Movies Like American Fame Pt. 2: Forgetting Jonathan Brandis

If you liked American Fame Pt. 2: Forgetting Jonathan Brandis (2005), a movie directed by Cam Archer, 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
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere (2025)
★ 6.6/10
Bruce Springsteen, a young musician on the cusp of global superstardom, struggles to reconcile the pressures of success with the ghosts of his past.
2
Robin's Wish (2020)
★ 7/10
The final word in the story of what really happened to Robin Williams at the end of his life, focusing on his fight against a deadly neurodegenerative disorder known as Lewy body dementia.
3
One More Time with Feeling (2016)
★ 7.8/10
Andrew Dominik's One More Time With Feeling is a remarkable black and white documentary which chronicles the creation of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' album Skeleton Tree. Originally a performance based concept, the film…
4
Better Man (2024)
★ 7.6/10
Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the…
5
Maps to the Stars (2014)
★ 6.2/10
Driven by an intense need for fame and validation, members of a dysfunctional Hollywood family chase celebrity, one another, and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Their fragile ecosystem is disrupted by the arrival…
6
I'm Not Ashamed (2016)
★ 7.1/10
Based on the journal entries of Rachel Joy Scott, the first student killed in the Columbine High School shooting in 1999.
7
Ordinary People (1980)
★ 7.5/10
Beth, Calvin, and their son Conrad are living in the aftermath of the death of the other son. Conrad is overcome by grief and misplaced guilt to the extent of a suicide attempt. He is in therapy. Beth had always…
8
Strange Weather (2016)
★ 5.9/10
Years after her son's suicide, a woman longs to confront both the past and a friend of his who took his business idea.
9
Collateral Beauty (2016)
★ 7.2/10
Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of…
10
All the Bright Places (2020)
★ 7.6/10
Two teens facing personal struggles form a powerful bond as they embark on a cathartic journey chronicling the wonders of Indiana.
11
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
★ 8.1/10
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still loves her, and…
12
Short Cuts (1993)
★ 7.2/10
Many loosely connected characters cross paths in this film, based on the stories of Raymond Carver. Waitress Doreen Piggot accidentally runs into a boy with her car. Soon after walking away, the child lapses into a…
13
Prayers for Bobby (2009)
★ 8.1/10
Bobby Griffith was his mother's favorite son, the perfect all-American boy growing up under deeply religious influences in Walnut Creek, California. Bobby was also gay. Struggling with a conflict no one knew of, much…
14
The Beaver (2011)
★ 6.4/10
Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his…
15
Everybody’s Everything (2019)
★ 8.4/10
The story of artist Lil Peep from his birth in Long Island and meteoric rise as a genre blending pop star & style icon, to his death due to an accidental opioid overdose in Arizona at just 21 years of age.
16
Dear Evan Hansen (2021)
★ 6.2/10
Evan Hansen, a high schooler with social anxiety, unintentionally gets caught up in a lie after the family of a classmate who committed suicide mistakes one of Hansen’s letters for their son’s suicide note.
17
The Sense of an Ending (2017)
★ 6.3/10
A man becomes haunted by his past and is presented with a mysterious legacy that causes him to re-think his current situation in life.
18
Back to Black (2024)
★ 6.7/10
The extraordinary story of Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame from her early days in Camden through the making of her groundbreaking album, Back to Black that catapulted Winehouse to global fame. Told through Amy’s…
19
Mārama (2026)
★ 6.3/10
1859. When a young Māori woman is summoned from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers her horrific colonial heritage and is compelled to confront and destroy the titled Englishman who devastated her family.
20
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2018)
★ 7.9/10
A funny, intimate and heartbreaking portrait of one of the world’s most beloved and inventive comedians, Robin Williams, told largely through his own words. Celebrates what he brought to comedy and to the culture at…