Movies like Running Scared (1986)
The best movies like Running Scared (1986) are Money Talks (1997), Tango & Cash (1989) and Bad Boys for Life (2020). If Running Scared hooked you with its comedy and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Untouchables (1987)7.8/10 from 6,426 votes
- NewestMisdirection (2026)Released 2026
Money Talks (1997)
Sought by police and criminals, a small-time huckster makes a deal with a TV newsman for protection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTango & Cash (1989)
Ray Tango and Gabriel Cash are two successful narcotics detectives who can't stand each other. Crime lord Yves Perret, furious at the loss of income they have caused him, plots an elaborate revenge against them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Boys for Life (2020)
Marcus and Mike are forced to confront new threats, career changes, and midlife crises as they join the newly created elite team AMMO of the Miami police department to take down the ruthless Armando Armas, the vicious leader of a Miami drug cartel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeverly Hills Cop II (1987)
Axel Foley returns to the land of sunshine and palm trees to investigate the near-fatal shooting of police Captain Andrew Bogomil. With the help of Sgt. Taggart and Det. Rosewood, they soon uncover that the shooting is associated with a series of "alphabet" robberies masterminded by a heartless weapons kingpin—and the chase is on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiami Vice (2006)
A case involving drug lords and murder in South Florida takes a personal turn for undercover detectives Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs. Unorthodox Crockett gets involved romantically with the Chinese-Cuban wife of a trafficker of arms and drugs, while Tubbs deals with an assault on those he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMisdirection (2026)
A desperate couple have pulled off a string of high-end break-ins to pay off a mob debt. When they attempt to rob their latest victim, they find themselves caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The tables are turned and the hunters become the hunted.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)
After their late former Captain is framed, Lowrey and Burnett try to clear his name, only to end up on the run themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBad Boys (1995)
Marcus Burnett is a henpecked family man. Mike Lowrey is a footloose and fancy free ladies' man. Both Miami policemen, they have 72 hours to reclaim a consignment of drugs stolen from under their station's nose. To complicate matters, in order to get the assistance of the sole witness to a murder, they have to pretend to be each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTransporter 2 (2005)
Professional driver, and former Special Forces officer, Frank Martin is living in Miami, where he is temporarily filling in for a friend as the chauffeur for a government narcotics control policy director and his family. The young boy in the family is targeted for kidnapping, and Frank immediately becomes involved in protecting the child and exposing the kidnappers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAssault on Precinct 13 (2005)
On New Year's Eve, inside a police station that's about to be closed for good, officer Jake Roenick must cobble together a force made up cops and criminals to save themselves from a mob looking to kill mobster Marion Bishop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe International (2009)
An interpol agent and an attorney are determined to bring one of the world's most powerful banks to justice. Uncovering money laundering, arms trading, and conspiracy to destabilize world governments, their investigation takes them from Berlin, Milan, New York and Istanbul. Finding themselves in a chase across the globe, their relentless tenacity puts their own lives at risk.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAbsolution (2024)
An aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children. He is determined to leave a positive legacy for his grandson, but the criminal underworld isn’t done with him and won’t loosen their grip willingly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
SnoozefestMovies like this11:14 (2004)
Tells the seemingly random yet vitally connected story of a set of incidents that all converge one evening at 11:14pm. The story follows the chain of events of five different characters and five different storylines that all converge to tell the story of murder and deceit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWheelman (2017)
A getaway driver for a bank robbery realizes he has been double crossed and races to find out who betrayed him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pickup (2025)
A routine cash pickup takes a wild turn when mismatched armored truck drivers Russell and Travis are ambushed by ruthless criminals led by savvy mastermind Zoe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDen of Thieves 2: Pantera (2025)
Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie, who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world's largest diamond exchange.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn Cold Light (2026)
Fresh out of prison, Ava's attempt to reclaim her drug operation collapses when she witnesses a brutal crime, forcing her to flee into a nightmarish underworld where allies are scarce and enemies multiply by the minute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisTwilight (1998)
A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Untouchables (1987)
Elliot Ness, an ambitious prohibition agent, is determined to take down Al Capone. In order to achieve this goal, he forms a group given the nickname “The Untouchables”.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both crime & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStarsky & Hutch (2004)
Join uptight David Starsky and laid-back Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson as they're paired for the first time as undercover cops. The new partners must overcome their differences to solve an important case with help from street informant Huggy Bear and persuasive criminal Reese Feldman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & crime
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Company (2002)
When a Harvard-educated CIA agent is killed during an operation, the secret agency recruits his twin brother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisGet Shorty (1995)
Chili Palmer is a Miami mobster who gets sent to L.A. to collect a bad debt from Harry Zimm, a Hollywood producer who specializes in cheesy horror films. When Chili meets Harry's leading lady, the romantic sparks fly. After pitching his own life story as a movie idea, Chili learns that being a mobster and being a Hollywood producer really aren't all that different.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDesperado (1995)
El Mariachi plunges headfirst into the dark border underworld when he follows a trail of blood to the last of the infamous Mexican drug lords, Bucho, for an action-packed, bullet-riddled showdown. With the help of his friend and a beautiful bookstore owner, El Mariachi tracks Bucho, takes on his army of desperados, and leaves his own trail of blood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man (2005)
A case of mistaken identity forces a Federal agent and a dental supply salesman to team up as they speed through the streets of Detroit to pull off a sting operation and solve the murder of the agent's former partner.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisSicario (2015)
An idealistic FBI agent is enlisted by a government task force to aid in the escalating war against drugs at the border area between the U.S. and Mexico.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Devil's Own (1997)
Frankie McGuire, one of the IRA's deadliest assassins, draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. But when he is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons, Frankie is housed with the family of Tom O'Meara, a New York cop who knows nothing about Frankie's real identity. Their surprising friendship, and Tom's growing suspicions, forces Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a lifetime of murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDiva (1981)
Jules, a young Parisian postman, secretly records a concert performance given by the opera singer Cynthia Hawkins, whom he idolises. The following day, Jules runs into a woman who is being pursued by armed thugs. Before she is killed, the woman slips an audio cassette into his mail bag...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBy the Gun (2014)
A rising Boston gangster endangers those around him when he starts to make moves without the knowledge of his boss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisBaise-moi (2000)
Nadine and Manu are two mad women, as tidy as can be, almost perfectionists. They have several things in common: extreme sex, drugs, beer and the trigger. They find the solution to their problems with guns and beware to those who dare to get in their way!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both crime & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisAnonymous Jane (TBA)
Jane, a woman leading a double life as a highly trained deep-cover operative, is pulled back into a deadly international conspiracy that forces her to confront the identities she has kept violently separate.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Like Running Scared and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Running Scared?
The closest matches to Running Scared are Money Talks (1997), Tango & Cash (1989) and Bad Boys for Life (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Running Scared?
Start with Money Talks (1997), the closest match to Running Scared.
What is the highest-rated movie like Running Scared?
The Untouchables (1987), rated 7.8/10 by 6,426 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Running Scared?
Misdirection (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Running Scared?
Yes: Money Talks (1997), Tango & Cash (1989) and Bad Boys for Life (2020).
How are movies similar to Running Scared chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Running Scared, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.