drama
American Hustle
2013 · David O. Russell
A conman and his seductive partner are forced to work for a wild FBI agent, who pushes them into a world of Jersey power-brokers and the Mafia.
In common: Crime · Drama
Patch Adams
1998 · Tom Shadyac
The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh—even if it meant risking his own care
In common: Comedy · Drama
Dedicated to my ex
2019 · Jorge Ulloa
The film tells the story of Ariel, a 21-year-old who decides to form a rock band to compete for a prize of ten thousand dollars in a musical band contest, this as a last option when trying to get mone
In common: Comedy · Drama
Parenthood
1989 · Ron Howard
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, t
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
1994 · Stephan Elliott
Two drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
In common: Comedy · Drama
The King of Comedy
1982 · Martin Scorsese
Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy.
In common: Comedy · Drama
A Real Pain
2024 · Jesse Eisenberg
Mismatched cousins David and Benji reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Devil Wears Prada
2006 · David Frankel
A young woman from the Midwest gets more than she bargained for when she moves to New York to become a writer and ends up as the assistant to the tyrannical, larger-than-life editor-in-chief of a majo
In common: Comedy · Drama
The Devil Wears Prada 2
2026 · David Frankel
Andy Sachs returns to Runway as Miranda Priestly navigates a new media landscape and Runway's position within. The duo reconnect with former assistant Emily Charlton, now the head of a luxury brand th
In common: Comedy · Drama
Lord of War
2005 · Andrew Niccol
Yuri Orlov is a globetrotting arms dealer and, through some of the deadliest war zones, he struggles to stay one step ahead of a relentless Interpol agent, his business rivals and even some of his cus
In common: Crime · Drama
Logan Lucky
2017 · Steven Soderbergh
Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
In common: Comedy · Crime
The Player
1992 · Robert Altman
A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?
In common: Comedy · Crime · Drama
Trading Places
1983 · John Landis
A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
In common: Comedy
El Infierno
2010 · Luis Estrada
After being deported back to Mexico, a man has no choice but to join the vicious drug cartel that has corrupted his hometown in order to survive.
In common: Comedy · Crime
The Departed
2006 · Martin Scorsese
To take down South Boston's Irish Mafia, the police send in one of their own to infiltrate the underworld, not realizing the syndicate has done likewise. While an undercover cop curries favor with the
In common: Drama · Crime
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
1988 · David Zucker
When the bumbling Lieutenant Frank Drebin investigates events following the shooting of his partner, he stumbles upon an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
In common: Comedy · Crime
Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult
1994 · Peter Segal
Frank Drebin is persuaded out of retirement to go undercover in a state prison. There he has to find out what top terrorist, Rocco, has planned for when he escapes. Adding to his problems, Frank's wif
In common: Comedy · Crime
The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear
1991 · David Zucker
Bumbling lieutenant Frank Drebin is out to foil the big boys in the energy industry, who intend to suppress technology that will put them out of business.
In common: Comedy · Crime
The Godfather Part II
1974 · Francis Ford Coppola
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 Vega
In common: Drama · Crime
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Follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on adventures across the universe.
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Luz, a self-assured teenage human girl, accidentally stumbles upon a portal to a magical new world where she befriends a rebellious witch, Eda, and an adorably tiny warrior, King.
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Makunouchi Ippo is an ordinary high school student in Japan. Since he spends most of his time away from school helping his mother run the family business, he doesn't get to enjoy his younger years lik
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