Top 100 Sex Movies

Top 100 Sex Movies
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Justin Kirkland is a writer for Esquire, where he focuses on television, pop culture, food, and the south; he is from East Tennessee and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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From Oscar winners to comedy romps, these films explore the range of cinematic sexuality.
Sex is at the core of a lot the greatest movies ever made . It is the most natural of human fascinations—a biological need we spend our lifetimes trying to understand and perfect, which explains why it makes for great drama and great comedy .
The art of seduction is not unlike that of film. What is left to the imagination is often what viewers end up wanting to see the most. Whether it’s just out of frame or just out of touch, a healthy dose of yearning can edge us toward the gratifying moment of passion, even if it never ends up being shown. A tender close-up would otherwise be anti-climactic if not for its initial absence.
Here, we celebrate the sexiest movies of all time—the films where sensuality, romance, attraction, and the need for physical touch are driving forces in the narrative. Whether it’s in sophomoric explorations, gut-wrenching unspoken tensions, or the simple deed itself, sex and film have been entangled together as far back as the medium has existed. These are the best movies about lust, love, and everything in between.
Nothing like a bit of art mixed with horror and satire to get the blood pumping. Velvet Buzzsaw stars Jake Gyllenhaal in an oddly steamy film (seriously, the sex appeal in the film makes no sense, but it is there ) about a supernatural force that comes for those in the art world whose desire for more has overtaken their appreciation of art.
People don't give Steven Soderbergh's Magic Mike the credit it deserves. Following an adult entertainer who takes a newcomer under his wing, the film is the definition of sex appeal, with a buffet of sexy scenes and dance sequences. But what makes it a great is that its plot is pretty solid, as well... a rarity in a film with this much steam.
The Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer Italian-set summer romance about a teenage boy who falls in love with his father's apprentice is absolutely electric. Awkward at times, it perfectly captures the excitement and longing of wanting to be with someone despite having no idea what you're doing.
Based on a true story, this 2019 crime drama stars Constance Wu, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo, and Cardi B as a group of New York strippers who rob rich Wall Street douchebags after drugging them during a night out.
Olivia Colman, Rachel Weisz, and Emma Stone star as Queen Anne, Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, and Abigail Masham in Yorgos Lanthimos's incredible 2018 dark period comedy. The film follows the love triangle and political power jockeying between Sarah and Abigail as they fight for the queen's love and attention. All three leads were nominated for acting Academy Awards, with Colman winning for Best Actress.
One of the most critically acclaimed movies of the last few years, Portrait of a Lady on Fire follows the artistic love affair between Héloïse and Marianne on the coast of Brittany in the 1770s.
Taron Egerton won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Elton John in this 2019 biopic musical. The film focuses on John's fight for sobriety after a career marked by hard partying and substance abuse. The film has also been praised by Esquire for its realistic depiction of a gay sex scene .
Shot in sensual black and white, Sam Levinson's ( Euphoria ) Malcolm & Marie stars John David Washington and Zendaya as a young couple whose relationship is challenged on the night of his latest movie premiere .
From acclaimed director Park Chan-wook, The Handmaiden is a period drama set in colonial Korea and Japan. Based on Sarah Waters’s novel, Fingersmith , The Handmaiden tells the story of two women, one Japanese heiress and one Korean woman. The two have come to serve her, but they fall into a deeply lustful rendezvous. The heated relationship is dialed up even further, however, by an underlying crime: the relationship is a scam to seduce the heiress into losing her inheritance.
Think: Dirty Booksmart . Aubrey Plaza stars as a high school valedictorian determined to cross off her “to-do list” of sexual acts in the summer before she enters college. With supporting performances from Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Johnny Simmons, and Sarah Steele, this hilariously candid exploration captures the naive energy of an Urban Dictionary dive gone too far.
When you feel it, you feel it. And, for a Guillermo del Toro protagonist, sometimes that means feeling it for an amphibious humanoid stuck inside of the high-security government laboratory where you work. Both a tender love story and a sci-fi feat, The Shape of Water shows that love heeds no bounds or glass enclosures. It also shows just how important a bathtub can be for a single person on the go.
Robert Eggers’s analysis of two stranded lightkeepers, played by Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe, isolated on a remote island together for two weeks is as bizarre as it is strangely horny. Along with a marathon of ebbing homoerotic tension, the film features an infamous scene between Pattinson and a mermaid figurine. The product is visceral, unnerving, and subtly sexual.
While its themes span much further than sexual exploration, 2016 Best Picture winner Moonlight provides a beautifully dynamic presentation of its protagonist’s sexuality. Following the life of Chiron, a young, queer Black man growing up in Miami, the film’s sensual cinematography and weighted tones of latent sexual expression paint a vivid and complex exploration of identity. Its masterful sex scene is one to be studied by filmmakers for years to come, as it balances subtlety with poignancy, and withholding with release.
If there were ever an adolescent movie that captured the painfully hilarious stereotypes of being a horny teen, Wet Hot American Summer is top of the list. It’s the perfect parody of a coming of age movie, keeping with the clichés of barely dressed women emerging from a body of water, awkward first times, and a feathered-haired Amy Poehler. That last part is kind of niche to this film, but important nonetheless.
When Dane Cook is in a movie, it’s best to temper expectations. Nevertheless, the tale about a guy who seems to be a good luck charm for women unlucky in love is surprisingly sweet. Granted, the premise is that any time Dane Cook sleeps with a woman, she soon after gets married. There are a lot of weddings in the film, so… you do the math.
Booksmart elevates the horny coming of age genre with a bit more of a thoughtful spin on leaving high school and your best friends behind. Make no mistake though, it doesn’t miss the opportunity to lean into one universal teenage truth—always thinking about sex. One of the best scenes involves a van, a principal, a porn, and a cringeworthy phone volume issue that is all too relatable.
Two roommates—played by Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogen—get in some financial shit, so they try to make some money in the adult film biz. Stay away if you’re not ready to let Star Whores ruin your childhood.
Before a movie about nerds and numbers became our favorite baseball flick, there was Bull Durham —where Kevin Costner’s Crash Davis and Susan Sarandon’s Annie Savoy find themselves doing the only thing that could make minor league baseball interesting.
Two star-crossed ballers try to make a relationship work amidst coach-enforced curfews and the beckoning of D-1 basketball. Featuring what’s probably the only one-on-one game of strip mini-hoops depicted in the history of the moving image.
Stanley Kubrick’s final film stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman in an adaptation of a modernist Austrian novella. It’s also pretty much all about sex, with Cruise and Kidman playing a married couple navigating a truly astonishing number of romantic temptations—including a potentially murderous masked orgy cult.
In between breaking each other’s hearts in Blue Valentine, Ryan Gosling and Michelle William find time for a sexual encounter often lauded as one of the most authentic oral sex scenes committed to film.
Atonement is a heavy WWII-era film about the human cost of life-ruining lies, but damn if it doesn’t have the sultriest library sex scene of all time.
Of all the superhero movies, Deadpool is certainly the horniest—a film based on the sexual chemistry between Ryan Reynolds’s Wade and Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa. As you’ll notice throughout the film, these two lovebirds really enjoy having sex! Good for them!
Paul Thomas Anderson's porn epic reveals a behind-the-scenes look at the industry's heyday in the late '70s and early '80s.
A pair of horned-up, upper-crust Manhattan teens (and step-siblings) scheme to bring social ruin upon their classmates in this sexed-up update of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
This erotic thriller is notorious for Kevin Bacon's nude scene and a threesome between Denise Richards, Neve Campbell, and Matt Dillon.
An Englishman and an American woman go to a bunch of concerts and then have a lot of sex. That's...pretty much it.
I guess if you're planning to cheat on Richard Gere, Olivier Martinez is as good a choice as any.
Not the one about how everybody in Los Angeles is secretly racist—this movie is about people who get really horny over car crashes.
Kathleen Turner plays a Floridian femme fatale in this neo-noir, who easily convinces William Hurt's dimwit lawyer to help her murder her husband.
Three teenage boys embark on a mission to lose their virginity before leaving high school, and manic hijinks ensue.
A group of teenage girls vow to lose their virginity on prom night—but not if their parents succeed in their mission to stop them.
Name a sexier horror-comedy-musical. We'll wait.
Gaspar Noé's 3D fuckfest probably isn't as mind-blowing on your laptop, but the unsimulated sex scenes are still pretty steamy.
Sure, it's a little cheesy, but name a sexy movie that is this funny (especially since it's not meant to be).
This is the movie that Fifty Shades wanted to be, and you can't beat the creepy chemistry between Kim Basinger and Mickey Rourke.
Make no mistake: The lead character in this two-part, four-hour art film is very horny. But it's a Lars Von Trier movie, so it's potentially less sexy than you think.
This might be the only movie about a madcap search for a pack of condoms. It's a sex comedy with a safe sex message!
What enterprising young man wouldn't operate an escort service out of his home when his parents are out of town?
The lead character in this film is so horny that he'll willingly sleep with a guy who he assumes might also be a serial killer.
A generation of Hollywood stars appeared in this comedy that revealed the not-so-secret sex lives of California teenagers.
Jason Biggs is probably not the only actor in Hollywood whose claim to fame comes from having sex with food. But his tryst with a pie is iconic nonetheless.
One of the sexiest coming-of-age stories follows two teenagers who take a road trip with an older woman. Think of all the possibilities!
They're more than friends, but they're not dating. They're simply boning. A lot.
Steve Carell's titular character tries to use it before he loses it in Judd Apatow's grown-up sex comedy.
It's the movie that convinced white women that they could rock cornrows—and dudes who looked like Dudley Moore that they could land women who looked like Bo Derek.
What do you do when you find out your neighbor is a former porn star? Ask her to prom, of course.
Inspired by the true story of Henry Miller's affair with French writer Anaïs Nin, this is the movie responsible for the creation of the NC-17 rating.

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Critics Consensus: A sensual and hypnotic masterpiece, La Belle Noiseuse luxuriates in its four-hour run time while holding audience attention.
Synopsis: A young model (Jane Birkin) replacing his wife (Emmanuelle Béart) inspires a tired painter (Michel Piccoli) to pick up a... [More]
Critics Consensus: Made from classic noir ingredients and flavored with a heaping helping of steamy modern spice, Body Heat more than lives up to its evocative title.
Synopsis: Shyster lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) begins a passionate affair with Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), wife of a wealthy Florida... [More]
Critics Consensus: In his feature directorial debut, Steven Soderbergh demonstrates a mastery of his craft well beyond his years, pulling together an outstanding cast and an intelligent script for a nuanced, mature film about neurosis and human sexuality.
Synopsis: Ann (Andie MacDowell) is trapped in a sexually and emotionally unfulfilled relationship with her husband, John (Peter Gallagher), a successful... [More]
Critics Consensus: Smart and utterly original, The Draughtsman's Contract is a period piece that marks the further maturation of a writer-director with a thrillingly unique vision.
Synopsis: Mr. Neville (Anthony Higgins), a brash young draftsman, is hired to make 12 landscape illustrations at the estate of Mr.... [More]
Critics Consensus: The Handmaiden uses a Victorian crime novel as the loose inspiration for another visually sumptuous and absorbingly idiosyncratic outing from director Park Chan-wook.
Synopsis: With help from an orphaned pickpocket (Kim Tae-ri), a Korean con man (Ha Jung-woo) devises an elaborate plot to seduce... [More]
Critics Consensus: It may be a chamber piece but Weekend 's revelations on modern sexuality expand far beyond the modest setting.
Synopsis: A gay man's (Tom Cullen) weekend-long encounter with an artist (Chris New) changes his life in unexpected ways.... [More]
Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Synopsis: Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre... [More]
Critics Consensus: Call Me by Your Name offers a melancholy, powerfully affecting portrait of first love, empathetically acted by Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer.
Synopsis: It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century... [More]
Critics Consensus: Stylish, sensual, and smart, The Duke of Burgundy proves that erotic cinema can have genuine substance.
Synopsis: Two entomologists (Sidse Babett Knudsen, Chiara D'Anna) play ritual games of dominance and subservience.... [More]
Critics Consensus: Sexy, smart, and darkly humorous, Stranger by the Lake offers rewarding viewing for adult filmgoers in search of thought-provoking drama.
Synopsis: Franck falls in love with Michel, an attractive, potent and lethally dangerous man.... [More]
Critics Consensus: If audiences walk away from this subversive, surreal shocker not fully understanding the story, they might also walk away with a deeper perception of the potential of film storytelling.
Synopsis: College student Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) returns home after his father has a stroke. When he discovers a severed ear... [More]
Critics Consensus: Like Body Heat , The Last Seduction updates film noir techniques for a modern era, imbuing this erotic film with '90s snark.
Synopsis: Looking to escape her unhappy marriage, villainous femme fatale Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino) convinces her husband, Clay (Bill Pullman), to... [More]
Critics Consensus: Nina Forever tests the limits of the rom-com with a decidedly unorthodox triangle that's as diabolically original as it is daringly dark.
Synopsis: After his girlfriend Nina dies, Rob falls in love with Holly. The new relationship faces a huge challenge when Nina... [More]

Directed By: Ben Blaine , Chris Blaine
Critics Consensus: Exotica simmers with sex and obsession, while successfully doubling as an extreme character study.
Synopsis: In the upscale Canadian strip club Exotica, Christina (Mia Kirshner) is the most popular dancer, and she's visited nightly by... [More]
Critics Consensus: Stylish, seductive, and clever, Stephen Frears' adaptation is a wickedly entertaining exploration of sexual politics.
Synopsis: The Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close) and the Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) display the petty jealousies and jaded insouciance... [More]
Critics Consensus: A road movie that's not only sexy, but intelligent as well.
Synopsis: The lives of Julio and Tenoch, like those of 17-year old boys everywhere, are ruled by raging hormones, intense friendships,... [More]
Critics Consensus: Tender, funny, and touching, The Sessions provides an acting showcase for its talented stars and proves it's possible for Hollywood to produce a grown-up movie about sex.
Synopsis: Though a childhood bout with polio left him dependent on an iron lung, Mark O'Brien (John Hawkes) maintains a career... [More]
Critics Consensus: Kubrick's Lolita adapts its seemingly unadaptable source material with a sly comedic touch and a sterling performance by James Mason that transforms the controversial novel into something refreshingly new without sacrificing its essential edge.
Synopsis: With a screenplay penned by the author himself, Stanley Kubrick brings Vladimir Nabokov's controversial tale of forbidden love to the... [More]
Critics Consensus: Powered by Holly Hunter's main performance, The Piano is a truth-seeking romance played in the key of erotic passion.
Synopsis: After a long voyage from Scotland, pianist Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter) and her young daughter, Flora (Anna Paquin), are left... [More]
Critics Consensus: Bound 's more titillating elements attracted attention, but it's the stylish direction, solid performances, and entertaining neo-noir caper plot that make it worth a watch.
Synopsis: Sparks fly when Violet (Jennifer Tilly) sets eyes on Corky (Gina Gershon) in an elevator. Violet is the girlfriend of... [More]

Directed By: Andy Wachowski , Larry Wachowski
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