24 of the Best Sex Comedy Movies Ever Made
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The quickest route to connecting with your inner teenager is a good genitalia joke. There’s something magical about a funny sex scene, and while you may never reclaim the childhood magic of Christmas morning; thanks to these chosen auteurs of cinema, you can always reclaim the cringe and comedy of your first time.
The sex comedy is a bonafide cinematic genre, and an Oscar winning one at that. Here at Cosmo, we know sex and we know good movies. As such, we’ve compiled the definitive list of the best sex comedies ever made—which confidently excludes the twin flame disasters of No Strings Attached and Friends With Benefits. Seriously, we deserve public apologies for those films.
With that, we call the horny and the hilarious to the table to present the twenty-five best sex comedies ever made, plus our “Mount Rushmore of Sex Comedy.”
Poor Things
One of the biggest films of 2023, Poor Things comes from filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and stars Emma Stone as a walking science experiment—a human woman implanted with the brain of a fetus. Through her performance, we see the literal maturation of a woman, from a bumbling, Frankenstein-like child to a gin-drinking, Emerson reading, sexually liberated woman. Her sexual journey begins with curiosity and an apple, evolving into pleasure packed “furious jumping,” veering into the vexing world of sex work, to socialism, to full blown feminist enlightenment. Poor Things is an intellectual sex comedy for the girls, and Emma Stone our beacon.
Bottoms
Another “for the girls” sex comedy, Bottoms was the sleeper hit of 2023, starring the coolest girls in comedy, Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri. The film comes from Shiva Baby writer and director Emma Seligman, and follows two queer teenagers who create a girls-only fight club in the hopes of hooking up with cheerleaders. Bottoms is Superbad, but campy and queer.
Sharp Stick
If Samantha Jones taught women how to have sex, then Lena Dunham, a critical figure in our Mount Rushmore of Sex Comedy, taught an entire generation of women how to laugh at sex with her series Girls, which aired on HBO twelve years ago. In 2022, Dunham made sex funny again with Sharp Stick, which follows an inexperienced 26-year-old woman determined to claim her sexuality as her own, opting to lose her virginity to the father of the disabled child she cares for.
The To Do List
Aubrey Plaza, we don’t deserve you! America’s Sweetheart starred in this 2013 rom-com as an awkward, high-achieving teenager hoping to clear her sexual to-do list before heading off to college. A golden comedy nugget, the film also stars Johnny Simmons, Bill Hader, Alia Shawkat, Andy Samberg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Donald Glover.
Zola
Zola exists somewhere between dark comedy and crime thriller, and all on the basis of sex (work). Starring Taylour Paige and Riley Keough, the film is a bookmark in media culture, having been adapted from a 148-tweet viral thread from 2015. The story is completely true, according to author Aziah "Zola" King and begins with the now iconic plug, “Y’all wanna hear a story about why me & this bitch here fell out?! It’s kinda long but full of suspense."The film follows Zola, a part-time stripper, as she ventures to Florida with a new friend to dance at high-earning clubs. The trip devolves into something much darker, revealed in either 148 tweets or 90 minutes. The film also stars Succession’s Nicholas Braun and Euphoria’s Colman Domingo.
Shiva Baby
Shiva Baby is the directorial debut of Emma Seligman, the aforementioned mind behind Bottoms and another face set to be carved into our Mount Rushmore of Sex Comedy. The film stars Rachel Sennott as a young Jewish woman who runs into her sugar daddy (and his wife and baby) at a shiva. Also present at said shiva? Both of her parents and her former flame, played by The Bear and Theater Camp’s Molly Gordon. The film is a pressure cooker and a master of suspense, all the while being laugh out loud hilarious.
No Hard Feelings
Jennifer Lawrence’s return to the screen came in 2023 with No Hard Feelings, for which she portrayed a 32-year-old Uber driver hired by a wealthy couple to turn their romantically inexperienced 19-year-old son into a man. Her prize? A brand new car! For her performance, Lawrence was nominated for a Best Actress Golden Globe and took home Comedy Movie Star of the Year at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards.
Tangerine
A seminal indie dramedy in any film buff’s tool kit (just ask Letterboxd), Tangerine comes from Sean Baker; more on him and his Mount Rushmore status shortly. The film became an instant classic among the indie fiends, mostly due to its innovation, having been shot entirely on three iPhone 5S’. Tangerine follows Sin-Dee, a transgender sex worker who, upon being released from a 28-day stint in jail, learns that her boyfriend and pimp has been cheating on her with a cisgender woman.
Red Rocket
Six years after Tangerine, Sean Baker landed at A24 with Red Rocket, cementing him as the first penis-owning individual to grace our Mount Rushmore of Sex Comedy. The film stars Simon Rex as a middle-aged former porn-star who returns to his Texas hometown with a plan to rebuild his life. There, he meets, becomes involved with, and eventually moves in with an underaged girl. It sounds like a crime drama, and in some circles it may be, but it’s a comedy through and through, albeit a dark one.
Boogie Nights
This Paul Thomas Anderson film planted the seeds for the sex comedy genre today. Released in 1997, Boogie Nights follows a group of porn stars in 1970s Los Angeles and stars Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, and more. It is, to this day, considered one of the best movies ever made and, in 155 minutes, completely revolutionized the on-screen portrayal of sex work and pornography.
Cat Person
A cringe comedy under the veil of a psychological thriller, Cat Person follows a college student who begins a relationship with a mysterious (read: highly weird) older guy, played perfectly by Nicholaus Braun. The film is an adaptation of the viral short story by Kristen Roupenian, which ran in The New Yorker in 2017. The story digs into the weeds of uncomfortable sex, complete with fake orgasms, light dissociation, and post-breakup misogyny via text.
Lars and the Real Girl
Before he was the doll, Ryan Gosling dated a doll (on screen). Lars and the Real Girl is a strangely heartwarming comedy which follows an awkward young man who maintains a romantic, nonsexual relationship with a sex doll named Bianca. A classic cult favorite, the film flopped at the box office, but later found success among the intellectuals who see the comedy in anatomically correct sex dolls.
Plan B
A few years ago, Plan B would have felt like a dystopian comedy—two young women going to the ends of the earth for emergency contraception. Today, it's an exercise in relatability. The film stars Victoria Moroles and Kuhoo Verma as two sheltered teenagers in South Dakota who, after being denied plan B from their local pharmacy, must embark on a road trip to the nearest Planned Parenthood before the biological window closes. The only thing we love more than a sex comedy? An after sex comedy.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
This 2005 classic comes from Judd Apatow and stars Steve Carell as the eponymous 40-year-old virgin on a mission to get laid, with the assistance of his coworkers, played by Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, and Seth Rogen. You’ve definitely seen this movie, but did you know? Steve Carell, a co-writer on the film, really invented this character himself while performing improv at The Second City in Chicago.
Juno
A coming-of-age rom-com for the sex havers, Juno follows a pregnant teenager thrown into the adult world as she navigates the process of organized adoption. The film became an instant classic upon its 2007 release, starring an ensemble cast featuring Elliot Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and J.K. Simmons.
Superbad
Emma Stone, please return to the stage. Superbad is a 2007 comedy; nay, the 2007 comedy. It stars Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as high school seniors holding onto their final moments of pre-college life, and trying to lose their virginities in the process. Boasting one of the most famous ensemble casts in comedy, Superbad stars the aforementioned Emma Stone, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse.
Adult World
This 2013 time capsule stars one-time couple and tumblr mainstays Emma Roberts and Evan Peters, alongside the always-great John Cusack. Roberts stars as a post-grad aspiring poet who takes a job at a sex shop called Adult World as she enters, well, the adult world.
Wedding Crashers
Punctuated with the log line, “hide your bridesmaids,” Wedding Crashers stars Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn as two dudes who sneak into random weddings to get laid. Believe it or not, the film made a bit of history as the first R-rated comedy to break $200 million at the box office, largely credited with the revival of the R-rated comedy in 2005.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno
Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks star in this comedy about a pair of friends who, down on their luck and dirt broke, decide to make a porno to pay the bills. In a post Only Fans era, this might sound like a snooze, but in 2008, it was nothing short of revolutionary.
Crazy Stupid Love
Crazy Stupid Love triangulates the Emma Stone-Ryan Gosling-sex comedy connection and it does so in fantastic fashion. This ensemble film sees Stone and Gosling star alongside Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, and Kevin Bacon as an interwoven romantic ecosystem just trying to figure it out. Carell plays Cal Weaver, a recently separated father who meets Gosling’s Jacob, a smooth-talking ladies man who teaches Cal how to take home women. If we could go back to the first time we saw the climactic backyard scene, we would. You would, too.
For a Good Time Call
This 2012 comedy follows two former frenemies working as phone sex operators to keep the lights on while they are actually trying to make it as lowly writers in their pricey Gramercy Park apartment. The film stars Ary Graynor, Lauren Miller Rogen, and Justin Long, and while it’s not a stellar movie, it's a funny watch and a look into the niche world of stranger-to-stranger phone sex.
Easy A
The fourth and final sex comedy on our list to feature Emma Stone is Easy A. She’s been working for that sex comedy Oscar since 2007, and by George, she’s got it. In 2010, Stone helmed Easy A, a comedy inspired by The Scarlet Letter. In the film, she plays a teenage girl who becomes the center of a salacious sex rumor that spread across her community. Rather than shrink into oblivion, she takes control of the narrative, embracing her new reputation as the town trollop (read: her scarlet letter).
American Pie
The teen sex comedy to begin and end all teen sex comedies, American Pie features one of the most memorable ensemble casts of the ‘90s, including Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Natasha Lyonne, Tara Reid, Eugene Levy, and Jennifer Coolidge. The film follows a group of high schoolers who make a pact to lose their virginities before graduation, clearly a common theme in the world of sex comedy. After all, what’s funnier than a virgin on a time clock?
Knocked Up
With this final Seth Rogen-helmed sex comedy, we officially induct the comedy icon into our Mount Rushmore of Sex Comedy. Knocked Up sees Rogen star alongside Katherine Heigl as two very different individuals who, after a one-night stand, become soon-to-be parents. The film is a quasi-prequel to This Is 40—if you didn't know, now you know.
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