Cynical movies and TV shows

The list contains the best, new and most relevant cynical movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out cynical, realistic, clever, dark comedy, black comedy and witty films and TV shows about / with dark humor, profanity, satire, female nudity, violent, anti hero, society, violence, murder and sex plots mostly in Drama, Comedy and Crime genres shot in USA, UK, Germany and other countries.
cynical
 1916
cynical movies
TOP 10 movies tagged as cynical: God Bless America (2011), Dag (2010), Filth (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Nightcrawler (2014), Wild Tales (2014), Black Mirror (2011), House (2004), Backstrom (2015), Drowning by Numbers (1988).

List of cynical movies

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God Bless America (2011)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story: Fed up with the cruelty and stupidity of American culture, an unlikely duo goes on a killing spree, killing reality TV stars, bigots and others they find repugnant in this black comedy.
Style: cynical, dark comedy, black comedy, talky, funny ...
Plot: killing spree, female killer, mass murder, vigilante, serial killer, dark humor, society, layoff, rage, life is a bitch, media, visceral ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
 8.5
 5K
Dag (2010)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Norway
Duration: 23 min.
TV show
Story: Meet Dag, a couple's therapist who holds a 90% divorce rate. His philosophy in life is that people should live alone and he's happy to share that with his patients. Dag leads a quiet life and the only thing he loves more than his solitude ...
Style: cynical, humorous, realistic, funny, captivating ...
Plot: loner, love and romance, marital problem, dark humor, therapy, antisocial behavior, dating, doctors and patients, friends, therapist, alienation, power relations ...
Time: 21st century
Is relevant ?
 7.0
 115K
Filth (2013)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story: A bigoted junkie cop suffering from bipolar disorder and drug addiction manipulates and hallucinates his way through the festive season in a bid to secure promotion and win back his wife and daughter.
Style: dark comedy, surreal, cynical, black comedy, sexual ...
Plot: addiction, insanity, dark humor, drug abuse, antisocial behavior, losing-it hero, corrupt cop, hallucination, murder, self destructing, cocaine, drug ...
Time: year 2013, 21st century
Place: scotland, hamburg germany, britain, edinburgh scotland
Is relevant ?
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 180 min.
Story: A New York stockbroker refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort's autobiography.
Style: clever, captivating, motivational, cynical, dramatic ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: money, corruption, business, wall street, rise and fall, greed, stock market, addiction, success, stock broker, wealth, rags to riches ...
Time: 80s, year 2013, 90s, 2010s, 20th century ...
Place: new york, usa, america, geneva switzerland, italy ...
Is relevant ?
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 7.8
 600K
Nightcrawler (2014)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story: When Lou Bloom, desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.
Style: neo noir, psychological, disturbing, suspense, suspenseful ...
Audience: adult
Plot: character study, journalism, sociopath, obsession, journalist, cynicism, psychopath, morality, violence, manipulation, capitalism, employer employee relationship ...
Time: year 2014, 2010s, near future, 21st century
Place: los angeles, california, usa, persia, america ...
Is relevant ?
 8.1
 215K
Wild Tales (2014)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Thriller
Country: Argentina, Spain, France, UK
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Six short stories that explore the extremities of human behavior involving people in distress.
Style: dark comedy, suspense, psychological, anthology, tense ...
Plot: multiple storylines, dark humor, human nature, revenge, vengeance, fighting the system, corruption, sex scene, wedding party, twists and turns, violence, coincidence ...
Time: year 2014, 2010s, y2k, 21st century
Place: argentina, persia, south america, latin america
Is relevant ?
 8.7
 634K
Black Mirror (2011)
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story: A contemporary British re-working of The Twilight Zone with stories that tap into the collective unease about our modern world.  Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we've had time to ...
Style: serious, philosophical, thought provoking, anthology, clever ...
Audience: teens, family friendly
Plot: technology, dystopia, twists and turns, human nature, satire, dystopian future, social decay, society, computers and web, media satire, alternate reality, media ...
Time: future, 2010s, near future
Place: england, london
Is relevant ?
 8.7
 506K
House (2004)
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Duration: 7788 min.
TV show
Story: Dr. Gregory House, a drug-addicted, unconventional, misanthropic medical genius, leads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton–Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey.
Style: medical drama, cynical, clever, emotional, witty ...
Audience: teens
Plot: doctor, medicine, hospital, talented, mastermind, prodigy, loner, patient, expert, surgery, unconventional method, human nature ...
Time: 2000s, future, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new jersey, syria, usa
Is relevant ?
 7.4
 10K
Backstrom (2015)
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 44 min.
TV show
Story: Detective Lieutenant Everett Backstrom is a man with no filter. After a five-year exile to the traffic division for offensive behavior, he has returned from disgrace to lead Portland's newly minted S.C.U. Tasked with navigating the city's ...
Style: cynical, realistic, detective, captivating, humorous ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: police detective, police investigation, workplace situations, law enforcement, workplace, investigation, prejudice, lgbtq, mind game, team, forensics, anti hero ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa, oregon, portland oregon
Is relevant ?
Drowning by Numbers (1988)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, Netherlands
Duration: 118 min.
Story: An ironic black comedy of love and death that takes place an a lyrically beautiful landscape. Three related women, all named Cissie Colpitts share a solidarity for one another which brings about three copy-cat drownings. The local coroner is in love ...
Style: surreal, black comedy, dark comedy, art house, humorous ...
Plot: surrealism, drowning, friendship, murder, investigation, sex, satire, murder by drowning, murder mystery, coroner, mathematics, unlikely criminals ...
Time: 80s
Is relevant ?
 8.4
 1.5M
Joker (2019)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, Australia
Duration: 122 min.
Story: During the 1980s, a failed stand-up comedian is driven insane and turns to a life of crime and chaos in Gotham City while becoming an infamous psychopathic crime figure.
Style: thought provoking, suspense, atmospheric, bleak, psychological thriller ...
Audience: teens, adult
Plot: mental illness, mental disorder, villain, psycho, psychopath, loneliness, psychological trauma, character change, insanity, social problems, comedian, social decay ...
Time: 2010s, 80s, year 2019, year 1981, 20th century
Place: new york, new jersey, los angeles, persia
Is relevant ?
 8.9
 417K
Fargo (2014)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 53 min.
TV show
Story: A close-knit anthology series dealing with stories involving malice, violence and murder based in and around Minnesota.
Style: neo noir, atmospheric, captivating, detective, clever ...
Plot: dark humor, psychopath, small town, law enforcement, police investigation, cop, snow, killings, small town life, social relations, scheme, policewoman ...
Time: 2010s, year 1979, year 2014, future, year 2006 ...
Place: minnesota, north dakota, east germany, usa
Is relevant ?
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Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 107 min.
Story: A card shark and his unwillingly-enlisted friends need to make a lot of cash quick after losing a sketchy poker match. To do this they decide to pull a heist on a small-time gang who happen to be operating out of the flat next door.
Style: dark comedy, humorous, clever, witty, cynical ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: gangster, heist, dark humor, organized crime, twists and turns, crime gone awry, disorder, gang, nothing goes right, debt, violent, friends ...
Time: 20th century, year 1998, 90s
Place: england, united kingdom, london, britain, europe
Is relevant ?
 7.7
 74K
Happiness (1998)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min.
Story: The lives of many individuals connected by the desire for happiness, often from sources usually considered dark or evil.
Style: black comedy, cynical, independent film, dark comedy, depressing ...
Plot: dysfunctional family, pedophilia, rape, unhappiness, depression, therapist, obsession, relationships, loneliness, alienation, pedophile, sexual abuse ...
Time: 90s, year 1998, 20th century
Place: new jersey, usa
Is relevant ?
Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1995)
Genre: Animation, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min.
TV show
Story: Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist is an American animated series that originally ran on Comedy Central from May 28, 1995 to December 24, 1999—with a final set of three shelved episodes airing in 2002—starring Jonathan Katz, Jon Benjamin, and ...
Style: cynical, adult animation, sitcom, realistic, not serious ...
Audience: adult
Plot: psychotherapist, psychiatrist, parents and children, doctors and patients, slacker, family relations, patient, moving, sketch, psychology, love, satire ...
Time: 20th century, 90s, 2000s, 21st century
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
 9.3
 373K
The Wire (2002)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 59 min.
TV show
Story: Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between ...
Style: clever, tense, detective, cynical, serious ...
Plot: organized crime, corruption, police detective, police, urban ghetto life, working undercover, life is a bitch, drug dealing, fighting crime, shooting, police investigation, urban decay ...
Time: 2000s, future, year 2002, 20th century, 1950s ...
Place: baltimore, maryland, usa
Is relevant ?
 9.5
 2.1M
Breaking Bad (2008)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story: When Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live, he becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's ...
Style: serious, captivating, tense, psychological, rough ...
Audience: teens
Plot: criminal, cancer, peril, life turned upside down, drug dealing, drug cartel, unlikely partners, drug lord, master criminal, family problems, life is a bitch, drug ...
Time: y2k, year 2008, 2000s, 2010s, 21st century
Place: new mexico, albuquerque new mexico, usa
Is relevant ?
 8.3
 1.2M
American Beauty (1999)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation with his daughter's attractive friend.
Style: melancholic, thought provoking, dark comedy, sexual, dramatic ...
Audience: teens, chick flick, girls' night, kids, teen drama ...
Plot: midlife crisis, dysfunctional family, existentialism, age difference, obsession, loneliness, coming of age, older man younger woman relationship, nymphet, dysfunctional marriage, adultery, older man young girl relationship ...
Time: 90s, 20th century, year 1999, year 2013
Place: usa, america, los angeles, iran
Is relevant ?
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 8.1
 44K
Dead Like Me (2003)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story: Dead Like Me follows a group of undead grim reapers tasked with shepherding the recently departed into the afterlife.
Style: witty, sentimental, black comedy, cynical, humorous ...
Audience: teens
Plot: supernatural, afterlife, dealing with death, double life, family problems, dark humor, unfulfillment, young man, loser, workplace, tragic event, parents and children ...
Place: seattle
Is relevant ?
 8.3
 188K
Californication (2007)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 28 min.
TV show
Story: A self-loathing, alcoholic writer attempts to repair his damaged relationships with his daughter and her mother while combating sex addiction, a budding drug problem, and the seeming inability to avoid making bad decisions.
Style: sexy, witty, humorous, cynical, erotic ...
Audience: teens
Plot: womanizer, lifestyle, writers, writer's life, lust, dark humor, sexual relations, family life, couples, addiction, female nudity, nudity ...
Time: y2k, 2000s, 2010s, 21st century
Place: california, los angeles, usa, new york
Is relevant ?
 8.2
 904K
Snatch (2000)
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 104 min.
Story: The second film from British director Guy Ritchie. Snatch tells an obscure story similar to his first fast-paced crazy character-colliding filled film “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” There are two overlapping stories here – one is the ...
Style: entertaining, witty, dark comedy, funny, clever ...
Audience: manly, boys' night, adult
Plot: heist, caper, gambling, organized crime, gangster, robbery, criminal heroes, cons and scams, group of criminals, sarcasm, master criminal, boxing ...
Time: year 2000, 90s, 2000s, 20th century
Place: england, london, britain, antwerp, belgium ...
Is relevant ?
 9.2
 464K
The Sopranos (1999)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 55 min.
TV show
Story: The Sopranos is an American television drama created by David Chase. The series revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting requirements of his home ...
Style: serious, cynical, clever, psychological, rough ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: organized crime, mafia, killings, mob boss, dark humor, criminal heroes, family life, gangster, violence, parents and children, dysfunctional family, family relations ...
Time: 90s, 2000s, year 1999, 20th century, 21st century
Place: new jersey, new york, usa
Is relevant ?
 8.1
 27K
Daria (1997)
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min.
TV show
Story: Daria Morgendorffer lives with her stressed-out, career-fixated parents, Helen and Jake, and her relentlessly cute and popular little sister, Quinn. Daria and her fellow outcast and best friend, Jane Lane, attend Lawndale High School where they are ...
Style: clever, adult cartoon, witty, cynical, adult animation ...
Audience: teens, kids, adult
Plot: sarcasm, loner, social misfits, high school life, everyday life, antisocial behavior, teenage life, adolescence vs adulthood, society, school, lifestyle, adolescence ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Is relevant ?
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 7.1
 8K
Berlin Blues (2003)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 105 min.
Story: In October 1989, the part of the West Berlin borough of Kreuzberg called SO 36, had been largely shut off by the Wall from the rest of the city for 28 years. A lethargic sub-culture of students, artists, bohemians and barflys had flourished among ...
Style: cynical, bleak, melancholic, atmospheric, semi serious ...
Plot: depression, imagination, lone hero, irreverent, culture clash, adaptation, existentialism, life philosophy, lifestyle, unfulfilled love, love and romance, misfit ...
Time: 80s, 20th century, year 2003, year 1989
Place: germany, europe, berlin germany, west berlin west germany, east germany
Is relevant ?
 8.6
 528K
House of Cards (2013)
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 3804 min.
TV show
Story: Set in present day Washington, D.C., House of Cards is the story of Frank Underwood, a ruthless and cunning politician, and his wife Claire who will stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of ...
Style: political, serious, clever, captivating, tense ...
Audience: boys' night, teens, adult
Plot: politics, political intrigue, political corruption, manipulation, state affairs, intrigue, blind ambition, u.s. president, lobbyist, journalism, journalist, media ...
Time: 2010s, 2000s, 21st century
Place: usa, washington d.c., syria
Is relevant ?
Ricky Gervais Live 2: Politics (2004)
Genre: Comedy
Country: UK
Duration: 68 min.
Story: A year after Animals, Ricky Gervais comes back with his second stand up comedy tour: Politics.
Style: cynical, atmospheric, humorous, clever, talky ...
Plot: stand up comedian, politics, sarcasm, greed, society, artists and showbiz, state affairs, stand up comedy, comedian, social satire, political satire, mistaken identity ...
Time: 21st century
Place: england, london, europe
Is relevant ?
Louis C.K.: Chewed Up (2008)
Genre: Documentary, Comedy
Country: USA
Duration: 61 min.
Story: Profane, vulgar and obscenely funny, Louis C.K. insists on telling the truth, whether you like it or not! Join the Emmy Award-winning stand-up comic and TV star (Lucky Louie) as he shares his thoughts on the stuff everyone thinks about -- male ...
Style: cynical, witty, talky, political, stylized ...
Plot: stand up comedian, stand up comedy, artists and showbiz, society, disorder, politically correct, social problems, physical appearance, lifestyle, couples, gender, sexual relations ...
Time: 21st century
Place: usa
Is relevant ?
 7.0
 16K
Bob Roberts (1992)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 102 min.
Story: Mock documentary about an upstart candidate for the U.S. Senate written and directed by actor Tim Robbins. Bob Roberts is a folksinger with a difference: He offers tunes that protest welfare chiselers, liberal whining, and the like. As the ...
Style: mockumentary, political, cynical, witty, talky ...
Plot: political satire, election campaign, politics, journalism, satire, manipulation, political campaign, conspiracy, republican, senator, society, ambition ...
Time: year 1992, 90s
Place: pennsylvania, usa, nicaragua, new york
Is relevant ?
Cecil B. DeMented (2000)
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA, France
Duration: 87 min.
Story: An insane independent film director and his renegade group of teenage film makers kidnap an A-list Hollywood actress and force her to star in their underground film.
Style: cynical, satirical, absurd, black comedy, dark comedy ...
Plot: filmmaking, showbiz, misfit, satire, kidnapping, dark humor, hostage, heroin, perversion, actor's life, lifestyle, nothing goes right ...
Time: 90s, 20th century
Place: maryland, baltimore, usa
Is relevant ?
Valley of the Dolls (1967)
Genre: Drama, Music, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 123 min.
Story: Film version of Jacqueline Susann's best-selling novel chronicling the rise and fall of three young ladies in show business.
Style: cynical, cult classic, stylized, serious, realistic ...
Audience: chick flick
Plot: drug addiction, husband wife relationship, glamour, showbiz, price of fame, rise and fall, terminal illness, singer, porn actress, actress, psychiatric nurse, drinking ...
Time: 20th century, year 1967, 60s
Place: manhattan new york city, usa, los angeles, new york, new england ...
Is relevant ?
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