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Best Crime Movies On A Sunday Afternoon From The 2020S Perfect For When You Need A Good Cry

These crime films were selected by the Moviepiq editorial team for a slow Sunday afternoon. Popularity and critic scores don't factor in here. Emotional fit does.

The best crime movies on a sunday afternoon from the 2020s perfect for when you need a good cry. Includes Cruella, Dogman, Argentina 1985 and more - curated ...

A Sunday film should do one thing above all else: justify the afternoon. Not exciting enough to feel like you should be doing something else. Just right.

The 2020s have already produced films that will be studied for decades - lean, precise, unafraid to take audiences seriously.

Crime as a genre works because it forces moral clarity in situations designed to resist it.

Cruella movie poster
1
2021 · ★★★★☆ 8.0/10

In 1970s London amidst the punk rock revolution, a young grifter named Estella is determined to make a name for herself with her designs. She befriends a pair of young thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they are able to build a life for themselves on the London streets. One day, Estella's flair for fashion catches the eye of the Baroness von Hellman, a fashion legend who is devastatingly chic and terrifyingly haute. But their relationship sets in motion a course of events and revelations that will cause Estella to embrace her wicked side and become the raucous, fashionable and revenge-bent Cruella.

Dogman movie poster
2
2023 · ★★★½☆ 7.9/10

A boy, bruised by life, finds his salvation through the love of his dogs.

Argentina 1985 movie poster
3
2022 · ★★★½☆ 7.8/10

In the 1980s, a team of lawyers takes on the heads of Argentina's bloody military dictatorship in a battle against odds and a race against time.

The Heist of the Century movie poster
4
2020 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

In 2006, a group of thieves performed what is considered one of the most famous and smart bank heists in the history of Argentina. How they robbed the Rio bank is as surprising as what happened afterwards. This is their story.

STRAW movie poster
5
2025 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

What will be her last straw? A devastatingly bad day pushes a hardworking single mother to the breaking point - and into a shocking act of desperation.

The crime films worth your time are the ones where the moral calculus is genuinely complicated. Not every villain is a monster. Not every hero is clean.

John Wick: Chapter 4 movie poster
6
2023 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

With the price on his head ever increasing, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table. But before he can earn his freedom, Wick must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes.

The Gentlemen movie poster
7
2020 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

American expat Mickey Pearson has built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he's looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.

The Batman movie poster
8
2022 · ★★★½☆ 7.7/10

In his second year of fighting crime, Batman uncovers corruption in Gotham City that connects to his own family while facing a serial killer known as the Riddler.

The Bad Guys 2 movie poster
9
2025 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

The now-reformed Bad Guys are trying (very, very hard) to be good, but instead find themselves hijacked into a high-stakes, globe-trotting heist, masterminded by a new team of criminals they never saw coming: The Bad Girls.

Wrath of Man movie poster
10
2021 · ★★★½☆ 7.6/10

A cold and mysterious new security guard for a Los Angeles cash truck company surprises his co-workers when he unleashes precision skills during a heist. The crew is left wondering who he is and where he came from. Soon, the marksman's ultimate motive becomes clear as he takes dramatic and irrevocable steps to settle a score.

The films that give you a good cry do so because they've earned it. Not through sadness alone - through care. These films care.

The best crime films stay with you because they refuse to let you feel entirely comfortable about who you were rooting for.

From the Blog

READ Best Movies for a Sunday Afternoon
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READ Movies That Make You Feel Nostalgic

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