The 5 Sexiest Movies On Max Right Now

This article contains discussion of addiction, mental health, and sexual assault.

Sometimes you know exactly what kind of movie you want to watch on a lazy weekend night — a "steamy" movie, whether it's romantic, wild, or even sort of dark. Romantic comedies are all well and good if you're in the right mood, but a steamy movie probably won't bring much comedy, and it might not even really have much romance in it; maybe it is a love story, or maybe it's a film about a major power imbalance or divide between people that involves some seriously sexy stuff (like "Secretary" or "Unfaithful," just to offer up a few examples).

There are also approximately five thousand streaming services that allow you to pick pretty much any movie you want, but for this list, we're going to focus on Max, the (minimalistically named) proprietary streamer for Warner Bros. Discovery that houses all of HBO's original content, Discovery programs, and a whole host of other titles (the company paid handsomely for both "Friends" and "The Big Bang Theory" to stream exclusively on Max, to name a few). If you're looking for some steamy movies on Max, here are five you can find there as of this writing — from a biopic to a threequel to an absolutely over-the-top film based on, of all things, a viral social media post.

Władziu Valentino Liberace, the operatic singer and musician who went by his last name through his career, passed away in 1987 — and in 2013, Michael Douglas and Matt Damon teamed up with director Stephen Soderbergh to tell the story of Liberace's troubled and ultimately doomed romance with animal trainer named Scott Thorson. Based on the book of the same name by the real Thorson, "Behind the Candelabra," a movie produced exclusively for HBO, casts Douglas as Liberace and Damon as Scott and begins in 1977, ten years before Liberace's death, when he first meets Scott through their mutual friend and Hollywood producer Bob Black (played onscreen by Scott Bakula).

Liberace always had a reputation for being over-the-top and larger than life, but "Behind the Candelabra" shows a more vulnerable, human side of him as he falls in love with Scott ... and it also shows some of the darkest parts of their relationship (Scott is very jealous of Liberace's interest in other men, and he also struggles with a drug addiction spurred by Liberace's insistence that he take weight-loss drug). Even with that in mind, "Behind the Candelabra" features some seriously steamy sequences between Douglas and Damon, and in 2014, UpRoxx reported that Douglas said they performed one of them in a single take. "Forgetting all the hot tub sequences we had," Douglas said, "there was one particular sexual act that we only did one take, and Steven Soderbergh, our director, put down the camera and said, 'I have no notes.'" Which sequence was this? Douglas doesn't specify, so you'll have to watch "Behind the Candelabra" and guess for yourself.

Make no mistake: Michael Haneke's erotic psychological thriller "The Piano Teacher" isn't a lighthearted, steamy romp — it deals with extremely serious subjects including mental health, sexual assault, and deeply-held trauma, so don't go into this film without knowing what it depicts. The 2001 movie centers around the titular instructor Erika Kohut — played by French superstar Isabelle Huppert — who teaches at the Vienna Music Conservatory and secretly grapples with intense sexual repression as she cohabitates with her difficult and controlling mother. (Also important to note: Erika has a family history of mental illness.) When she meets a young student named Walter Klemmer (Benoît Magimel), Erika is immediately attracted to him and goes so far as to injure a female student who also takes an interest him; before long, Erika and Walter begin an illicit affair. Even though Walter is disturbed by Erika's desire to engage in masochistic sexual acts, the teacher and student carry on for quite a while — until their relationship escalates to a horrifying point and leads to the film's distressing conclusion.

Even though the steamy scenes in "The Piano Teacher" are tinged with a disturbing tone that makes the whole thing feel wrong, Huppert's performance as Erika sells each sex scene she shares with Walter — and Huppert's performance was so strong that she and Magimel both won acting awards at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001 (and the film itself won the Grand Prix). In 2022, Huppert weighed in on the film and shared her own interpretation of Erika and Walter's relationship in an interview with IndieWire; as she put it, "There was something very touching in the character. She has a very high idea of love, but she's also a suffering woman. That was enough for me to make her be accepted and to love, but of course, really twisted, undoubtedly."

"Y'all wanna hear a story about why me & this b**** here fell out????????" It's kind of long but full of suspense." This post on X (formerly known as Twitter) — which no longer exists, but has since been chronicled and transcribed by outlets like Vox — by A'Ziah "Zola" King was everywhere back in 2015, and after a Rolling Stone story dove deeper into the whole saga, a film felt almost inevitable. It took a few years, but in 2020, writer-director Janicza Bravo released "Zola," which she co-wrote with "Slave Play" scribe Jeremy O. Harris and brought the story about a stripper going on a disastrous road trip to the big screen.

With Taylour Page as Zola and Riley Keough as Stefani, another stripper who convinces Zola to drive from Detroit to Tampa — as well as Nicholas Braun ("Succession") and Colman Domingo ("Euphoria," "Sing Sing") — "Zola" is an absolutely wild ride, and it also features a ton of nudity and sex as the two women try to make it across the country to dance at a Tampa club that Stefani claims is an absolute financial gold mine. It's also notable that, throughout the film, male bodies are put on display in sex scenes while Zola and Stefani typically aren't shown fully nude, which centers the female gaze and experience. Still, the real King told Business Insider that the choice to focus on Zola's body more than Stefani's was intentional, as it reveals the fact that Black dancers often work harder than their white colleagues onstage. "It's just trying to say, Black women have to kind of try a little harder, even on stage," King said. "You gotta do a little harder. You have to show a little more. You have to really work at it."

Pedro Almodóvar is known for making movies that center around sex and desire, but his 1989 movie "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" is one of his absolute steamiest — despite its pretty disturbing premise. As Ricky, Antonio Banderas delivers a stunning central performance as a recovering patient who has just left a psychiatric facility and pursues his obsession with adult film actress Marina Osorio (Victoria Abril), with whom he had a brief dalliance before his time at the hospital. Ricky kidnaps Marina and at first, she's definitely not thrilled with her new circumstances, to say the least — especially because Ricky keeps her tied up most of the time. As she remains in his captivity, though, Marina starts falling for Ricky, and she's undeterred by her sister Lola (Loles León) pointing out that she basically has Stockholm syndrome — to the point where, in a very twisted way, Ricky and Marina basically end the film happily ever after as they drive off into the proverbial sunset.

"Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" definitely has unsettling elements, but like many of the other entries on this list, it still manages to be sexy and steamy somehow — thanks in very large part to the central performances from Abril and Banderas, who are perfectly cast in their roles. Ultimately, the movie was deemed so explicit that it got slapped with an X-rating (later amended to an NC-17 after the X-rating was phased out) that was apparently thanks to one bathtub scene that centers on Marina's sexuality and desire, adding it to a short list of films that earned explicit ratings over single scenes.

All three "Magic Mike" movies would fit in nicely on this list, but the third one, "Magic Mike's Last Dance," actually might be the steamiest of them all thanks to the addition of screen siren Salma Hayek-Pinault. With Stephen Soderbergh back in the director's chair — he directed the first movie, "Magic Mike," in 2012 but didn't return for "Magic Mike XXL" in 2015 — we revisit Mike Lane (Channing Tatum), who finally opened the custom furniture business of his dreams after working as a stripper to support his art. Tragically, the business failed during the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving him looking for new opportunities while he bartends in Miami. It's there that he meets Maxandra "Max" Mendoza (Hayek-Pinault) as he works the bar during one of her fundraising parties, and the two strike up a relationship — which leads Mike to a new business opportunity.

Max and Mike travel to London together, at which point Max reveals that the job she has for him is to choreograph and stage a live dance show starring men that's meant for women's enjoyment and pleasure. Despite Mike's insistence that he's done dancing, Max really wants him to participate in the show, leading to friction between the two as they continue to navigate their relationship — and in the end, the couple gets a "happy ending," so to speak. (That term is thrown around a lot in "Magic Mike's Last Dance.") Tatum and Hayek-Pinault have absolutely incredible chemistry together on screen, and between the dance sequences and their love scenes, there's no question that "Magic Mike's Last Dance" qualifies as a "steamy" movie.

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If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).