With No Hard Feelings hitting theaters last year, it seems that studios might be trying to bring back hard R raunchy comedies. The gamble of taking a well-known actor and throwing them into a raunchy, sex-filled comedy sometimes works out, and No Hard Feelings did end up pulling in over $80 million at the global box office. Could this bring about a new wave of R-rated comedies? We can only hope. So what are some of the best sex comedies? Let’s look back at this hilarious genre and find out which ones make the cut.
Zack And Miri Make A Porno (2008)
Kevin Smith is not a stranger to the raunchy realm of comedies, but this film is maybe his truest sex comedy out of all of his filmography. Life-long platonic friends Zack and Miri are in trouble as they are both dead broke and have mounting bills as their rent is coming due. To make a large amount of cash very quickly, they decide they should make a porno.
They set out to find some actors, film the movie, and get paid. Throughout all this, they realize they might have more feelings for each other than they thought. The film is funny but also has a lot of heart. No worries though, as it’s just about as raunchy as you can imagine.
Risky Business (1983)
The movie that put Tom Cruise on the map. A young teenager stays home while his parents leave on a trip. While home alone, he decides to live a little and ends up with sex worker Lana. She suggests he could run a sex business out of his parent’s house, but he scoffs at the thought. When he accidentally drives his dad’s Porche into Lake Michigan, he decides that her idea might be how to earn a lot of cash quickly. As you’d expect, everything gets out of control.
The Last American Virgin (1982)
The progenitor of films like American Pie, The Last American Virgin follows three high school friends as they try to lose their virginity. They get caught in numerous situations throughout the film with their pants down. Literally. Gary delivers pizzas and finds a lonely woman whose boyfriend is never home. When he and his friends return to her house, her boyfriend chases them away.
The guys pick up a group of girls only to have one of the boy’s parent’s return home early and break up the party. Nice guy, Gary gets thrown out in just his underwear and has to make his way home. The film goes from overly comedic to dark quickly as one of Gary’s friends gets a girl pregnant and runs out on her. Gary decides to help her out and falls in love with her.
40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
This film pushed Steve Carell and Judd Apatow to the moon. When Andy’s friends discover he is a virgin, they try to set him up in situations to finally have sex. As they give him advice and try to control his sex life, Andy finds they have their own relationship problems. While he is trying to figure out what he wants, he falls for a woman that works across the street from him. He then has to decide if he is going to reveal his situation to her or try to fake his way through it.
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
The college movie that all other college movies are compared. This film helped push sex comedies into another realm, and they would go on to rule the 80s. Two pledges try to get into a good fraternity house, but the only ones that will take them are Delta Tau Chi, the “worst” frat on campus.
The members party all the time and are constantly trying to score women. The college dean thinks they are a poor excuse for a fraternity and does everything he can to get them all kicked out of school. Before the film is over, Delta Tau Chi has to fight back against the dean and other frat houses to keep from getting kicked out.
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)
A look at a group of students as they venture through a school year. Stacy wants to lose her virginity by the end of the year. Her older brother Brad decides to break up with his long-time girlfriend now that he is a senior so he can play the field. She ends up dumping him first. Spicoli finds himself at odds with his teacher. Throughout it all, the students try to figure out what their future holds and find that some of their decisions were the wrong ones. It has perhaps one of the most famous pool scenes of all time, that is the standard of what a sex comedy is.
American Pie (1999)
Four friends make a pact that they will all lose their virginity by the time they graduate. Each one takes a different approach to figure out how it’s going to happen. Jim keeps falling into various mishaps, which sees his dad catching him defiling a pie. Then he tries to seduce the foreign exchange student on video but gets too excited. This leaves him hopeless.
His friends have different degrees of success, but they all find it will come down to who can score on Prom night to fulfill their pact. The film doesn’t shy away from being overly raunchy and puts its characters in embarrassing situations. Even if some of them haven’t aged very well.
Bachelor Party (1984)
Before Tom Hanks became an A-List star, he used to do fun comedies like this one. Here he plays Rick, who is about to get married to his girlfriend, Debbie. Unfortunately, Debbie’s parents hate him and wish she would get back together with her ex-boyfriend.
Rick’s friends decide to throw him the ultimate Bachelor Party with just about all the debauchery you could imagine. When those that hate Rick find out what is happening, they hope to use that to sabotage the upcoming nuptials. Rick has to make his way through the party and keep from losing Debbie.
Revenge Of The Nerds (1984)
For sure, not a movie that could be made today. Two nerds are starting their freshman year at Adams College. They immediately run afoul of the jocks from the fraternity Alpha Beta. In order to fight back, they create their own fraternity and take in the misfits that the popular crowd has rejected.
Lewis falls in love with a sorority girl but finds out that she is the girlfriend of the leader of Alpha Beta. As the two frats go to war, the nerds try to get the full college experience by scoring with any women that will accept them. Lots of problematic things in this film from a modern point of view, but it still is one of the best sex comedies to come out of the 80s.
Porky’s (1981)
When you think of the term “sex comedy,” this is exactly the movie you are thinking of. A group of friends set out to lose their virginity (I see a theme in all these movies) and get into various crazy scenarios. They end up spying on the girls in the locker room shower, get pranked by a local sex worker, and end up getting on the bad side of the owner of a local strip club. While they try and get into the strip club, they are humiliated by Porky.
They then come up with a plan to get even with him. When they attempt it, they find that Porky’s brother is the sheriff, and he can do anything he wants to them. They vow revenge and set out to get their payback one way or another. The movie is full of scenes you couldn’t even imagine filming today, but at the time, it was one of the biggest sex comedies ever made. Most people don’t realize that it was written and directed by Bob Clark, who would go on to make the holiday classic A Christmas Story.
What do you think is the best sex comedy? Surprisingly, no road trip movies made the cut on this list. Would you have included one? Or maybe something more recent, like Blockers? Let us know in the comments.
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