MovieMagicScore

Stories Best Of

Sign In Sign Up

Feed Movies TV World Cinema Stories Best Of Top Rated In Theaters

Weekly Movie Picks, every Friday to your inbox

Discover

Home
Movies
TV Shows
World Cinema
Best TV Shows
Top Rated
In Theaters
Upcoming

Best Of

Best Movies
Best Action
Best Comedy
Best Drama
Best Horror
Top Actors
Top Directors

Tools

Getting Started
Taste Card
Movie Night Poll
Import from Letterboxd
Import from TV Time
How Ranking Works

Community

Community
Stories
Users

About Us

About Us
Contact
Feedback
Terms of Service
Privacy Policy

Download on the

© 2026 MovieMagicScore. All rights reserved.

Movie data by TMDb|Some links may earn us a commission

Home/Desperate Measures/Similar Movies

Desperate Measures

Movies Like Desperate Measures (1998)

Desperate Measures is a 1998 action, crime, drama, thriller film from Barbet Schroeder with a MovieMagicScore of 6.0/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Breakdown and Too Fat Too Furious.

Action Crime Drama Thriller

Breakdown poster

Breakdown

1997

On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico desert, the two catch a break when a passing truck driver offers Amy a ride to a nearby café to call for help. Meanwhile, Jeff is able to fix the car and make his way to the café, but Amy isn't there. He tracks down the trucker ― who tells the police he's never seen Jeff or his wife before. Jeff then begins a desperate, frenzied search for Amy.

Too Fat Too Furious poster

Too Fat Too Furious

2005

Bennie, a clumsy criminal who's touchy about his weight, teams up with his adoptive father's biological (serial killer) son, his employees who in his absence turned his snack-bar into a quiche bakery, a suicidal manic-depressive woman and a Yugoslavian who keeps blowing things up unintended. They need to get 300000 Euro to get Bennies father a new liver.

The American Friend poster

The American Friend

1977

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King poster

Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King

2022

When the young founder of a collapsing cryptocurrency exchange dies unexpectedly, irate investors suspect there's more to his death than meets the eye.

We're No Angels poster

We're No Angels

1989

Two escaped cons' only prayer to escape is to pass themselves off as priests and pass by the police blockade at the border into the safety of Canada.

Down by Law poster

Down by Law

1986

A disc jockey, a pimp and an Italian tourist escape from jail in New Orleans.

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye poster

Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye

1950

Ralph Cotter, a ruthless criminal, escapes violently from a farm prison. Then, he seduces a dead inmate’s sister, gets back quickly into the crime business, faces corrupt local cops who run the city’s underworld and meets a powerful tycoon’s whimsical daughter.

10 Cloverfield Lane poster

10 Cloverfield Lane

2016

After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.

Obsession poster

Obsession

1949

A British psychiatrist devises a devilish revenge plot against his wife's lover.

Foreign Correspondent poster

Foreign Correspondent

1940

American crime reporter John Jones is reassigned to Europe as a foreign correspondent to cover the imminent war. When he walks into the middle of an assassination and stumbles on a spy ring, he seeks help from a beautiful politician’s daughter and an urbane English journalist to uncover the truth.

Restraint poster

Restraint

2008

Two fugitives land in hot water when they take a hostage who poses a threat to their well-being.

Wisdom poster

Wisdom

1986

Unable to find work after a past felony, graduate John Wisdom and his girlfriend embark on a cross-country bank-robbing spree in order to aid American farmers.

When Did You Last See Your Father? poster

When Did You Last See Your Father?

2007

The story of a son's conflicting memories of his dying father.

Captive poster

Captive

2020

A teenage runaway who’s trapped by a delusional man, pretends to be his daughter in order to escape.

The Captive poster

The Captive

2000

Ariane and Simon met down by the water. Simon has managed to prize Ariane away from her friends, a bunch of free and arrogant girls, and move her into his place, with her own room at the end of the hall and her own bathroom next to his. He has taken on Andrée, one of the girls from the bunch by the water, to watch over Ariane, escort her wherever she goes and report back to him on everything she does. Andrée becomes Ariane’s accomplice. She’ll tell lies for her, and with her, and most likely they’ll make love together when the mood takes them.

Room poster

Room

2015

Held captive for 7 years in an enclosed space, a woman and her young son finally gain their freedom, allowing the boy to experience the outside world for the first time.

Le Cercle Rouge poster

Le Cercle Rouge

1970

When French criminal Corey gets released from prison, he resolves to never return. He is quickly pulled back into the underworld, however, after a chance encounter with escaped murderer Vogel. Along with former policeman and current alcoholic Jansen, they plot an intricate jewel heist. All the while, quirky Police Commissioner Mattei, who was the one to lose custody of Vogel, is determined to find him.

Figures in a Landscape poster

Figures in a Landscape

1970

Two escaped convicts are on the run in an unnamed Latin American country. But everywhere they go, they are followed and hounded by a menacing black helicopter.

The Chase poster

The Chase

1994

Jack Hammond is sentenced to life in prison, but manages to escape. To get away from the police he takes a girl as hostage and drives off in her car. The girl happens to be the only daughter of one of the richest men in the state. In a while the car chase is being broadcast live on every TV-channel.

Why, Charlie Brown, Why? poster

Why, Charlie Brown, Why?

1990

A new girl comes to the neighbourhood school and Linus is smitten with her. Unfortunately, she develops the symptoms of leukemia and must go to the hospital for cancer treatment. Linus and Charlie Brown help her through the traumas of chemotherapy as best they can while Snoopy plays at being the world's greatest doctor.

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like Desperate Measures?

The top films similar to Desperate Measures by MovieMagicScore are Breakdown (6.9), Too Fat Too Furious (5.7), The American Friend (7.1). Each shares action/crime/drama/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is Desperate Measures worth watching?

Desperate Measures holds a MovieMagicScore of 6.0/10 from 302 viewer ratings.

What kind of movie is Desperate Measures?

Desperate Measures (1998) is a action, crime, drama, thriller film directed by Barbet Schroeder, starring Michael Keaton, Andy García, Brian Cox.

Where can I find more recommendations like Desperate Measures?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more action recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Breakdown Movies like Too Fat Too Furious Movies like The American Friend Movies like Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King Movies like We're No Angels Movies like Down by Law

About movies like Desperate Measures

This ranked list pairs Desperate Measures (1998), a action and crime and drama and thriller film from Barbet Schroeder, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Michael Keaton take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

← Back to Desperate Measures