Movies Like Common Characters

If you liked Common Characters (2021), a movie directed by Lisa Janae Bacon, 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
Sing Sing (2024)
★ 7.4/10
Divine G, imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
2
Marvellous (2014)
★ 7.1/10
Dramatisation of the true story of the life of Neil "Nello" Baldwin. Born with a mild learning disability but without the burden of social embarrassment & how his inexhaustible ability to see the good in any…
3
Clouds (2020)
★ 8.2/10
Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral music phenomenon.
4
Swiped (2025)
★ 6.6/10
Whitney Wolfe uses extraordinary grit and ingenuity to break into the male-dominated tech industry.
5
The Human Voice (2020)
★ 6.7/10
A woman watches time pass beside the suitcases of her ex-lover (who is supposed to come pick them up but never arrives) and a restless dog who doesn't understand that his master has abandoned him.
6
A Walk to Remember (2002)
★ 7.7/10
When the popular, restless Landon Carter is forced to participate in the school drama production, he falls in love with Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's minister. Jamie has a "to-do" list for her life, as…
7
I Used to Be Funny (2024)
★ 6.7/10
Sam, an aspiring stand-up comedian and au pair struggling with PTSD, weighs whether to join the search for Brooke, a missing teenage girl she used to nanny. As she fights to recover from her trauma and return to the…
8
Gia (1998)
★ 7.1/10
Gia Carangi meteorically rises to modeling fame in the late 1970s but becomes overconsumed by persistent loneliness and drug addiction.
9
Author! Author! (1982)
★ 6/10
A broadway playwright is burning the candle at both ends. He is dealing with pressure from a production nearing premiere, a wife who is leaving him, and 5 children 4 of which belong to her.
10
Stage Door (1937)
★ 7.1/10
A spirited heiress wishing to break into theatre on her own merit arrives at a boardinghouse where aspiring young actresses and showgirls are brought together through their cynicism and disappointments.
11
Son of Rambow (2007)
★ 6.7/10
Will is looking for an escape from his family when he encounters Lee, the school bully. Armed with a video camera and a copy of Rambo, Lee plans to make his own action-packed video epic.
12
The Disaster Artist (2017)
★ 7.1/10
An aspiring actor in Hollywood meets an enigmatic stranger by the name of Tommy Wiseau, the meeting leads the actor down a path nobody could have predicted; creating the worst movie ever made.
13
House of D (2004)
★ 6.3/10
In the present, artist Tom Warshaw recalls his traumatic coming of age. As a 13-year-old growing up in New York City in 1973, Tom hangs out with Pappass, a mentally disabled man. With Tom's mother battling depression…
14
Wasp (2003)
★ 7.2/10
Zoë is a single mother who lives with her four children in Dartford. She is poor and can't afford to buy food. One day her old flame drives by and asks her to go on a date with him. Scared that he doesn't want to go…
15
Rent (2005)
★ 6.8/10
In New York City's gritty East Village, a group of bohemians strive for success and acceptance while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic.
16
3 Generations (2016)
★ 6.4/10
A teenager transitions from female to male, and his family must come to terms with that fact.
17
Glory Road (2006)
★ 7.4/10
In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
18
The F**k-It List (2020)
★ 6/10
After a prank blows up a studious high school senior's life, he shares a list of certain things he wishes he'd done differently — and maybe still can.
19
Jobs (2013)
★ 6.1/10
The story of Steve Jobs' ascension from college dropout into one of the most revered creative entrepreneurs of the 20th century.
20
Breathe (2017)
★ 7.4/10
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.