We discuss 10 Movies like Spotlight you must watch. Add these well-recommended and highly-rated films to your watch list.
The 2015 Best Picture winner Spotlight shed light on how The Boston Globe broke news about the Catholic Church covering up a pattern of child sex abuse in the Boston area by priests, and the implications of publishing such a story.
It is an excellent motion picture, and if you’ve seen it recently and enjoyed it, here are 10 movies similar to Spotlight that might also be for you.
10 Movies like Spotlight
All the President’s Men (1976)
If we are going to discuss investigative journalism movies like Spotlight, there is no way we can miss the best one of them all.
This iconic film revisits the story of how Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the news about the Watergate scandal for The Washington Post back in 1972, one of the biggest news stories in the 20th century and a journalistic investigation so iconic it is still referenced today and was responsible for giving both of these men their careers.
The Insider (1999)
Much like many other movies in this list, The Insider, by Heat director Michael Mann, is a fictionalized version of a real-life story that ran on 60 minutes about tobacco industry whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and how that was used to change the public’s perception of smoking.
It stars Al Pacino and Russell Crowe, and it’s based on a 1996 piece on Vanity Fair.
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Erin Brockovich is another iconic film on the topic of investigations into big organizations and stars Julia Roberts as the title character, a real-life American paralegal who initiated a legal battle against a major corporation for the Hinkley groundwater contamination in the 1990s.
It was very well received and eventually won Roberts her Academy Award.
Zodiac (2007)
David Fincher’s Zodiac combines both a journalistic investigation and a serial killer hunt to the greatest effect imaginable. The story focuses on the real-life investigation of the Zodiac killer, who acted in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960s and early 1970s.
After each attack, the never-found murderer would send encrypted letters, putting everyone on their feet. The stellar cast includes, among others, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr.
The Ides of March (2011)
This political thriller may not share a lot of common ground with Spotlight, but it’s certainly a movie that fans of the Rachel McAdams-Michael Keaton movie might enjoy. It follows George Clooney as Ohio Governor looking to get a nomination during the upcoming primary.
But his idealistic press secretary (Ryan Gosling) is about to get a real-life lesson in dirty politics after a series of events that could jeopardize his candidate’s chances.
The Post (2017)
Another similar movie to Spotlight is Steven Spielberg’s The Post, which saw Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks steer the revolutionary story about how The Washington Post published the story on the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s and what that did for both the newspaper and even the American society. In a way, it serves as a prequel to All the President’s Men.
She Said (2022)
In terms of recent movies similar to Spotlight, there is no better example than She Said. Maria Schrader’s unapologetic breakdown of how two investigative journalists from The New York Times brought down Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was unfortunately not well received by the box office.
That doesn’t mean that it’s not good; actually, quite the contrary. It was once described as 2022’s Spotlight.
Molly’s Game (2017)
Aaron Sorkin writes and directs this excellent 2017 film about Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), who ran the most exclusive poker game in the American high society, which included players from top Hollywood actors to business executives and even the Russian mob. She found a reliable ally in his lawyer, played by Idris Elba.
The Report (2019)
A staff member of the Senate Intelligence Committee started an investigation after the 9/11 attacks into the CIA’s usage of torture, uncovering a deep coverage by the agency for over a decade.
Adam Driver stars in a role that isn’t brought up enough inside a movie that went completely under the radar at the time it came out. If you enjoyed Spotlight, you might find The Report to be a great watch.
Dark Waters (2019)
Another investigative film similar to Spotlight is this Mark Ruffalo-led thriller, Dark Waters, which follows the relentless legal inquiry into the connection between a series of deaths under mysterious circumstances and one of the largest chemical manufacturing corporations in the world.
His own life will be put at risk by continuing his case.
Do you have any other recommendations for movies like Spotlight? Let us know in the comments.
