Film

Nuns on the Run

Name: Nuns on the Run
Genre: Comedy, Crime
Released: 1990
Cast: Eric Idle, Robbie Coltrane, Camille Coduri, Janet Suzman, Doris Hare

Heist
Comedy
Light-hearted

Two low-level criminals on the run hide in a convent disguised as nuns. It's a slapstick farce powered by the chemistry between Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane, who excel at playing criminals badly pretending to be holy. A film that knows exactly what it is: lightweight, silly, endlessly quotable stuff for people who like their comedy broad and their premises ridiculous.

TMDb rating

2.9

If you liked this

Some Like It Hot1959

The template for cross-dressing comedy capers. Two musicians on the lam pose as women in an all-female band. Perfectly constructed, genuinely funny, and it influenced everything that came after, including this.

But It moves at screwball pace and relies on 1950s gender-comedy assumptions that feel period-specific in ways that either charm or alienate you.

The Blues Brothers1980

Two guys in disguise on a mission, pursued by every authority imaginable, destroying Chicago in the process. Absurdist action-comedy with the same anarchic energy and chemistry between leads that makes Nuns on the Run tick.

But The film is bloated and the plot is basically an excuse to string together musical numbers and car chases. Not everyone comes for that.

Withnail & I1987

Two broke men get into increasingly ridiculous situations while fleeing various problems. British comedy that loves its own language and its characters' incompetence. The deadpan delivery and precise script echo Idle's sensibility.

But It's quotable to the point of cult-worship, and if you haven't seen it, everyone assumes you have. The pacing is deliberately slack and some find it meandering.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Nuns on the Run

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Kind Hearts and Coronets1949

Both are crime comedies where charm and disguise matter more than actual competence. Both trust the audience to enjoy criminals being criminals without moral instruction.

Alec Guinness plays eight roles in this blackly comic murder spree within the English upper class. It's a crime caper with wit and genuine darkness, proving broad comedy and real menace can coexist. The template for postwar British black comedy.

But Post-war British attitudes hang over it—class dynamics and some casually ugly assumptions about women and foreigners. Also, the pacing assumes you'll move at a 1949 speed.

Trading Places1983

Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd swap lives after a wealthy bet goes wrong, leading to heists and chaos. Swift, clever, and genuinely surprising in its plotting while staying completely silly throughout.

But The 1980s excess feels very dated, and the comedy occasionally lands on stereotypes that don't age well.

Midnight Run1988

A bounty hunter (Robert De Niro) escorts a criminal across America while being chased by mob, FBI, and other bounty hunters. Road movie energy, two leads with real rapport, and the absurdity builds steadily.

But It's nearly two hours for what is essentially a two-hander, and some scenes sag while waiting for the next setpiece.

The Italian Job1969

Crooks plan an audacious heist with split loyalties, charm, and enough twists to keep you off-balance. Mini Coopers, Michael Caine at his peak, and a finale that subverts every heist rule.

But The pacing in the middle sags, and the film trades on 1960s cool that doesn't automatically translate if you're watching cold.

After Hours1985

A man's night out in downtown Manhattan spirals into surreal nightmare. Scorsese doing comedy, deliberately ugly and chaotic, with the same sense of escalating panic that powers our nuns.

But It's genuinely unpleasant in places and its aesthetic is deliberately graceless. You have to be in the mood for discomfort.

Coming to America1988

An African prince disguises himself as a poor man to find love in New York. Eddie Murphy at full comedic confidence, rubber-faced and joyful, with an enormous supporting cast doing bits.

But It hinges entirely on Murphy's charm, and the film indulges his riffing rather than edit it down. Not everyone finds that endearing.

Hudson Hawk1991

A cat burglar is sprung from prison and forced into an absurd heist involving Leonardo da Vinci. Silly, ambitious, and genuinely committed to its own preposterousness in a way most films aren't.

But Critics hated it. It's camp and plotless and takes itself seriously about nothing. Some see it as wrongheaded; others as unjustly dismissed.

Sister Act1992

Released two years after Nuns on the Run and exploring nearly identical territory—hiding in a convent, fooling nuns, chaos—but from the opposite direction. Sister Act proves how much Nuns on the Run committed to tone over sweetness.

Whoopi Goldberg hides in a convent and transforms the choir. Yes, it's a mainstream hit, but it's actually in the DNA of Nuns on the Run—same setting, same fundamental joke about outsiders infiltrating a religious community, same anarchic energy.

But It went fully sentimental and family-friendly in ways that undercut the inherent absurdity. If you want edge, this isn't it.

Breakfast on Pluto2005

Both use costume and disguise as survival strategy. But where Nuns on the Run is a lark, Pluto is about the cost of performance when the stakes are your safety and your selfhood. The genre shift—from farce to tragicomedy—is the point.

A Dublin trans woman navigates the 1970s Troubles and criminal underworld with makeup, music, and pure survival instinct. Visually sumptuous, genuinely daring, and built on the same engine as Nuns on the Run: a character performing an identity to survive in hostile terrain.

But It's deadly serious underneath the visual effervescence, handling real violence and trauma. The gender politics and Irish history will exclude those not interested. It's not fun in the way Nuns is fun.