The Best R-Rated Romance Movies on Netflix Right Now (August 2024) (2024)

As summer comes to an end and temperatures cool down, you need to find a way to stay warm. And what better way to keep the heat going than by enjoying a bit of sexy, salacious, and spicy romance? To help you do that, we've curated a list of the best R-rated romances on Netflix to couple with your chill.

For more recommendations, check out our list of the best romance movies on Netflix across all ratings, the best romance shows on Netflix, and the best movies on Netflix in general.

‘Anyone But You’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 52% | IMDb: 6.1/10

Anyone But You

Comedy

Romance

Release Date

December 22, 2023

Director

Will Gluck

Cast

Sydney Sweeney , Glen Powell , Alexandra Shipp , GaTa , Hadley Robinson , Michelle Hurd , Dermot Mulroney , Darren Barnet , Rachel Griffiths

In the vein of classic early 2000s rom-coms like 10 Things I Hate About You and Get Over It, Anyone But You is a modern adaptation of a play by the Bard of Avon. Loosely based on Much Ado About Nothing, this steamy romance follows Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria) and Glen Powell (Hit Man) in a light enemies-to-lovers story where they pretend to date at a destination wedding. As you can imagine when you have two of Hollywood’s prettiest people on screen together, the chemistry is off the charts, and their slow shift from contentious ex-lovers to true-blue partners is a genuine pleasure to watch.

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‘Hit Man’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 95% | IMDb: 6.9/10

Hit Man

Action

Crime

Release Date

June 7, 2024

Director

Richard Linklater

Cast

Glen Powell , Adria Arjona , Austin Amelio , Retta , Molly Bernard , Mike Markoff

Runtime

113 minutes

Main Genre

Romantic Comedy

For anyone craving a bit more action and adventure with their Glen Powell (Twisters) romance, then Hit Man is the movie for you. The story is loosely based on the true story of a professor and police contractor who embodies a client’s ideal killer as he conducts sting operations on people looking to hire a trigger man. However, the film diverges from real events as he encounters a woman, played by Adria Arjona (Andor), who captures not just his sympathies but also his heart. Co-written with director Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Powell proves he’s not just a pretty face, taking on a myriad of different personas and characters throughout the film.

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‘No Hard Feelings’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 70% | IMDb: 6.4/10

No Hard Feelings

Comedy

Release Date

June 23, 2023

Director

Gene Stupnitsky

Cast

Jennifer Lawrence , Laura Benanti , Natalie Morales , Ebon Moss-Bachrach

Runtime

103 minutes

This one might feel like a departure from the typical rom-coms and capital-R romances that are usually on these lists, but it’s important that we also highlight the messy, weird, and awkward parts of courtship as well. No Hard Feelings, starring Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Andrew Barth Feldman (Foul Play), is an insanely funny sexual comedy where Lawrence plays a down-and-out young woman who makes a deal to get Feldman’s shy, introverted character out of his shell and sleep with him before he goes off to college. If that premise sounds wild, just wait until you see the bonkers situations that Lawrence and Feldman get into. It is no exaggeration to say the film is this generation’s American Pie.

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‘Carol’ (2015)

Rotten Tomatoes: 94% | IMDb: 7.3/10

Carol

Drama

Documentary

Romance

Release Date

November 20, 2015

Director

Todd Haynes

Cast

Cate Blanchett , Rooney Mara , Kyle Chandler , Sarah Paulson , Jake Lacy , John Magaro

Runtime

118

Cate Blanchett (Tár) and Rooney Mara (Lion) star in this period romance about a forbidden tryst in a time when their love would never be accepted. Based on the hit novel by ​​Patricia Highsmith, director Todd Haynes (May December) takes us back to the '50s to experience a bold and gripping love story where a young photographer and an older divorcee find comfort in one another as they face their own obstacles in life. Blanchett and Mara are absolutely electric as they embrace the push and pull of their character’s desires while navigating the bigotry and discrimination of the era. Carol is a beautiful story about finding what makes you happy and doing what it takes to hold onto it.

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‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ (2022)

Rotten Tomatoes: 86% | IMDb: 6.6/10

Lady Chatterley's Lover

History

Romance

Drama

Release Date

November 25, 2022

Director

Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre

Cast

Emma Corrin , Jack O'Connell , Ella Hunt

Runtime

2 hr 7 min

Another great period romance adapted from a popular novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover is a scintillating tale of lust, betrayal, and repression. This new rendition of D. H. Lawrence’s novel of the same name is one of the best yet, not only showcasing the unmatched acting chops of Emma Corrin (The Crown) but also providing the appropriate level of nuance to a complicated story about a marriage that is torn apart by the husband’s descent into self-hatred after his paralysis in World War I. But thoughtful storytelling aside, this version being a streaming original gives it license to be extra steamy in the depictions of the affair between Corrin and their co-star Jack O'Connell (Unbroken).

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‘Fair Play’ (2023)

Rotten Tomatoes: 85% | IMDb: 6.4/10

Fair Play

Drama

Mystery

Thriller

Release Date

October 6, 2023

Director

Chloe Domont

Cast

Phoebe Dynevor , Alden Ehrenreich , Eddie Marsan , Rich Sommer , Sebastian de Souza

Runtime

113 minutes

They say you don’t mix money with love, and that feels like the central thesis of the dark psychological romance of Fair Play. Written and directed by Chloe Domont (Billions), the film follows a couple, played by Phoebe Dynevor (Bridgerton) and Alden Ehrenreich (Cocaine Bear), who must hide their relationship from the ruthless hedge fund where they work and compete to get to the top. Unfortunately, when Dynevor’s Emily gets promoted over her boyfriend, it sends him into a spiral of madness. The film is a thrilling exploration of toxic dynamics that juxtaposes the imbalances women experience in the workplace with the ones they can be subjected to in abusive relationships.

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‘Call Me By Your Name’ (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 94% | IMDb: 7.8/10

Call Me By Your Name

Drama

Romance

Release Date

January 19, 2018

Director

Luca Guadagnino

Cast

Armie Hammer , Timothée Chalamet , Michael Stuhlbarg , Amira Casar , Esther Garrel , Victoire Du Bois

Runtime

132 minutes

Timothée Chalamet (Bones and All) and Armie Hammer (The Social Network) lead this adaptation of the André Aciman coming-of-age queer romance novel of the same name. Call Me by Your Name is a story of self-discovery as Chalamet takes on the role of a teen boy exploring his sexuality as he falls for an older man over the course of a hot and heavy summer. It’s a tale of unrequited and taboo love set in '80s Italy that is beautifully shot and directed by Luca Guadagnino (Challengers), who uses each moment to build up the emotional and sexual tension between the two leads while allowing the viewer to bask in the rich nostalgia of summer love.

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‘Phantom Thread’ (2017)

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% | IMDb: 7.4/10

Phantom Thread

Drama

Romance

Psychological

Release Date

December 25, 2017

Director

Paul Thomas Anderson

Cast

Vicky Krieps , daniel day-lewis , Lesley Manville , Sue Clark , Joan Brown , Harriet Leitch

Runtime

130

Auteur filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson (Licorice Pizza) brings us a delightful period drama set in 1950s London starring Vicky Krieps (Corsage) and Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) in his final role before retirement. Lewis stars as a high-end dressmaker who becomes enamored with a waitress — but the same obsession that makes him the top dressmaker and a passionate lover also threatens to drive her away. As expected of an Anderson film, Phantom Thread is visually stunning, but the standout aspect of the movie is the relationship and banter of Krieps and Day-Lewis that propels the story into a complex tragedy that you can’t look away from.

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‘Long Shot’ (2019)

Rotten Tomatoes: 82% | IMDb: 6.8/10

Long Shot

Comedy

Romance

Release Date

May 3, 2019

Director

Jonathan Levine

Cast

Charlize Theron , Seth Rogen , June Diane Raphael , O'Shea Jackson Jr.

Runtime

125 minutes

It would be easy to overlook Long Shot, starring Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Seth Rogen (The Fabelmans), as your classic “mid dude bags hyper-capable baddie” rom-com, and sure, that’s part of it, but there’s actually a lot of organic humor and surprising moments to enjoy. Theron essentially plays a hot, likable, Hillary Clinton-type Secretary of State who hires a struggling journalist that she used to babysit before her time in politics to be her speechwriter in her presidential campaign. The slow burn of the working relationship that bubbles up into romantic feelings really works for this story, allowing the viewer to discover new sides to both characters that are only enhanced by the mix of awkward and witty repartee that Theron and Rogan absolutely nail throughout.

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‘The Lovebirds’ (2020)

Rotten Tomatoes: 66%| IMDb: 6.1/10

The Lovebirds

Comedy

Action

Crime

Release Date

May 22, 2020

Director

Michael Showalter

Cast

Kyle Bornheimer , Kumail Nanjiani , Anna Camp , Issa Rae , Paul Sparks , Joe Chrest

Runtime

86 minutes

The Lovebirds pairs two of Hollywood’s best comedians in a rom-com directed by renowned writer and director Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer). Nothing brings a couple closer together than trying to solve a murder before the police catch them, and nobody does that better and more ridiculously than Issa Rae (Insecure) and Kumail Nanjiani (Welcome to Chippendales). From the first moment that Rae and Nanjiani share the screen, they radiate with chemistry, and as the situations cascade into more and more absurdity, they boost that chemical reaction with great jokes that feel so natural despite being wildly outlandish. If you’re a fan of Date Night or Game Night but are craving a little more flavor, then this is the movie for you.

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