Movies like 21

A feature-film shortlist from the cached Film Atlas engine. The interactive map may include more titles or newer results. These are similarity matches, not a guarantee of age suitability.

1. 

   01

   Here Comes the Boom

   Strong story similarity

   2012 · 105 min · Action · Comedy · Drama

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   A high school biology teacher moonlights as a mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to save the school's music program.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • a closely matched era
   • shared production studio: Columbia Pictures

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2. 

   02

   The Visitor

   Strong story similarity

   2008 · 104 min · Crime · Drama · Music

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   A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple living in his apartment.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • strong genre and movie-style overlap
   • a closely matched era

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3. 

   03

   A Beautiful Mind

   Strong story similarity

   2001 · 135 min · Drama · Other

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   From the heights of notoriety to the depths of depravity, John Forbes Nash Jr. experiences it all. As a brilliant but socially awkward mathematician, he made a groundbreaking discovery early in his career and stands on the brink of international acclaim. But as the handsome and arrogant Nash accepts secret work in cryptography, he becomes entangled in a mysterious conspiracy. His life takes a nightmarish turn and he soon finds himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • shared themes: harvard university and professor
   • similar audience response

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4. 

   04

   The Gambler

   Strong story similarity

   2014 · 111 min · Crime · Drama · Thriller

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   Literature professor Jim Bennett leads a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. Always a risk-taker, Bennett bets it all when he borrows from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. Staying one step ahead, he pits his creditor against the operator of an illicit gambling ring while garnering the attention of Frank, a paternalistic loan shark. As his relationship with a student deepens, Bennett must risk everything for a second chance.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • strong genre and movie-style overlap
   • shared themes: gambling and professor

   Explore movies like The Gambler
5. 

   05

   Loser

   Strong story similarity

   2000 · 95 min · Comedy · Other

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   On a university scholarship, a good natured student from the midwest gets a crash course in city life while dealing with three evil roommates. He befriends a virtually homeless college student whom he falls for, but she's dating a nasty professor.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • shared production studio: Columbia Pictures

   Explore movies like Loser
6. 

   06

   Proof

   Strong story similarity

   2005 · 100 min · Drama · Mystery

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   Catherine is a woman in her late twenties who is strongly devoted to her father, Robert, a brilliant and well-known mathematician whose grip on reality is beginning to slip away. As Robert descends into madness, Catherine begins to wonder if she may have inherited her father's mental illness along with his mathematical genius.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • a closely matched era

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7. 

   07

   Hard Eight

   Strong story similarity

   1997 · 102 min · Crime · Drama

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   A stranger mentors a young Reno gambler who weds a hooker and befriends a vulgar casino regular.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • strong shared themes: casino and gambling
   • strong genre and movie-style overlap

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8. 

   08

   The Social Network

   Same studio

   2010 · 121 min · Drama

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   In 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg begins work on a new concept that eventually turns into the global social network known as Facebook. Six years later, Mark is one of the youngest billionaires ever, but his unprecedented success leads to both personal and legal complications when he ends up on the receiving end of two lawsuits, one involving his former friend.

   Why it connects

   • substantial genre overlap
   • a closely matched era
   • shared production studio: Columbia Pictures, Relativity Media, Trigger Street Productions, Michael De Luca Productions

   Explore movies like The Social Network
9. 

   09

   The Emperor's Club

   Shared cast

   2002 · 108 min · Drama

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   William Hundert is a passionate and principled Classics professor who finds his tightly-controlled world shaken and inexorably altered when a new student, Sedgewick Bell, walks into his classroom. What begins as a fierce battle of wills gives way to a close student-teacher relationship, but results in a life lesson for Hundert that will still haunt him a quarter of a century later.

   Why it connects

   • strong story and style similarity
   • substantial genre overlap
   • a principal cast member

   Explore movies like The Emperor's Club
10. 

    10

    X+Y

    Strong story similarity

    2015 · 111 min · Drama

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    Struggling to connect with those around him, a teenage math prodigy trains for the International Mathematical Olympiad, where a budding romance with a fellow contestant breaks through his emotional walls and teaches him that love cannot be calculated.

    Why it connects

    • strong story and style similarity
    • substantial genre overlap

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