Movies Like American Beauty

If you liked American Beauty (1999), a drama movie directed by Sam Mendes, 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
From Straight A's to XXX (2017)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
When a change of circumstances leaves Miriam unable to pay her college tuition, she makes a surprising decision: to start performing in adult films, using the pseudonym Belle Knox. Miriam lies to her family and her…
2
Careful What You Wish For (2015)
★ 6.1/10Also drama
A guy gets more than he bargained for after entering into an affair with the wife of an investment banker. Soon, a suspicious death and substantial life insurance policy embroil him in a scandal.
3
Addicted (2014)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
A gallerist risks her family and flourishing career when she enters into an affair with a talented painter and slowly loses control of her life.
4
May December (2023)
★ 6.6/10Also drama
Twenty years after their notorious tabloid romance gripped the nation, a married couple buckles under the pressure when an actress arrives to do research for a film about their past.
5
The Ledge (2011)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A thriller in which a battle of philosophies between a fundamentalist Christian and an atheist who shares an apartment with a gay friend escalates into a lethal battle of wills.
6
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…
7
Deep Water (2022)
★ 5.8/10Also drama
A well-to-do husband who allows his wife to have affairs in order to avoid a divorce becomes a prime suspect in the disappearance of her lovers.
8
Effie Gray (2014)
★ 6/10Also drama
A look at the mysterious relationship between Victorian art critic John Ruskin and his teenage bride Effie Gray.
9
Nocturnal Animals (2016)
★ 7.4/10Also drama
Susan Morrow receives a book manuscript from her ex-husband – a man she left 20 years earlier – asking for her opinion of his writing. As she reads, she is drawn into the fictional life of Tony Hastings, a mathematics…
10
Adulterers (2016)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
On a steamy New Orleans afternoon, Sam Deuprey decides to surprise his beautiful wife, Ashley, for their anniversary and comes home early. But Ashley is not alone in the bedroom. She and her lover, Damien are about to…
11
The Crush (1993)
★ 6.7/10Also drama
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
12
Dream Lover (1994)
★ 6.8/10Also drama
Not long after they cross paths at an art gallery, architect Ray Reardon and hypnotically sensual Lena are married with children. But as strange incidents occur, Ray begins to realize he may not really know the woman…
13
Magnolia (1999)
★ 7.7/10Also drama
On one random day in the San Fernando Valley, a dying father, a young wife, a male caretaker, a famous lost son, a police officer in love, a boy genius, an ex-boy genius, a game show host and an estranged daughter will…
14
The Only Living Boy in New York (2017)
★ 6.3/10Also drama
When a young man learns that his overbearing father is having an affair, he tries to stop it, only to be seduced by the older woman as well.
15
Crash (1996)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A car crash victim inexplicably finds himself aroused by car accidents and becomes involved with an underground subculture of like-minded souls.
16
Butterfly on a Wheel (2007)
★ 6.5/10Also drama
A sociopathic kidnapper methodically pushes a desperate pair of parents to their absolute breaking point.
17
Nightmare Alley (2021)
★ 6.9/10Also drama
An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.
18
Blonde (2022)
★ 5.9/10Also drama
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, this reimagined fictional portrait of Hollywood legend Marilyn Monroe blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore…
19
Heatwave (2022)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
A woman's life takes an unexpected turn when she falls for her boss's wife. She must soon defend herself as she becomes entangled in a web of malice.
20
The Babysitters (2008)
★ 6/10Also drama
Seventeen-year-old Shirley is a good student who works as a babysitter in order to make money for college. One night Michael, a father Shirley works for, confesses he's unhappy with married life. Shirley has a crush on…