Looking for something with a bit of a sexy edge for your Netflix night at the movies? As always, we went combing through the depths just for you and found a few from awful to awesome.
Hot Bot
Just Awful: Okay, so this is not at all meant to be taken seriously, yet this ridiculous ‘comedy’ is really bad in just about every way possible, centered on a new technology that makes female sex robots with incredibly life-like features … and a mind of their own. Good concept, but … in the story, a couple of wildly stereotypical sexually-repressed geeky teens (Zack Pearlman and Doug Haley) literally run into a sex android named Bardot (Cynthia Kirchner) with their car, she having escaped from her handlers. You’d think having a Hot Bot on your side would be just the thing however they still can’t laid. Now her wealthy cantankerous owner (Larry Miller) wants her back and sends his thugs after her. Weirdly lacking the raunch and sex it seems primed for, this is a sort of tasteless comedy that just ends up boring. Watch Weird Science instead.
Teeth
Not Bad: So, yeah. This is gonna get uncomfortable. We meet Dawn O’Keefe (Jess Weixler), a teenager who discovers one day while getting raped in a cave that she packs more bite than bark when it comes to fighting off a sexual predator. And I don’t mean with her teeth, though I guess I sort of do. It’s just these teeth are, well, in her undies. A horrifying yet aggressively feminist assault on male violence against women, this can be hard to watch, but is saved by a savage lead performance. While it has the right idea, it’s not quite as ‘biting’ a satire as it could be and ends up more a horror film than a commentary. Still, for those who like to squirm while watching movies, this should do the trick. Just be prepared (if you’re a guy) to feel a little sketchy about, you know, going there again for awhile. There are some things you can’t unsee.
Cruel Intentions
Pretty Good: While the 1998 Steven Frears adaptation of the famous French book Les Liaisons dangereuses is far better, this modern update has a lot of good bits to celebrate. Set in New York City, it follows the exploits of wealthy teenager Kathryn Merteuil (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and her step-brother, Sebastian (Ryan Phillippe), who scheme together to defile the likes of the naive Cecile (Selma Blair) and virginal Annette (Reese Witherspoon). Having a young cast isn’t even the first time this has been done with the material, but the contemporary setting does add a nice touch to the centuries-old story. A cult classic now, the writing and performance are the real draw, with some decidedly sexy moments that really ignite. Girls kissing I mean.
Young & Beautiful
Really Good: This French language film follows the titular Isabelle (Marine Vacth), a 17-year-old girl left unsatisfied by her first sexual encounter, soon becoming a high-price prostitute. One of her clients is a 63-year-old man Georges (Johan Leysen), whom she sort of bonds with, but when he dies during sex (what a way to go), everything changes. The intoxicating Vacth is the whole show here, her performance sensual and sentimental, giving the blossoming character of Isabelle a kind of heartbreaking naivety. While the movie certainly rests upon a male fantasy, director François Ozon films the numerous sex scenes with great attention to the emotional impact rather than the physicality, making this a well-made and moving sexual awakening.
Nymphomaniac Volumes I & II
Great: Anything from director Lars Von Trier is bound to be provocative and controversial, and his two-part story about a woman clinically obsessed with sex is no different. Starring Charlotte Gainsborough as Joe, she begins the film beaten up in a back alley, found by Seligman (Stellan Skarsgård), a well-educated but solitary man who takes her into his home and talks fly fishing. Joe recounts her life of debauchery, bound by an young age (played by Stacy Martin) to an almost uncontrollable need for sex, even as it hardly feels satisfying while he connects her behavior to the art of catching fish. While the first part is superior to the second, the films are a dizzying affair of intense, deeply personal conversations wrapped around acts of increasingly intense sexual encounters. Be warned, the sex is raw and with nearly nothing left to the imagination, with graphic sexual imagery and full frontal nudity. However, it’s the devastating performances (especially by a brief appearance from Uma Thurman) that resonates most.
Eyes Wide Shut
Excellent: This dark and seamy tale of lust and love is a sexually-charged visual game of deception and deceit from the late Stanley Kubrick. Starring Tom Cruise as Dr. Bill Harford, he learns one night after a dinner party that his wife Alice (Nicole Kidman) had entertained the idea of an affair the year before. This sends Bill out into the night on a sort of bizarre sexual odyssey with masked men and nude women, orgies, and a hooker with a dangerous cocaine habit. As much a psychological thriller as it is an erotic tale of personal discovery, this is a sensationally well-made and suspenseful film with another great turn from Cruise.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
Awesome: While there’s plenty of movies with meaningless sex and gratuitous nudity on Netflix, there is no better flick on the site about plain old good-natured sex than this comedy/drama. Steve Carell is Andy, the virgin, who struggles with this constantly, believing sex is just something that’s never going to happen for him. His friends (including Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen) come together in a wild assortment of ideas to help him cross this bridge, but it’s the beautiful and kindly Trish (Catherine Keener) who saves the day. This is a modern masterpiece that is much more heart than you’d expect. Very funny, often quite touching, and with a rousing finale that will have you up and out of your chair, this is the best movie about sex on Netflix.