Movies like Goodfellas
The appeal of belonging, followed by the cost.
Starting with Goodfellas (1990)
Title details on TMDB ↗
What should I watch after Goodfellas?
For Goodfellas fans, these three movies offer different ways forward: Casino (A larger criminal ecosystem); Donnie Brasco (Friendship across a hidden divide); The Departed (Loyalty as an identity crisis). Each comparison below explains the connection and where the experience differs.
Goodfellas gives criminal life a seductive everyday texture before showing how trust corrodes inside it. The most useful next watch can expand that system, enter it through an outsider, or turn loyalty into a question of competing identities.
Casino is the broadest portrait of an organization, Donnie Brasco the most intimate friendship under pressure, and The Departed the most tightly wound identity thriller. Each offers criminal access and instability, with a different balance of narration, procedure, and betrayal.
Which direction interests you?
Start with the connection you want, then read the differences before choosing.
Casino
A sprawling rise-and-fall crime story set amid the glamour of Las Vegas.
Title details on TMDB ↗Why it connects
Casino follows money, status, and personal relationships through a business built on control. It extends Goodfellas’ interest in the routines and incentives that make a criminal organization feel like an entire social world.
Where it differs
Las Vegas and its institutions take center stage. The scale is broader and the account more analytical, alongside intensely destructive relationships.
Donnie Brasco
An undercover operation puts friendship and loyalty under increasing strain.
Title details on TMDB ↗Why it connects
Donnie Brasco makes undercover work an emotional relationship rather than only a professional disguise. Its connection to Goodfellas is the force of belonging, especially when the people offering it cannot safely know the truth.
Where it differs
The pace is more restrained and the viewpoint more conflicted. Small obligations and affection matter more than the rush of criminal success.
The Departed
Two infiltrators create a tense contest of divided loyalties and concealed identities.
Title details on TMDB ↗Why it connects
The Departed builds suspense from people living inside institutions that would destroy them if exposed. Choose it for the suspicion, brittle alliances, and increasing difficulty of separating performance from self.
Where it differs
Police and criminal organizations mirror one another. The construction is a high-pressure double-infiltration thriller rather than a narrated life story.
These are editorial comparisons of themes, tone, and storytelling, rather than a numerical ranking or personalized results. Title identities were checked against the linked catalog or publisher records on October 25, 2026. The connections and differences are Resonami’s analysis. Sources provide title context; availability and editions can vary. Read our editorial approach and corrections policy.
Dates distinguish the film or original series being discussed. A similar premise can still mean a very different level of violence or intensity.