Best movies like Smithereens

Similar in 81%

The Runaways (2010)

Plot Summary:

Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, two rebellious teenagers from Southern California, become the frontwomen for the Runaways -- the now-legendary group that paved the way for future generations of female rockers. Under the Svengalilike influence of impresario Kim Fowley, the band becomes a huge success.

Similar in 85%

Times Square (1980)

Plot Summary:

Two ill-matched teenage girls form a punk band and soon have New York by its ears.

Similar in 79%

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)

Plot Summary:

Corrine Burns retreats far into plans for her band, The Fabulous Stains, after her mother's death.

Similar in 79%

We Are the Best! (2013)

Plot Summary:

Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk band -- despite not having any instruments and being told by everyone that punk is dead.

Similar in 83%

Desperate Teenage Lovedolls (1984)

Plot Summary:

Two girls rediscover their love for playing rock, find a drummer and begin practicing. When one of their mothers intervenes, they run away from home and are forced to fend for themselves on the streets against gangs and rival bands. Soon they are discovered and taken under the wing of rock manager Johnny Tremaine (played by Steven McDonald) who uses them for sex and his own aspirations of wealth. The Love Dolls set out to get revenge on those who have wronged them, and rise to the top of the rock world.

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Last Days (2005)

Plot Summary:

The life and struggles of a notorious rock musician seeping into a pit of loneliness whose everyday life involves friends and family seeking financial aid and favors, inspired by rock music legend Kurt Cobain and his final hours.

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Rock Star (2001)

Plot Summary:

Rock Star tells the story of Chris Cole and a rock band called Steel Dragon. Cole is a photocopier technician by day, and the lead singer of a Steel Dragon tribute band called "Blood Pollution" by night.Internal struggles between the Steel Dragon band members culminate with the firing of the lead singer, Bobby Beers and the starting of recruitment sessions to find a new vocalist. Loosely inspired by the true story of the heavy metal band Judas Priest.

Similar in 89%

What We Do Is Secret (2007)

Plot Summary:

A biopic of punk legend Darby Crash and his band, the Germs.

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Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)

Plot Summary:

In Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, gifted but volatile folk musician Llewyn Davis struggles with money, relationships, and his uncertain future following the suicide of his singing partner.

Similar in 84%

The Mambo Kings (1992)

Plot Summary:

The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.

Similar in 86%

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

Plot Summary:

Tony Manero is a Brooklyn paint-store clerk who'd give anything to break out of his dead-end existence. In life, Tony is a peasant; on the disco dance floor, he's a king. As the soundtrack plays one Bee Gees hit after another, white-suited Tony struts his stuff amidst flashing lights and sweaty, undulating bodies. Tony's class aspirations are mirrored in his relationship with his dance partner, a secretary eager to move into the glamorous world of Manhattan.

Similar in 76%

Prey for Rock & Roll (2003)

Plot Summary:

Prey for Rock & Roll is set in the Los Angeles club scene of the late 1980s and follows the story of Jacki (Gershon) and her all-girl punk rock band, Clam Dandy. On the verge of turning 40, Jacki decides that if the band's one last shot at the big time is unsuccessful, she will give up her dreams of stardom. Along the way, the women are rocked by personal tragedies that threaten to break up the band before they can get their last shot at success.

Similar in 75%

Georgia (1995)

Plot Summary:

Sadie looks up to her older sister Georgia, a successful folk singer who's happily married with children, but can't break out of the bar-band circuit and hit the big time she desperately covets. It's in part due to her attraction to drugs and booze, and also to her own unwise choice in men. Finally, though, Sadie's Achilles heel is a rough, unlovely voice very different than her sister's crowd-pleasing singing.

Similar in 90%

Lackawanna Blues (2005)

Plot Summary:

In a story fueled by rhythm and blues, a young boy's life is shaped by love and the stories of a cast of characters in the boarding house where he lives in 1960s Lackawanna, New York.

Similar in 82%

54 (1998)

Plot Summary:

Shane, a Jersey boy with big dreams, crosses the river in hopes of finding a more exciting life at Studio 54. When Steve Rubell, the mastermind behind the infamous disco, plucks Shane from the sea of faces clamoring to get inside his club, Shane not only gets his foot in the door, but lands a coveted job behind the bar – and a front-row seat at the most legendary party on the planet.

Similar in 84%

Pump Up the Volume (1990)

Plot Summary:

Mark Hunter is an intelligent but shy teenager who has just moved to suburban Arizona from New York. Unbeknownst to his parents and peers, at 10pm each school night Mark takes to the shortwave radio in his basement and transforms into pirate DJ "Hard Harry". Mark's show, at once thoughtful and profane, becomes an underground hit with students at his high school, inspiring the wrath of his principal and the Federal Communications Commission [FCC].