Movies like Failing Up (2018)
The best movies like Failing Up (2018) are The Sweet East (2023), The Mouse That Roared (1959) and The Fountainhead (1949). If Failing Up hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTaxi Driver (1976)8.1/10 from 14,011 votes
- NewestA House of Dynamite (2025)Released 2025
The Sweet East (2023)
A picaresque journey through contemporary America, undertaken by a young woman granted access to the strange sects and cults that proliferate in this country by a series of gatekeepers eager to win her over.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mouse That Roared (1959)
The Duchy of Grand Fenwick decides that the only way to get out of their economic woes is to declare war on the United States, lose and accept foreign aid. They send an invasion force (in chain mail, armed with bows and arrows) to New York and they arrive during a nuclear drill that has cleared the streets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fountainhead (1949)
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Dinner with Andre (1981)
Wally, a struggling playwright and actor, reluctantly agrees to catch up with his old friend Andre, a theater director who disappeared several years prior in order to travel the world. Meeting at a posh Manhattan restaurant, the two share life stories, anecdotes and philosophical musings over the course of an evening meal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson (2008)
Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true "free lance, " goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steel-eyed conviction for writing wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday, 1965 to 1975, the film includes clips of never-before-seen (nor heard) home movies, audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrust (2021)
Set in the glamour of the New York and Paris art scenes, gallery owner Brooke Gatwick and her newscaster husband Owen Shore, face temptation, jealousy, twists and mystery when two seductive newcomers enter their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRequiem for the American Dream (2015)
Through interviews filmed over four years, Noam Chomsky unpacks the principles that have brought us to the crossroads of historically unprecedented inequality – tracing a half-century of policies designed to favor the most wealthy at the expense of the majority – while also looking back on his own life of activism and political participation. He provides penetrating insight into what may well be the lasting legacy of our time – the death of the middle class, and swan song of functioning democracy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTaxi Driver (1976)
Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the streets nightly, growing increasingly detached from reality as he dreams of cleaning up the filthy city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisIn the Realms of the Unreal (2004)
In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaqoyqatsi (2002)
A visual montage portrait of our contemporary world dominated by globalized technology and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013)
In New York, a Pakistani native finds that his American Dream has collapsed in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuilty by Suspicion (1991)
Owing to his alleged involvement with communist parties, film director David Merrill is forbidden from working in Hollywood. He decides to fight for his rights and faces numerous challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this25th Hour (2002)
On the eve of a seven-year prison sentence, a New York drug dealer spends his final day of freedom confronting his past, his relationships, and the choices that led to his downfall in a city still reeling from 9/11.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA House of Dynamite (2025)
When a single, unattributed missile is launched at the United States, a race begins to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSynecdoche, New York (2008)
A theater director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he attempts to create a life-size replica of New York inside a warehouse as part of his new play.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Trouble with Angels (1966)
Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Goldfinch (2019)
A boy in New York is taken in by a wealthy family after his mother is killed in a bombing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a rush of panic, he steals 'The Goldfinch', a painting that eventually draws him into a world of crime.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWorth (2021)
Kenneth Feinberg, a powerful D.C. lawyer appointed Special Master of the 9/11 Fund, fights off the cynicism, bureaucracy, and politics associated with administering government funds and, in doing so, discovers what life is worth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamsara (2011)
Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, and shot on seventy-millimetre film, Samsara transports us to the varied worlds of sacred grounds, disaster zones, industrial complexes, and natural wonders.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Super (1991)
Louie Kritski is a heartless landlord who has been so negligent in keeping up his ghetto apartment that he is threatened with jail time. The judge gives him another option -- he must live in his rat-infested hell hole until he brings it up to liveable standards.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Failing Up?
The closest matches to Failing Up are The Sweet East (2023), The Mouse That Roared (1959) and The Fountainhead (1949). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Failing Up?
Start with The Sweet East (2023), the closest match to Failing Up.
What is the highest-rated movie like Failing Up?
Taxi Driver (1976), rated 8.1/10 by 14,011 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Failing Up?
A House of Dynamite (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Failing Up?
Yes: The Sweet East (2023), The Mouse That Roared (1959) and The Fountainhead (1949).
How are movies similar to Failing Up chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Failing Up, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.