Writers, artists and filmmakers have used sex to evoke a multitude of different emotions to the audience, like love, hate, confusion, lust, among many, many more. But every one of the best movie sex scenes of all time adds something essential to a story, whether it be comedic, dramatic, or stylistic. The scenes on this list are ranked by their importance to the narrative of a story, not by how sexy they are. Subscribe for more filmmaking videos like this. This sex scene from Anchorman is just truly, truly ridiculous. Pleasure town is full of bonkers imagery like animated cupids, mountains in the moonlight, and colorful unicorns.

Try is the operative word. Gyllenhaal and Ledger saddle up to play gay cowboys whose relationship becomes official in a secluded tent after a night of too much whiskey. One of the most celebrated sex scenes of all time, this one is artfully done and told out of sequence—director Steven Soderbergh being as playful with editing and time and narrative as his two leads, Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney, are with each other.

Our editorial content is not influenced by any commissions we receive. As titillating as the phrase "full frontal nudity" may sound, baring it all on screen is not always a sexy endeavor. Truth be told, nudity can be as frightening for an audience as it is for the thespian tasked with dropping trou see The Shining. Then there's also the gender aspect to consider, the fact that women are more often the ones to bare it all, while shots of naked men on film, for whatever reason, consistently causes a stir. Going back to the Forgetting Sarah Marshall example.