Movies like Public Friends (2016)
The best movies like Public Friends (2016) are The Fugitives (1986), Logan Lucky (2017) and For 200 Grand, You Get Nothing Now (1982). If Public Friends hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFive (2016)7.0/10 from 1,358 votes
- NewestThe American Dream (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchThe Fugitives (1986)Also in French
The Fugitives (1986)
Coming out from jail, Lucas has decided to change his life and behave like a good citizen. But when he is taken hostage in a bank by a hare-brained robber, no cops can believe he is not part of the action.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLogan Lucky (2017)
Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy and Clyde Logan set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFor 200 Grand, You Get Nothing Now (1982)
After getting screwed over by life (again), two losers decide that enough is enough. Using stolen ski masks and stolen toy guns, they take hostages in their local bank, holding them for ransom. Things go well until the hostages learn what's going on, and demand a piece of the action for themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreedy (1994)
Meet the McTeagues. They've come to stake a claim in their wealthy uncle's will… only he's not dead yet!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Villain (2009)
With gun-toting rivals on his tail, a daring bank robber takes refuge in the quiet residential street here he grew up and where his mother, Maniette, still lives. An unscrupulous property developer, Korazy, is buying up the neighborhood to turn it into a gleaming new banking district, but to her son's disgust Maniette leads the inhabitants resistance. Her ingenious methods provoke her boy's admiration, but he fights back with sneaky traps and underhand tricks when Maniette tries to force him to do the right thing just once in his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHigh Heels and Low Lifes (2001)
Two friends are drawn into a seedy underworld of extortion and violence when they try to blackmail a gang of bank robbers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHot Rod (2007)
For Rod Kimble, performing stunts is a way of life, even though he is rather accident-prone. Poor Rod cannot even get any respect from his stepfather, Frank, who beats him up in weekly sparring matches. When Frank falls ill, Rod devises his most outrageous stunt yet to raise money for Frank's operation -- and then Rod will kick Frank's butt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBandidas (2006)
When a ruthless robber baron takes away everything they cherish, a rough-and-tumble, idealistic peasant and a sophisticated heiress embark on a quest for justice, vengeance…and a few good heists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMad Money (2008)
Three female employees of the Federal Reserve plot to steal money that is about to be destroyed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wild Goose Chase (1975)
The whole intrigue is centered around carte-blanche documents kept in a vault. Whoever fills in the blank becomes the owner of a revue. Big money is involved. The nephew of the owner of the vault is trying to cheat his uncle and have his name in the documents. Everything is even more complicated because the manager of the bank has a finger in the pie, too. Who but a humble bank-teller (Pierre Richard) will ruin the scheme?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFamily Plot (1976)
Spiritualist Blanche Tyler and her cab-driving boyfriend encounter a pair of serial kidnappers while trailing a missing heir in California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFun with Dick and Jane (2005)
After Dick Harper loses his job at Globodyne in an Enron-esque collapse, he and his wife, Jane, turn to crime in order to handle the massive debt they now face. Two intelligent people, Dick and Jane actually get pretty good at robbing people and even enjoy it – but they have second thoughts when they're reminded that crime can hurt innocent people. When the couple hears that Globodyne boss Jack McCallister actually swindled the company, they plot revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWelcome to Collinwood (2002)
Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpoiled Brats (2021)
The billionaire is tired of the whims of his own children and decides to teach them a lesson. He announces to them that he has become bankrupt. Now spoiled teenagers will have to do what they have never done: go to work, learn to love and value life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Million Pound Note (1954)
An impoverished American sailor is fortunate enough to be passing the house of two rich gentlemen who have conceived the crazy idea of distributing a note worth one million pounds. The sailor finds that whenever he tries to use the note to buy something, people treat him like a king and let him have whatever he likes for free. Ultimately, the money proves to be more troublesome than it is worth when it almost costs him his dignity and the woman he loves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe American Dream (2026)
No one would have bet on Jérémy, stuck behind the counter of a video store, or on Bouna, who cleans airports. With no money, no connections, and painfully poor English, who could have predicted they’d one day become big-name agents in the NBA? What they lack in experience, they will make up for in audacity, while remaining true to their one credo, doing business with a human touch. Scouting raw talent while improvising their way up, they’ll fake it until they make it – chasing their American Dream and landing multi-million-dollar deals.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Doberman Gang (1972)
After a failed bank robbery, an ex-con, an ex-waitress and a few of their friends train a pack of doberman dogs to rob a bank for them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBandits (2001)
After escaping from prison, Joe and Terry go on a crime spree, robbing banks through Oregon and California in order to finance their scheme for a new life south of the border. Unfortunately, things get more complicated when they meet Kate, who runs into them with her car. She joins the bandits on their cross-country spree, and eventually she steals something, too: their hearts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive (2016)
A young man paying the rent for himself and his lifelong friends ends up flat-broke and resorts to selling marijuana to pay the bills – only to get caught up in the dangerous world of drugs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuburban Commando (1991)
Shep Ramsey is an interstellar hero, righting wrongs, etc. His ship is damaged after a fight with an interstellar nasty and he must hide out on Earth until it can recharge. He leaves his power suit at home, but still finds himself unable to allow wrongs to go unrighted and so mixes it up with bad drivers, offensive paperboys, muggers and the like.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisIt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Little Sweet Pea (2013)
It isn't easy to find a dream to chase when you're young, but Mugiko has one: she can't wait to become an anime voice actress. Saving up for classes while she works part time in a manga store, she lives with her older, gambler brother after her father's death. When the mother she never knew turns up out of nowhere and moves in, it only causes irritation for the aspiring otaku. But when her mother just as quickly disappears, it leaves Mugiko (or "Sweet Pea") searching for answers, bringing her back to her mother's hometown to discover what happened to her mother's own dream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Blurt! (2018)
When nice-guy Jeremy Martin puts on mysterious virtual reality glasses at the mall, he suddenly loses his “inside voice” and starts spouting every thought he has out loud. Making matters worse, Jeremy is running for student council president against his classmate Milly, who is full of great ideas to improve the school. Desperate to get back to normal, Jeremy and his sister Victoria must figure out how to convince his brain that he can speak up for himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeethoven (1992)
The Newton family live in their comfortable home, but there seems to something missing. This "hole" is filled by a small puppy, who walks into their home and their lives. Beethoven, as he is named, grows into a giant of a dog... a St Bernard. Doctor Varnick, the local vet has a secret and horrible sideline, which requires lots of dogs for experiments. Beethoven is on the bad doctor's list.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Miser (1980)
The children of Harpagon, Cléante and his sister Elise, are each in love but they still haven’t spoken to their father yet. Harpagon is a miser who wants to choose the right man and the right woman for his children. Based on Molière’s play.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOperation Carcajou (2021)
A police search disturbs the peace and quiet of a suburban family and arouses suspicions in Nicolas about his father Sylvain, a secret man with suspicious activities.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
A Very Brady Sequel (1996)
A man claiming to be Carol Brady's long-lost first husband, Roy Martin, shows up at the suburban Brady residence one evening. An impostor, the man is actually determined to steal the Bradys' familiar horse statue, a $20-million ancient Asian artifact.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisHelp! I'm a Fish (2000)
Three children are accidentally transformed into fish after consuming a potion made by an eccentric scientist. The kids end up in the sea, with one problem: they must find and drink the antidote within 48 hours, or forever remain as fish.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Olsen Gang Outta Sight (1977)
Egon is starting to be a little forgetful; he forgot the zone number, so he fails to open the strongbox. When he gets out of Vridslose State Prison, Kjeld and Benny have become associates of Yvonne's cousin Georg from America. He is not just some old-fashioned strongbox thief that can't remember like Egon, but a young hip IT criminal, that thinks that everyone else is inferior. However, Egon doesn't take lightly to the Georg's patronizing so he sabotages Georg's computer and ruins his cup. This time Egon's ambitions reaches a new high, when he and his gang break in to the World Bank, and they get away with it. Of course, thanks to Yvonne, they aren't rich very long.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Public Friends and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Public Friends?
The closest matches to Public Friends are The Fugitives (1986), Logan Lucky (2017) and For 200 Grand, You Get Nothing Now (1982). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Public Friends?
Start with The Fugitives (1986), the closest match to Public Friends.
What is the highest-rated movie like Public Friends?
Five (2016), rated 7.0/10 by 1,358 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Public Friends?
The American Dream (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Public Friends?
Yes: The Fugitives (1986), For 200 Grand, You Get Nothing Now (1982) and The Villain (2009).
How are movies similar to Public Friends chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Public Friends, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.