85 Best Documentary Movies to WatchMovies Like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) (Page 6)

Depressingly, Scout's Honor isn't necessarily an exposé about the crimes of the Boy Scouts of America because—as the documentary reminds us—this institution has been caught red-handed many times over since its inception, and yet it evades real accountability. The film is more like a renewed call for justice, with its approach being one of blunt force. This means that the documentary can be sloppy, piling on one case after another without much synthesis, and taking out its anger on one current representative of the Boy Scouts, whom the filmmakers constantly interrupt and interrogate during his interview, That said, it's also hard to object to this kind of approach, as the patterns of abuse become too damning to ignore. Maybe a different film will be able to unpack the systems that allow the Boy Scouts to get away with this, but for now this cry of rage is enough.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Director: Brian Knappenberger

Black Barbie is at its best when director Lagueria Davis keeps the story as personal and political as possible. The first half of the documentary is a necessary history lesson about the impact toys have on our racial consciousness, which charmingly ties into Davis’ aunt’s own experience as one of the first Black staff members over at Mattel. Davis then intercuts colorfully set-up talking heads with equally charming scenes of stop-motion Barbies. But if only the entire documentary would just be as realized and focused as this half. The rest, unfortunately, are scattered pieces that never tie into a cohesive whole. At one point, the documentary morphs into a Mattel mouthpiece, and at another, it’s a straightforward roundtable analysis with little to no editing. The quirky flourishes and personal anecdotes that colored the early parts of the documentary are few and far at this point, making it feel ultimately half-baked.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Gabourey Sidibe, Hayley Marie Norman, Misty Copeland, Shonda Rhimes, Virginia Watson

Director: Lagueria Davis

Third dates usually feel more casual than that depicted in Longest Third Date, but with 2020 shifting everyone’s plans, it’s not surprising it shifted romantic relationships too. The documentary doesn’t feel like a factual and organized documentary, cobbled up together from the couple’s vlog and filmed interviews once they got back to the States, but it’s definitely a unique story, one that’s only been saved because of Matt’s influencer aspirations. It’s certainly watchable, with a spry 75-minute runtime, and with understandable conflicts, like flight cancellations and tipped over cars. The film does feel like it glosses things over, and Khani seems to be the private type of person, uncomfortable with the camera, but Longest Third Date, even with all its reality TV style, also feels somewhat like a cultural artifact. It’s not deep, but it does feel like opening a time capsule.

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Khani Le, Matt Robertson

Director: Brent Hodge

Rating: R

Unknown's next documentary installment takes us to the stars following the construction and deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope. The documentary centers on the behind-the-scenes of launching the telescope, which eradicated all possible errors as it was the most expensive operation to enter space without human intervention. Explanations are palatable, and the highlights of their successes and failures are enough for casual viewers. Packed with emotion from NASA's scientists and engineers (and global spectators during Covid), the investment in this project and journey carry the film even though the concepts are too large to condense. 

Genre: Documentary

Actor: Joe Biden

Director: Shai Gal

Rating: G

For the entirety of Where Was I, Trevor Noah is comfortably in his pocket—speaking to an audience that's clearly familiar with his style and his views (if the respectful silences and occasional cheering are any indication) and branching off into sharing more serious facts between the jokes. And Noah's style is clearly refined, as he speaks clearly and sticks to a coherent structure at all times. But at a certain point his level of comfort here also leads to punchlines that are too easy or unsurprising, with too much focus placed on the kinds of voices and accents he can put on rather than the content of what he's saying. Noah remains a strong entertainer, but when you know how scathing he can get, this feels more like a warmup round.

Genre: Comedy, Documentary

Actor: Trevor Noah

Director: David Paul Meyer

Rating: PG-13

This is your bare minimum, bog-standard Netflix true crime documentary covering the infamous Jennifer Pan case. The film focuses on Pan's interrogation tapes, with detectives walking us through their thought process at the time, providing evidence and chilling head nods in reaction to her statements. The value of the film is its micro dissection of the tapes, examining it minute by minute, even line by line, which is an interesting way to learn about the case for the first time. But it feels so banally straightforward without adding anything new or being more informative, that it feels like it was just made to dig up old bones and make a bloated made-for-Netflix docu.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Actor: Alan Cooke, Bill Courtice, Deborah Gladding, Fernando Baldassini, Samantha Chang

Director: Jenny Popplewell

Rating: R

More a clip show than a real stand-up special—and certainly not a documentary about the New York-based comedy club—The Improv: 60 and Still Standing only really seems to be for the most hardcore devotees of American stand-up. But even if you are familiar with all the comics who make an appearance here, the film doesn't give their already brief routines enough time to breathe. They've ostensibly been instructed to prepare their best stuff or to just riff, and the resulting performances are very half-baked, with none of the comedians able to dive into any particularly funny or challenging material. They're all still lightly amusing in different ways, but this movie really could've just been a series of YouTube videos to commemorate The Improv's 60th anniversary.

Genre: Comedy, Documentary

Actor: Anjelah Johnson-Reyes, Bert Kreischer, Craig Robinson, Deon Cole, Fortune Feimster, Jeff Dunham, Jo Koy, Kevin Nealon, Mark Normand, Whitney Cummings

Director: Jeff Tomsic

Rating: R

Amid energetic lights and obnoxious airhorns, Katt Williams makes his way to the stage and quickly greets you with the gospel of crass. His descriptions and premises aren’t anything to write home about as his style is more a boisterous NSFW style that resembles a night of gossip. But for most of this set, you’ll just be thinking about how his performer voice sounds like a cartoon grandma, a southern Spongebob, and “Macho Man” Randy Savage preaching to you all at once. The set had a touchy mental health bit that sucked the life out the room for a moment, but would take an empowering turn in its final third as Williams talks about racism in 2024. It’s a mess, but it finishes strong, at least.

Genre: Comedy, Documentary, TV Movie

Actor: Katt Williams

Director: Troy Miller

Rating: R

The idea of a true-crime documentary being narrated mostly by the very person who did it should be appealing to fans of the genre, especially those who would rather stay away from non-violent crimes. And Vjeran Tomic is a compelling thief, with his own perspective on the people he tends to steal from and the kind of life he thinks he's owed. But by fixating so intensely on the method to the crime, it eventually loses its appeal—eventually becoming clear that there are so many potentially interesting (and more emotional) perspectives to the story that are being left out. Tomic may be a somewhat morally ambiguous criminal, but his testimonials alone, which are accompanied by mostly corny reenactments, can't carry an entire movie that teases but never fully delves into shady dealings in the world of the fine arts.

Genre: Crime, Documentary

Actor: Vjeran Tomic

Director: Jamie Roberts

Rating: NR