Movies Like In the Middle of the Night

If you liked In the Middle of the Night (1984), a drama and comedy movie directed by Erik Balling, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Shelter (2014)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
Hannah and Tahir fall in love while homeless on the streets of New York. Shelter explores how they got there, and as we learn about their pasts we realize they need each other to build a future.
2
Mammal (2016)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the…
3
Cardboard Boxer (2016)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
4
Urchin (2025)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Mike, a rough sleeper in London, is trapped in a cycle of self-destruction as he attempts to turn his life around. Along the way, he encounters unexpected chances for a fresh start.
5
Light Sleeper (1992)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something…
6
Where the Heart Is (1990)
★ 6.2/10Also comedy and drama
A wealthy businessman shows his young adult kids how tough life can be.
7
Night Always Comes (2025)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
Facing eviction in a city her family can no longer afford, a woman plunges into a desperate and increasingly dangerous all-night search to raise $25,000.
8
Heaven Knows What (2015)
★ 6.4/10Also drama
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
9
After Hours (1985)
★ 7.5/10Also comedy and drama
Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman.
10
Small Engine Repair (2021)
★ 6/10Also drama
The seemingly casual reunion of three old friends at an out-of-the-way repair shop masks a hidden agenda fuelled by the arrival of a privileged young yuppie.
11
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.
12
The Saint of Fort Washington (1993)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Matthew, a young schizophrenic, finds himself out on the street when a slumlord tears down his apartment building. Soon, he finds himself in even more dire straits, when he is threatened by Little Leroy, a thug who is…
13
In Bruges (2008)
★ 7.5/10Also comedy and drama
Ray and Ken, two hit men, are in Bruges, Belgium, waiting for their next mission. While they are there they have time to think and discuss their previous assignment. When the mission is revealed to Ken, it is not what…
14
Boys on the Side (1995)
★ 6.4/10Also comedy and drama
After breaking up with her girlfriend, a nightclub singer, Jane, answers a personal ad from Robin, a real estate agent with AIDS, seeking a cross-country travel partner. On their journey from New York City to Los…
15
Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Story about the remarkable friendship between a reclusive writer and illustrator and a chaotic homeless man, whom he gets to know during a campaign to release two charity workers from prison.
16
Barney's Version (2010)
★ 7/10Also comedy and drama
The picaresque and touching story of the politically incorrect, fully lived life of the impulsive, irascible and fearlessly blunt Barney Panofsky.
17
Mikey and Nicky (1976)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Nick is desperate, holed up in a cheap hotel, suffering from an ulcer and convinced that a local mob boss wants him killed. Terrified, he calls Mikey, his friend since childhood and a fellow gangster. So begins a long…
18
Smoke (1995)
★ 7.2/10Also comedy and drama
Writer Paul Benjamin is nearly hit by a bus when he leaves Auggie Wren's smoke shop. Stranger Rashid Cole saves his life, and soon middle-aged Paul tells homeless Rashid that he wouldn't mind a short-term housemate…
19
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
★ 8/10Also drama
The drug-induced utopias of four Coney Island residents are shattered when their addictions run deep.
20
Paid in Full (2002)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing…