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Hunt for the Wilderpeople poster

Movies that feel likeHunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

Ricky is a defiant young city kid who finds himself on the run with his cantankerous foster uncle in the wild New Zealand bush. A national manhunt ensues, and the two are forced to put aside their differences and work together to survive.

If you loved Hunt for the Wilderpeople, the closest films we have are Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), Eighth Grade (2018) and The Squid and the Whale (2005). All three share Hunt for the Wilderpeople's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Slums of Beverly Hills (1998).

🍅 97% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Taika Waititiepicwittyplayfulcontemplativewistful
5 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Paramount Plus Essential

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If Hunt for the Wilderpeople hit the spot, these will too

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl poster
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
2015 · dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
🍅 81%★ 7.7drama · comedyRent or buy

Both are built on the same subject: growing up

The difference: Goes its own way on the scale

Greg is coasting through senior year of high school as anonymously as possible, avoiding social interactions like the plague while secretly making spirited, bizarre films with Earl, his only friend. But both his anonymity and friendship threaten to unravel when his mother forces him to befriend a classmate with leukemia.

Eighth Grade poster
Eighth Grade
2018 · dir. Bo Burnham
🍅 99%★ 7.3comedy · dramaNetflix

One thread runs through both: growing up

Thirteen-year-old Kayla endures the tidal wave of contemporary suburban adolescence as she makes her way through the last week of middle school — the end of her thus far disastrous eighth grade year — before she begins high school.

The Squid and the Whale poster
The Squid and the Whale
2005 · dir. Noah Baumbach
🍅 91%★ 7.3comedy · dramaNetflix

The same mix in both: wit, then play

Based on the true childhood experiences of Noah Baumbach and his brother, The Squid and the Whale tells the touching story of two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.

3 Idiots poster
3 Idiots
2009 · dir. Rajkumar Hirani
🍅 94%★ 8.4drama · comedy

Contemplative where it counts, wistful underneath

Rascal. Joker. Dreamer. Genius... You've never met a college student quite like "Rancho." From the moment he arrives at India's most prestigious university, Rancho's outlandish schemes turn the campus upside down—along with the lives of his two newfound best friends. Together, they make life miserable for "Virus," the school’s uptight and heartless dean. But when Rancho catches the eye of the dean's daughter, Virus sets his sights on flunking out the "3 idiots" once and for all.

Rushmore poster
Rushmore
1998 · dir. Wes Anderson
🍅 90%★ 7.6comedy · drama

Comedy built on wit, twice over

When a beautiful first-grade teacher arrives at a prep school, she soon attracts the attention of an ambitious teenager named Max, who quickly falls in love with her. Max turns to the father of two of his schoolmates for advice on how to woo the teacher. However, the situation soon gets complicated when Max's new friend becomes involved with her, setting the two pals against one another in a war for her attention.

Slums of Beverly Hills poster
Slums of Beverly Hills
1998 · dir. Tamara Jenkins
🍅 82%★ 6.7comedy · drama

Both lean on play more than on drama

In 1976, a teenage girl struggles to cope while living with her neurotic lower-middle-class family of nomads on the outskirts of Beverly Hills.

Vacation poster
Vacation
2015 · dir. John Francis Daley
🍅 27%★ 6.2comedy · adventureParamount+

Epic adventure in both cases

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

Hoping to bring his family closer together and to recreate his childhood vacation for his own kids, a grown up Rusty Griswold takes his wife and their two sons on a cross-country road trip to the coolest theme park in America, Walley World. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle poster
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
2018 · dir. Andy Serkis
🍅 51%★ 6.5adventure · dramaNetflix

Epic adventure, and it commits to that

A human child raised by wolves, must face off against a menacing tiger named Shere Khan, as well as his own origins.

Booksmart poster
Booksmart
2019 · dir. Olivia Wilde
🍅 96%★ 7.1comedyRent or buy

Comedy with a pulse of wistfulness, in both cases

Two academic teenage superstars realize, on the eve of their high school graduation, that they should have worked less and played more. Determined to never fall short of their peers, the girls set out on a mission to cram four years of fun into one night.

Breaking Away poster
Breaking Away
1979 · dir. Peter Yates
🍅 95%★ 7.7drama · comedy

Contemplative drama, and it commits to that

The difference: 37 years apart, and the 1970s show

Dave, nineteen, has just graduated high school, with his three friends: the comical Cyril, the warm hearted but short-tempered Moocher, and the athletic, spiteful but good-hearted Mike. Now, Dave enjoys racing bikes and hopes to race the Italians one day, and even takes up the Italian culture, much to his friends' and parents' annoyance.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. poster
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
2015 · dir. Guy Ritchie
🍅 68%★ 7.2comedy · action · adventure

Adventure with a pulse of scale, in both cases

The difference: Played as action first

At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe.

American Reunion poster
American Reunion
2012 · dir. Jon Hurwitz
🍅 45%★ 6.7comedy

Witty comedy in both cases

The characters we met a little more than a decade ago return to East Great Falls for their high school reunion. In one long-overdue weekend, they will discover what has changed, who hasn’t, and that time and distance can’t break the bonds of friendship.

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The best-reviewed films that share Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s defining feeling.