Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "private-detective"
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1. Sherlock (2010–2017)
TV-14 | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The quirky spin on Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth pitches him as a "high-functioning sociopath" in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who's introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance.
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves
Votes: 1,002,960
2. So Help Me Todd (2022–2024)
TV-14 | 43 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A talented P.I. agrees to work as the in-house investigator for his mother, who is reeling from the recent dissolution of her marriage.
Stars: Marcia Gay Harden, Skylar Astin, Madeline Wise, Tristen J. Winger
Votes: 7,326
3. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
R | 206 min | Crime, Drama, History
When oil is discovered in 1920s Oklahoma under Osage Nation land, the Osage people are murdered one by one - until the FBI steps in to unravel the mystery.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons
Votes: 244,139
4. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
R | 139 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In late 1950s New York, a young underachiever named Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.
Director: Anthony Minghella | Stars: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 245,611 | Gross: $81.30M
5. American Psycho (2000)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
A wealthy New York City investment banking executive, Patrick Bateman, hides his alternate psychopathic ego from his co-workers and friends as he delves deeper into his violent, hedonistic fantasies.
Director: Mary Harron | Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux, Josh Lucas, Bill Sage
Votes: 718,963 | Gross: $15.07M
6. The Big Lebowski (1998)
R | 117 min | Comedy, Crime
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi
Votes: 862,324 | Gross: $17.50M
7. Guilt (2019–2023)
660 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Two brothers accidentally run over and kill an old man. They cover their tracks, but their lives start to fall apart when neighbors and relatives of the dead doubt the way he died.
Stars: Mark Bonnar, Emun Elliott, Henry Pettigrew, Jamie Sives
Votes: 5,479
8. Knives Out (2019)
PG-13 | 130 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A detective investigates the death of the patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis
Votes: 776,479 | Gross: $165.36M
9. Big Sky (2020–2023)
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A private detective and ex-cop solve crimes in Montana.
Stars: Katheryn Winnick, Kylie Bunbury, Dedee Pfeiffer, J. Anthony Pena
Votes: 25,692
10. Mr. Holmes (2015)
PG | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Family
An aged, retired Sherlock Holmes deals with dementia, as he tries to remember his final case, and a mysterious woman, whose memory haunts him. He also befriends a fan, the young son of his housekeeper, who wants him to work again.
Director: Bill Condon | Stars: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Hiroyuki Sanada, Hattie Morahan
Votes: 68,077 | Gross: $17.74M
11. Unfaithful (2002)
R | 124 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
A New York suburban couple's marriage goes dangerously awry when the wife indulges in an adulterous fling.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Richard Gere, Diane Lane, Olivier Martinez, Erik Per Sullivan
Votes: 98,776 | Gross: $52.80M
12. Pain & Gain (2013)
R | 129 min | Action, Biography, Comedy
A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub
Votes: 230,007 | Gross: $49.88M
13. Glass Onion (2022)
PG-13 | 139 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Tech billionaire Miles Bron invites his friends for a getaway on his private Greek island. When someone turns up dead, Detective Benoit Blanc is put on the case.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista
Votes: 443,738
14. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 720,251 | Gross: $32.00M
15. The Nice Guys (2016)
R | 116 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star.
Director: Shane Black | Stars: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer
Votes: 375,362 | Gross: $36.26M
16. Deep Water (I) (2022)
R | 115 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.
Director: Adrian Lyne | Stars: Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas, Tracy Letts, Grace Jenkins
Votes: 57,968
17. Veronica Mars (2004–2019)
TV-14 | 44 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After her best friend is murdered, and her father is removed as county Sheriff, Veronica Mars dedicates her life to cracking the toughest mysteries in the affluent town of Neptune.
Stars: Kristen Bell, Jason Dohring, Enrico Colantoni, Percy Daggs III
Votes: 78,261
18. C.B. Strike (2017– )
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
War veteran turned private detective Cormoran Strike solves brutal murders with the help of his trusted partner Robin Ellacott.
Stars: Tom Burke, Holliday Grainger, Kerr Logan, Jack Greenlees
Votes: 24,822
19. The Drowning Pool (1975)
PG | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Harper's a big-city PI, who travels to Louisiana to help an old girlfriend who's worried her husband will find out she's been cheating on him.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton
Votes: 6,255
20. A Haunting in Venice (2023)
PG-13 | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Horror
In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey
Votes: 113,879
21. Possession (1981)
R | 124 min | Drama, Horror
A woman starts exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior after asking her husband for a divorce. Suspicions of infidelity soon give way to something much more sinister.
Director: Andrzej Zulawski | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Sam Neill, Margit Carstensen, Heinz Bennent
Votes: 43,235 | Gross: $1.11M
22. The Game (1997)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After a wealthy San Francisco banker is given an opportunity to participate in a mysterious game, his life is turned upside down as he begins to question if it might really be a concealed conspiracy to destroy him.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Michael Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger, Sean Penn, James Rebhorn
Votes: 430,973 | Gross: $48.32M
23. Burn Notice (2007–2013)
TV-PG | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A spy recently disavowed by the U.S. government uses his special ops training to help others in trouble.
Stars: Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless
Votes: 79,333
24. Death on the Nile (2022)
PG-13 | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
While on vacation on the Nile, Hercule Poirot must investigate the murder of a young heiress.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Kenneth Branagh, Russell Brand
Votes: 189,568 | Gross: $45.63M
25. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 428,196 | Gross: $3.20M
26. Liar Liar (1997)
PG-13 | 86 min | Comedy, Fantasy
A pathological liar-lawyer finds his career turned upside down when he inexplicably cannot physically lie for 24 whole hours.
Director: Tom Shadyac | Stars: Jim Carrey, Maura Tierney, Amanda Donohoe, Jennifer Tilly
Votes: 334,537 | Gross: $181.41M
27. Wedding Crashers (2005)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Cleary.
Director: David Dobkin | Stars: Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Rachel McAdams, Christopher Walken
Votes: 376,478 | Gross: $209.22M
28. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 350,716
29. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan
Votes: 293,842 | Gross: $20.30M
30. Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
PG-13 | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When a murder occurs on the train on which he's travelling, celebrated detective Hercule Poirot is recruited to solve the case.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Penélope Cruz, Willem Dafoe, Judi Dench
Votes: 297,569 | Gross: $102.83M
31. Jessica Jones (2015–2019)
TV-MA | 56 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Following the tragic end of her brief superhero career, Jessica Jones tries to rebuild her life as a private investigator, dealing with cases involving people with remarkable abilities in New York City.
Stars: Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Eka Darville, Carrie-Anne Moss
Votes: 227,201
32. There's Something About Mary (1998)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
A man gets a chance to meet up with his dream girl from high school, even though his date with her back then was a complete disaster.
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly | Stars: Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans
Votes: 329,603 | Gross: $176.48M
33. Constantine (2005)
R | 121 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
Supernatural exorcist and demonologist John Constantine helps a policewoman prove her sister's death was not a suicide, but something more.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Djimon Hounsou, Shia LaBeouf
Votes: 375,355 | Gross: $75.98M
34. The Conversation (1974)
PG | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 122,269 | Gross: $4.42M
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Greg Heffley is a 12 year old who is fresh out of elementary and transitions to middle school, where he has to learn the consequences and responsibility to survive the year.
Director: Thor Freudenthal | Stars: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn
Votes: 58,347 | Gross: $64.00M
36. The Rockford Files (1974–1980)
TV-PG | 50 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The cases of an easy-going ex-convict turned private investigator.
Stars: James Garner, Noah Beery Jr., Joe Santos, Luis Delgado
Votes: 10,929
37. Sherlock Holmes (2009)
PG-13 | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong
Votes: 672,558 | Gross: $209.03M
38. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)
PG-13 | 86 min | Comedy
A goofy detective specializing in animals goes in search of the missing mascot of the Miami Dolphins.
Director: Tom Shadyac | Stars: Jim Carrey, Courteney Cox, Sean Young, Tone Loc
Votes: 326,006 | Gross: $72.22M
39. Enola Holmes (2020)
PG-13 | 123 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
When Enola Holmes (Sherlock's teen sister) discovers her mother is missing, she endeavours to find her, becoming a super-sleuth in her own right as she outwits her famous brother and unravels a dangerous conspiracy.
Director: Harry Bradbeer | Stars: Millie Bobby Brown, Henry Cavill, Sam Claflin, Helena Bonham Carter
Votes: 220,475
40. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)
PG | 104 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When a cartoon rabbit is accused of murder, he enlists the help of a burnt out private investigator to prove his innocence.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy, Charles Fleischer
Votes: 217,441 | Gross: $156.45M
41. The Geisha Boy (1958)
Approved | 98 min | Comedy
Gilbert Wooley is a second-rate magician who is sent to entertain the troops in the pacific. During his time in Japan he becomes attached to a little orphan boy.
Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Jerry Lewis, Marie McDonald, Sessue Hayakawa, Barton MacLane
Votes: 2,181
42. The Equalizer (1985–1989)
TV-PG | 48 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A retired Intelligence Agent turned private detective helps various threatened clients to equalize the odds.
Stars: Edward Woodward, Keith Szarabajka, Robert Lansing, Mark Margolis
Votes: 5,950
43. Midnight in Paris (2011)
PG-13 | 94 min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance
While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, Kurt Fuller
Votes: 450,631 | Gross: $56.82M
44. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama
The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller
Votes: 313,765 | Gross: $52.36M
45. Secondhand Lions (2003)
PG | 109 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Fourteen-year-old Walter Caldwell's irresponsible mother Mae sends him to live with his bachelor uncles, Hub and Garth, so that she can go on yet another husband-hunting trip.
Director: Tim McCanlies | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Kyra Sedgwick
Votes: 61,980 | Gross: $41.41M
46. Miss Scarlet & the Duke (2020– )
TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
When Eliza Scarlet's father dies, he leaves her penniless, but she resolves to continue his detective agency. To operate in a male-dominated world, though, she needs a partner - step forward a detective known as the Duke.
Stars: Kate Phillips, Stuart Martin, Cathy Belton, Simon Ludders
Votes: 11,080
47. Evil Under the Sun (1982)
PG | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Trying to find how a millionaire wound up with a phony diamond brings Hercule Poirot to an exclusive island resort frequented by the rich and famous. When a murder is committed, everyone has an alibi.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Maggie Smith, Colin Blakely
Votes: 20,328 | Gross: $6.11M
48. The Alienist (2018–2020)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Newspaper illustrator John Moore meets with criminal psychologist (alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler to investigate a serial killer in New York during the late 19th century.
Stars: Daniel Brühl, Dakota Fanning, Luke Evans, Robert Wisdom
Votes: 60,394
49. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
After being mistaken for an actor, a New York thief is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery.
Director: Shane Black | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
Votes: 237,826 | Gross: $4.24M
50. Wild at Heart (1990)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Young lovers Sailor and Lula run from the variety of weirdos that Lula's mom has hired to kill Sailor.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, J.E. Freeman
Votes: 101,227 | Gross: $14.56M