The romantic comedy may not be the dominant, inescapable genre in modern Hollywood that it once was, but that doesn’t mean the opportunity to watch two actors humorously fall in love onscreen has lost its appeal. On the contrary, the impulse to turn on a classic rom-com and let the laughs (and sometimes tears) come doesn’t seem to have faded from the culture nearly as much as Hollywood’s increasingly homogeneous theatrical output would have you believe.
In the moments when that impulse comes, you may find yourself in the mood for a rom-com with sharper jokes and even more passionate bursts of romance than you can typically find in the genre’s many PG-13 entries. With that in mind, here are the 10 best R-rated rom-coms for when you want to watch one that’s a bit darker, lewder or — in some cases — sexier than usual.
“When Harry Met Sally…” (1989)
It may not be as transgressive or racy as some of the other films on this list, but “When Harry Met Sally…” is just about as good as romantic comedies get. Boasting a genre-defining screenplay from Nora Ephron, the film follows its eponymous leads (played by Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan) as their lives intersect repeatedly throughout their early 20s and into their 30s while their relationship evolves from a pair of ill-matched, begrudging road trip companions to unlikely friends and eventually romantic partners.
It’s the film that coined the oft-repeated mantra that “men and women can’t be friends,” and its tight 95-minute runtime is packed to the brim with iconic jokes. (Much love and attention has been given over the years to the scene in which Ryan fakes an orgasm in a diner, but this writer holds equal affection for Crystal’s freakout following a chance encounter with his ex-wife and her new partner at an electronics store.) Its lack of the kind of R-rated edge that one might think of with a list like this is made up for by the intelligence of its writing, confidence of its direction and its ability to hit every traditional rom-com beat with as much weight and wit as any other film ever has.
“When Harry Met Sally” is available for rent.
“There’s Something About Mary” (1998)
A poor-taste comedy for the ages, the Farrelly Brothers’ “There’s Something About Mary” is an “American Pie”-esque gross-out sex comedy crossed with an almost sickeningly sweet romance. The film follows Ted Stroehmann (Ben Stiller), a writer whose missed chance with his high school sweetheart Mary (Cameron Diaz) haunts him so badly that he decides to hire a private investigator (Matt Dillon) to track her down over a decade later. Things get out of hand, however, when Ted realizes that every man who crosses paths with Mary, including his P.I., ends up falling in love with her, too.
Like many ’90s sex comedies, the movie’s gender politics haven’t aged well. If you’re willing to look past that, though, you’ll find yourself treated to a goofy farce about the all-consuming nature of love and — despite the film’s overwhelmingly male perspective and sense of humor — the power some women have to turn the men around them into complete, bumbling doofuses.
“There’s Something About Mary” is streaming now on Fubo.
“Bridget Jones’s Diary” (2001)
“Bridget Jones’s Diary” is a rom-com classic that netted star Renée Zellweger her first Oscar nomination. Watch it and you won’t be confused why. Zellweger leads the film as its eponymous heroine, a British woman in her early 30s whose diary chronicles first her whirlwind, doomed love affair with her womanizer boss Daniel (Hugh Grant) and later her slow-burn romance with Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), a tightly wound lawyer who insults her in their first meeting.
Pulling quite a bit from the plot of “Pride & Prejudice,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary” ultimately succeeds because of how firmly it roots itself in its protagonist’s lonely, insecure perspective and how imperceptibly it makes viewers root for her as a result. The film’s story isn’t ground-breaking, and some of the standards Bridget holds herself to have aged poorly. However, Zellweger’s radiant star turn, and the relatable underdog story anyone who has been unlucky in love can relate to will leave you wanting Bridget to find her happy ending just as badly as she does.
“Bridget Jones’s Diary” is streaming now on Max.
“Punch-Drunk Love” (2002)
An abrupt left-turn away from the dramatic epics he made throughout the ’90s, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson‘s “Punch-Drunk Love” is an anxiety-riddled, amped-up energy drink of a love story. It follows Barry Egan (an against-type Adam Sandler), a small-time entrepreneur with a coupon-collecting side hustle and seven sisters who constantly ridicule him. In a moment of weakness and longing, he calls a phone sex hotline only to find himself caught up in a scam run by the line’s mattress salesman owner (a scene-stealing Philip Seymour Hoffman) that threatens to ruin his budding romance with one of his sister’s co-workers, Lena (Emily Watson).
The resulting film is a Frankensteinian cross between a sweet, Golden Age-inspired romance and a rage-fueled Adam Sandler comedy the likes of which only a filmmaker as playful, full-throated and unabashedly empathetic as Anderson could make. It’s an in-your-face and occasionally violent rom-com that melts your heart with its surprisingly tender core. The experience it provides is assaultive and sweet at the same time, like listening to a punk song while eating ice cream, or falling harder in love with someone than you ever have before.
“Punch-Drunk Love” is streaming on Hoopla and Kanopy and available to rent now on all major digital platforms.
“Wedding Crashers” (2005)
“Wedding Crashers” has no business being as good as it is. You can chalk its success up to the charisma of its four leads: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Isla Fisher and Rachel McAdams, as well as the go-for-broke performances given by Bradley Cooper and Will Ferrell, both of whom make meals out of one-note parts. Centered on a pair of womanizers (Wilson and Vaughn) who habitually crash weddings in order to trick and seduce as many women as possible, the film follows its leads as their sleazy adventures lead to unexpected relationships with two wildly different women (Fisher and McAdams).
A raucous, absurd riff on the typical Hollywood story of chauvinistic men developing hearts of gold, “Wedding Crashers” isn’t subversive or surprising. Its story is predictable, but it is elevated to comedic greatness by a script that never wastes a single moment and a cast of actors who all know unerringly how to find the right note and pitch for every scene, gag and emotional beat. It’s a 2000s classic for a reason.
“Wedding Crashers” is streaming on Netflix.
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” (2008)
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is one of the funniest and most explicit explorations of heartbreak you’ll ever see. Written by Jason Segel, it follows a TV composer (Segel) who is abruptly broken up with by his famous actress girlfriend (a note-perfect Kristen Bell). Heartbroken and desperate to get over her, Peter decides to take a vacation to Hawaii only to realize that Sarah is staying at the same resort with her new boyfriend (Russell Brand). An underrated comedian, Segel finds the right line between relatably heartbroken and laughably pathetic in both his performance and his written depiction of “Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s” shattered male hero.
Behind the camera, director Nicholas Stoller mines every ounce of comedy and pathos out of Segel’s screenplay as he can. The film is one of the first on this list that’d likely come to mind when you think of the best R-rated rom-coms, and for good reason. It’s an emotionally ugly rom-com about the pain of starting over that somehow finds real hope even amidst all of its over-the-top sex scenes, swinging dicks and moments of unvarnished male inadequacy.
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall” is streaming now on Starz.
“The Big Sick” (2017)
A romance about crossing distances both cultural and emotional, “The Big Sick” charmed viewers so completely when it was released in 2017 that it ended up earning a rare achievement in the rom-com genre: an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. Written by real-life partners Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, the film dramatizes the true story of how the two fell in love. Directed by Michael Showalter, “The Big Sick” follows a Pakistani-American man (Nanjiani) whose relationship with Emily (Zoe Kazan) is threatened by his parents’ desire to set him up with an arranged marriage.
Things get even more complicated when Nanjiani’s aspiring comedian discovers Emily has been admitted to the hospital and will have to enter an induced coma in order to survive her sudden illness. The film handles its story with surprising delicacy and it applies a realistic touch — especially in its third act — to its leads’ romance that is surprising and only makes “The Big Sick” all the more affecting. It’s a light, charming rom-com that, thanks to its perfectly executed final scene, will leave you how every great rom-com should: smiling from ear-to-ear.
“The Big Sick” is streaming now on Prime Video.
“Long Shot” (2019)
“Long Shot” flew under the radar in 2019, despite it being one of the better comedies Seth Rogen, who produced and stars in the movie, has had a hand in making in recent years. Set in the messy world of American politics, the film follows Charlotte Field (Charlize Theron), the acting Secretary of State who experiences a chance reunion with Fred Flarsky (Rogen), the unemployed left-wing journalist she used to babysit. Against her better judgment and the advice of her staff, Charlotte strikes up a romance with Fred.
Their relationship is threatened, however, by a few raunchy and ridiculous twists of fate. “Long Shot” never lets its screwball, bawdy leaps break its heightened reality, though, and Theron and Rogen prove to be a surprisingly good screen pair. Even more miraculously, the film manages to poke fun at America’s increasingly polarizing political landscape without ever deflating itself or becoming even a tiny bit of a bummer. Instead, it floats along on its own playful sense of humor and the charisma of its stars, including Rogen, Theron, and scene-stealers like O’Shea Jackson Jr. and June Diane Raphael.
“Long Shot” is streaming now on Hulu.
“Palm Springs” (2020)
“Palm Springs” is a foul-mouthed, ingenious rom-com about two strangers who meet at a wedding in — you guessed it — Palm Springs only to find themselves caught in a time loop that leaves them repeating the same day. Shot with sun-soaked style by director Max Barbakow and cinematographer Quyen Tran, “Palm Springs” makes the most of its zany premise and picturesque desert setting. Stars Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti lean into the dirtbag aspects of their characters — embracing their worst qualities so convincingly that you find yourself fully invested in their time-loop-induced moments of growth.
The film was released not only in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also at a time when many had started to believe that the mainstream rom-com had died. “Palm Springs” proved that wasn’t the case — finding the space for fresh absurdity, style and inventiveness within its purposefully formulaic genre without denying viewers the notes of romance and comedy that they want from rom-coms like it. It’s a modern classic, pure and simple.
“Palm Springs” is streaming now on Hulu.
“Hit Man” (2024)
Richard Linklater’s “Hit Man” is, like its shape-shifting protagonist (Glen Powell, exuding so much charisma it’s practically seeping from his pores), a lot of things. It’s a crime movie about a fake hit man who decides to disobey his cop bosses’ wishes and save an abused woman (a revelatory Adria Arjona) from the trap that’s been set for her. It’s an unlikely, shockingly steamy romance between Powell’s Gary and Arjona’s Madison, and it’s also a screwball comedy about the lengths they’re willing to go for each other that calls to mind in its final scenes other dynamite-gal-steamrolls-lovestruck-schmuck classics like “The Lady Eve” and “Bringing Up Baby.”
There are some noir elements sprinkled throughout as well, and director Linklater balances all of “Hit Man’s” many shades and genre touches with the delicate ease of an experienced master. Call it recency bias if you want, but not many contemporary movies capture the spirit of a 1940s screwball rom-com as well as “Hit Man” does. 80 years ago, it might have been a dime a dozen. Now, though, it feels one-of-a-kind, and its propensity for sex and moral ambiguity earns it a well-deserved spot on this list. Not for nothing, it is also one of the only R-rated romances featured here that is actually sexy.
“Hit Man” is streaming now on Netflix.
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