Finding a movie that hits the same notes as The Imitation Game is actually harder than it looks. You aren't just looking for a history lesson. You want that specific, pressurized mix of high-stakes mathematics, social isolation, and the crushing weight of a secret that could change the world—or destroy the person holding it.
Honestly, Alan Turing’s story set a high bar for the "tortured genius" subgenre. But if you're scouring streaming services for The Imitation Game similar movies, there are a handful of films that capture that exact lightning in a bottle. Some lean into the science, others into the tragedy, and a few just give you that satisfying "click" of a puzzle finally being solved.
The Big Three: Genius, Madness, and Physics
If we're being real, most people who love The Imitation Game have already seen A Beautiful Mind. It's the obvious choice. But looking at them side-by-side reveals how the "genius biopic" formula has evolved.
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
This is basically the blueprint. Russell Crowe plays John Nash, a Nobel-winning mathematician who dealt with paranoid schizophrenia. Like Turing, Nash is a man who sees patterns where others see noise. The movie takes some pretty massive liberties with the truth—Nash’s hallucinations were auditory, not visual—but it captures that feeling of an intellect being both a superpower and a cage.
The Theory of Everything (2014)
Released the same year as Turing’s biopic, this one follows Stephen Hawking. It’s less about "solving a war" and more about the endurance of the mind when the body fails. Eddie Redmayne’s performance is hauntingly good. While The Imitation Game focuses on the Enigma machine, The Theory of Everything focuses on the relationship between Stephen and Jane Hawking. It’s softer, sure, but the intellectual stakes are just as high.
Oppenheimer (2023)
If you want the "World War II secret project" vibe, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is the modern gold standard. It’s loud, it’s intense, and it deals with the same moral rot that comes from winning a war with a "miracle" invention. J. Robert Oppenheimer and Alan Turing were essentially two sides of the same coin: men used by their governments for their brains and then discarded or scrutinized the second the shooting stopped.
The Untapped Stories: Codebreakers and Hidden Figures
Sometimes the best The Imitation Game similar movies are the ones that swap out the lone male lead for a different perspective on the same era.
Hidden Figures (2016)
This film is the perfect tonal companion. It follows Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson—the Black women at NASA who were "human computers." While Turing was fighting the Nazis and his own government’s homophobia, these women were fighting the Jim Crow South and a space race that literally wouldn't have launched without them. It’s more uplifting than Turing’s story, but the "math as a weapon against prejudice" theme is identical.
The Man Who Knew Infinity (2015)
This is a bit of a deep cut. Dev Patel plays Srinivasa Ramanujan, a self-taught Indian mathematical genius who travels to Trinity College, Cambridge. He faces the same "outsider" status that Turing did, though for different reasons. The scenes of him trying to prove his intuitive formulas to the rigid G.H. Hardy (Jeremy Irons) feel very much like Turing trying to explain his "Bombe" machine to the military brass at Bletchley Park.
Under-the-Radar Picks for the True Nerd
If you've checked the big boxes and still want more, these films dig into the specific grit of invention and obsession.
- The Current War (2017): This one even stars Benedict Cumberbatch again, this time as Thomas Edison. It’s a messy, stylish look at the battle between Edison, Westinghouse, and Tesla to power America. It captures that "race against time" energy perfectly.
- The Enigma Report / Enigma (2001): Not to be confused with the 2014 film, this older take on Bletchley Park (produced by Mick Jagger, of all people) is more of a traditional spy thriller. It’s less about the tragedy of Turing and more about the actual mechanics of the code-breaking.
- Radioactive (2019): Rosamund Pike plays Marie Curie. It’s a non-linear, slightly experimental biopic that shows the cost of discovery. Like Turing, Curie’s work changed the world but came with a heavy personal price tag.
Why These Movies Stick With Us
We’re obsessed with these stories because they validate the "misfit." There’s something deeply satisfying about watching someone who doesn't fit in—someone "difficult" or "anti-social"—be the only person in the room who can save everyone else.
But there’s a recurring myth in these films that we should probably acknowledge. Most of them suggest that genius happens in total isolation. In reality, Turing had Gordon Welchman (who was arguably just as important to the Bombe's success) and a massive team. Hidden Figures is one of the few that actually highlights the collective effort, even if it still centers on three leads.
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Your Watchlist Strategy
If you're trying to decide what to cue up next, don't just pick at random. Match your mood to the movie's specific "flavor" of The Imitation Game:
- If you want the WWII tension: Go with Oppenheimer or the 2017 Churchill drama Darkest Hour.
- If you want the mathematical "eureka" moments: Watch The Man Who Knew Infinity or Good Will Hunting.
- If you want the social justice/outsider angle: Hidden Figures or Rustin (about the civil rights architect Bayard Rustin) are your best bets.
Stop searching and just start with Hidden Figures if you want to feel inspired, or Oppenheimer if you want to feel the weight of history. Both are the most polished versions of the "intellectual thriller" currently available.
Grab a copy of Andrew Hodges’ biography Alan Turing: The Enigma if you want to see where the 2014 movie strayed from the facts. It’s a dense read, but it paints a far more complex picture of Turing than the "socially awkward" caricature we often see on screen.