Movies like Running on Empty (2006)
The best movies like Running on Empty (2006) are Head Full of Honey (2018), Until the End of the World (1991) and Kings of the Road (1976). If Running on Empty hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCharm City Kings (2020)7.8/10 from 508 votes
- NewestThe Journey to Gyeong-ju (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanUntil the End of the World (1991)Also in German
Head Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUntil the End of the World (1991)
In 1999, a woman's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash with two bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the money to a drop in Paris. On the way, she runs into another fugitive from the law — an American doctor on the run from the CIA. They want to confiscate his father's invention – a device which allows anyone to record their dreams and visions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKings of the Road (1976)
Itinerant projection-equipment repairman Bruno Winter and depressed hitchhiker Robert Lander - a doctor who has just been through a break-up with his wife and a half-hearted suicide attempt - travel along the Western side of the East-German border in a repair truck, visiting worn-out movie theaters, learning to communicate across their differences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNomadland (2021)
A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEasy Rider (1969)
Wyatt and Billy, two Harley-riding hippies, complete a drug deal in Southern California and decide to travel cross-country in search of spiritual truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWrong Move (1975)
Six days in the life of Wilhelm: a detached man without qualities. He wants to write, so his mother gives him a ticket to Bonn, telling him to live. On the train he meets an older man, an athlete in the 1936 Olympics, and his mute teen companion, Mignon. She's an acrobat in market squares for spare change.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisF.I.S.T. (1978)
Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInterstate 60 (2002)
An aspiring painter meets various characters and learns valuable lessons while traveling across America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGoodbye June (2025)
Four siblings' lives change drastically when their ailing mother takes a turn for the worse over the holiday season.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdam (2020)
A hard-living salesman becomes a quadriplegic after an accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rain People (1969)
When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Drive by Night (1940)
Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharm City Kings (2020)
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRock (2017)
The word "rok" in Russian means both rock music and fate. The film's heroes, who want to conquer the musical Olympus of Moscow, are accompanied by both. This troika is not even a group yet, not a team, and probably not even friends. But that's at the beginning. The further the heroes leave home, the more dangerous their adventures and the people they met on the way become, and the more strongly the children change inside. The film is a journey, a search of the self, where the road to the dream is the greatest, most dangerous and unforgettable adventure in the life of the young provincial musicians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Dazlak – Skinhead (1997)
Jenny is on the road in her film producer's Rolls-Royce, which she has to drive to a film shoot and a wedding. When she gets lost at night, she finds a wrecked car in the ditch and rescues a skinhead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Avenue Montaigne (2006)
A young woman arrives in Paris where she finds a job as a waitress in bar next on Avenue Montaigne that caters to the surrounding theaters and the wealthy inhabitants of the area. She will meet a pianist, a famous actress and a great art collector, and become acquainted with the "luxurious" world her grandmother has told her about since her childhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThelma (2002)
Vincent, a down-at-the-heels French cab driver, desparately in need of cash for child support is intrigued when Thelma charters his cab for a trip to Crete. As they travel, talk and flirt, they become friends but the situation grows complicated when Vincent discovers that Telma is a trans woman. Will Vincent decide to explore a country that he's never been to?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Not Now (2021)
Noah, an aimless college dropout, is constantly getting swept up in romances that always end in heartbreak. At work, he is paired to train Autumn, an infectious, enigmatic and fun new girl, who challenges his views on love, relationships and life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Drifting Clouds (1996)
The ever-poker-faced Ilona loses her job as a restaurant hostess, as her tram driver husband, Lauri, also finds himself out of work. Together they must hit the streets of Helsinki, facing up to hardship and humiliation in their quest for survival, guided through the gloom by a ray of hope.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Journey to Gyeong-ju (2026)
Eight years ago, the youngest daughter, Gyeong-ju, disappeared during a school field trip to Gyeongju and never came home alive. On what would have been her birthday, her mother Ok-sil and her three daughters—Jang-ju, Young-ju, and Dong-ju—put on matching family T-shirts and set off for Gyeongju, the place where Gyeong-ju vanished, in what appears to be a family trip to honor her memory. But beneath the cheerful façade lies a deadly secret. In the trunk of their van is a bound and unconscious man zipped inside a plastic bag.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster (2008)
Told in four vignettes, this existential comedy relates the exploits of four aspiring criminals who hope to improve their lot, but find that they might not have what it takes for a life of crime.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Running on Empty?
The closest matches to Running on Empty are Head Full of Honey (2018), Until the End of the World (1991) and Kings of the Road (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Running on Empty?
Start with Head Full of Honey (2018), the closest match to Running on Empty.
What is the highest-rated movie like Running on Empty?
Charm City Kings (2020), rated 7.8/10 by 508 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Running on Empty?
The Journey to Gyeong-ju (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Running on Empty?
Yes: Until the End of the World (1991), Kings of the Road (1976) and Wrong Move (1975).
How are movies similar to Running on Empty chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Running on Empty, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.