What were the five best documentaries of 2025?

If you’re looking for a great documentary, here are five that stood out in 2025:

5. aka Charlie Sheen

Streaming on: Netflix

Directed by: Andrew Renzi

No living American actor has more insane stories about his Hollywood life than Charlie Sheen. In a two-part feature, Sheen tells many of them that are so unbelievable that you wonder what was left on the cutting room floor. Sheen, 60, has decades’ worth of material to choose from because he has been in the media spotlight most of his life as a nepo baby and an avatar of excess due to his struggles with substance abuse and constantly being on the cover of tabloid magazines. aka Charlie Sheen isn’t perfect, but the documentary delivers what the audience wants— wildly entertaining anecdotes.

4. Surviving Ohio State

Streaming on: HBO Max

Directed by: Eva Orner

The crimes and the cover-up alleged in Surviving Ohio State are enough to make anyone furious. This documentary is based on a 2020 Sports Illustrated cover story by Jon Weirtheim and produced by George Clooney. Surviving Ohio State goes into explicit details about the accusations of Dr. Richard Strauss’ sexual abuse while working as a doctor at Ohio State. It also highlights the heartbreaking stories of the Ohio State wrestlers who were victims of Strauss. What is also maddening is the lack of accountability from those who are still at the university and those who remain in positions of power.

3. Sons of Ecstasy

Streaming on: HBO Max

Directed by: Elli Hakami and Julian P. Hobbs

A documentary on Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano would have been fascinating enough. The mafia enforcer turned government informant is one of the most infamous hitmen in American crime history. Sons of Ecstasy uncovers the true story of his son, Gerard, battling for control of the 1990s ecstasy drug trade in Arizona. The Gravanos have their side of the story. Their nemesis, English stockbroker Shaun Attwood, reveals his version of events. This unexpected rivalry could have been an episode of Breaking Bad with its litany of fascinating characters. What makes Sons of Ecstasy such a captivating watch is the moments of genuine father-and-son affection between the Gravanos.

2. The Alabama Solution

Streaming on: HBO Max

Directed by: Andrew Jarecki and Charlotte Kaufman

When Andrew Jarecki makes something, you should pay attention. He directed one of the best documentaries of the 2000s (Capturing the Friedmans) and one of the best docuseries of the 2010s (The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst). In The Alabama Solution, Jarecki collaborated with Charlotte Kaufman on a film about our broken criminal justice system. The focus is on Alabama, but the problems highlighted here about the treatment of inmates are happening all over the country. Jarecki and Kaufman tell the story thanks to footage from cellphones smuggled into prisons. It’s a shocking indictment of mass incarceration and the failures to show basic human decency.

1. Secret Mall Apartment

Available for rent on: Apple TV, Amazon, YouTube

Directed by: Jeremy Workman

The title says it all. Secret Mall Apartment is the remarkable story of eight people who built a residence inside a Rhode Island shopping mall in 2003. What makes it even more unbelievable is that they managed to keep it hidden for four years while filming their escapades. They weren’t traditional squatters. They were artists. Secret Mall Apartment takes you inside the reasons behind its creation, including a protest against gentrification. Produced by actor Jesse Eisenberg, Secret Mall Apartment asks the question: Was this apartment art, or was it simply a bunch of youngsters who wanted a rent-free place to hang out? Maybe both.

Also recommended:

Pee-wee as Himself (HBO Max)

Sally (Disney+)

Billy Joel: And So It Goes (HBO Max)

Unknown Number: The High School Catfish (Netflix)

The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix)