Entertainment
The Best R-Rated LGBTQ+ Movies
List Rules
Add your favorite movie to the list if it's missing, but only if it's the correct rating.
Here is a list of R-rated LGBTQ+ movies, ranked from best to worst by film fans just like you. This list takes the best R-rated LGBTQ+ movies and pits them against each other to see once and for all what the greatest R-rated LGBTQ+ movie of all time is. This list of popular R-rated LGBTQ+ movies includes information like who directed the film, when it was released and which actors starred in the movie. If you think the top R-rated LGBTQ+ movie isn't as high as it should be then be sure to vote it up so it can take its rightful place among the other great R-rated LGBTQ+ films on this list. If you're trying to find a specific R-rated LGBTQ+ film you can search this list and filter to find what you're looking for.
Movies on this list include American Beauty and Ed Wood and answers the questions "What are the best R-Rated LGBTQ+ movies?" and "What are the most famous R-Rated LGBTQ+ movies?"
Use this list if you're looking for some new LGBTQ+ movies that are rated R. Between Netflix, Hulu and other services there are thousands of great LGBTQ+ movies rated R, so get out there and start watching.
Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese are among the directors that have worked on a R LGBT film.
Ranked by
- 1Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Linda Cardellini
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Ang Lee
In 1963, rodeo cowboy Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) are hired by rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) as sheep herders in Wyoming. One night on Brokeback ...more - 2Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Luca Guadagnino
It's the summer of 1983, and precocious 17-year-old Elio Perlman is spending the days with his family at their 17th-century villa in Lombardy, Italy. He soon meets Oliver, a handsome doctoral student ...more - 3Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Gus Van Sant
In 1972, Harvey Milk (Sean Penn) and his then-lover Scott Smith leave New York for San Francisco, with Milk determined to accomplish something meaningful in his life. Settling in the Castro District, ...more - 4Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult
- Released: 2009
- Directed by: Tom Ford
George (Colin Firth) is a college professor who recently lost his lover, Jim, in a car accident. Terribly grief-stricken, George plans to commit suicide. As he goes about his daily routine and puts ...more - 5Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet, Sarah Peirse
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Peter Jackson
Wealthy and precocious teenager Juliet (Kate Winslet) transfers from England to Christchurch, New Zealand, with her family, and forms a bond with the quiet, brooding Pauline (Melanie Lynskey) through ...more - 6Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Stephan Elliott
When drag queen Anthony (Hugo Weaving) agrees to take his act on the road, he invites fellow cross-dresser Adam (Guy Pearce) and transsexual Bernadette (Terence Stamp) to come along. In their ...more - 7Ally Sheedy, Radha Mitchell, Patricia Clarkson
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko
Syd (Radha Mitchell), a low-level editor at a photography magazine eager to establish herself, discovers her neighbor is the once-celebrated downtown photographer Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy). ...more - 8John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt, Miriam Shor
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: John Cameron Mitchell
A German emigrant living in a trailer in Kansas is the victim of a botched sex-change operation. Adapted from the critically acclaimed off-Broadway rock theater hit, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" tells ...more - 9Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Laura Harring
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: David Lynch
A dark-haired woman (Laura Elena Harring) is left amnesiac after a car crash. She wanders the streets of Los Angeles in a daze before taking refuge in an apartment. There she is discovered by Betty ...more - 10Julie Walters, Jamie Bell, Jamie Draven
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Stephen Daldry
The life of 11-year-old Billy Elliot, a coal miner's son in Northern England, is forever changed one day when he stumbles upon a ballet class during his weekly boxing lesson. Before long, he finds ...more - 11Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel, Luà na Bajrami
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Céline Sciamma
In 1770 the young daughter of a French countess develops a mutual attraction to the female artist commissioned to paint her wedding portrait. - 12Ian McKellen, Brendan Fraser, Lynn Redgrave
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Bill Condon
Once a powerful Hollywood director best known for "Frankenstein" and "The Bride of Frankenstein," James Whale (Ian McKellen) is long since retired and in increasingly poor health. His stalwart ...more - 13Ewan McGregor, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Toni Collette
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Todd Haynes
Glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Myers) plays a character on stage named Maxwell Demon who predicts his death on stage. Shortly after he announces his prediction, he fakes his own death and ...more - 14Robin Williams, Gene Hackman, Nathan Lane
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Mike Nichols
In this remake of the classic French farce "La Cage aux Folles," engaged couple Val Goldman (Dan Futterman) and Barbara Keeley (Calista Flockhart) shakily introduce their future in-laws. Val's ...more - 15Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Patty Jenkins
Shortly after moving to Florida, longtime prostitute Aileen Wuornos (Charlize Theron) meets young and reserved Selby Wall (Christina Ricci) and a romance blossoms. When a john (Lee Tergesen) attempts ...more - 16Daniel Day-Lewis, Gordon Warnecke, Saeed Jaffrey
- Released: 1985
- Directed by: Stephen Frears
In a seedy corner of London, Omar (Gordon Warnecke), a young Pakistani, is given a run-down laundromat by his uncle (Saeed Jaffrey), who hopes to turn it into a successful business. Soon after, Omar ...more - 17Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Bill Condon
Biology professor Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) has a perfectly respectable life teaching and doing research at Indiana University along with a happy home life with his wife (Laura Linney). When he ...more - 18Piper Perabo, Lena Headey, Matthew Goode
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Ol Parker
During her wedding ceremony, Rachel (Piper Perabo) notices Luce (Lena Headey) in the audience and feels instantly drawn to her. The two women become close friends, and when Rachel learns that Luce is ...more - 19Linda Henry, Glen Berry, Scott Neal
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Hettie MacDonald
Shy Jamie (Glen Berry) and athletic Ste (Scott Neal) are teen boys who live near each other in the London projects. Both boys think they could be gay, and finally explore their feelings when Ste is ...more - 20Cecilia Roth, Eloy AzorÃn, Marisa Paredes
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Pedro Almodóvar
A Greek saying states that only women who have washed their eyes with tears can see clearly. This saying does not hold true for Manuela. The night a car ran over her son Esteban, Manuela cried until ...more - 21Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: F. Gary Gray
After being fired from her job as a bank teller, Frankie (Vivica A. Fox) begins working at a janitorial service with her friends Tisean (Kimberly Elise), a single mother; Cleo (Queen Latifah), a ...more - 22Albert Reed, Alicia Sixtos, Katie Walder
- Released: 2007
- Directed by: Jonah Markowitz
Shelter is a 2007 American film directed and written by Jonah Markowitz. It stars Trevor Wright, Brad Rowe, and Tina Holmes. It was the winner of "Outstanding Film – Limited Release" at the 2009 ...more - 23Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams, Jason Lee
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Kevin Smith
Holden and Banky are best friends and authors of a popular comic book. Holden falls in love with Alyssa, who happens to be a lesbian. Holden's relationship with Alyssa strains his life-long ...more - 24Holly Hunter, Evan Rachel Wood, Nikki Reed
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Catherine Hardwicke
Honor student Tracy Freeland (Evan Rachel Wood) has a troubling home life, but she is close to her mother, Melanie (Holly Hunter). While trying to conceal her inner turmoil by excelling academically, ...more - 25Eileen Atkins, Bob Balaban, Alan Bates
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Robert Altman
Robert Altman, one of America's most distinctive filmmakers, journeys to England for the first time to create a unique film mosaic with an outstanding ensemble cast. Set in the 1930's, "Gosford Park"Â ...more
