The Best R-Rated Movies on Hulu This Month

Known for its expansive movie library, Hulu is the streaming service to choose if you want access to a wide variety of quality films, including R-rated offerings. This month, the best R-rated films on Hulu are largely newer releases from the 21st century.  

To determine the best R-rated movies to stream on Hulu this May, 24/7 Tempo developed an index using average ratings on IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon, and a combination of audience scores and Tomatometer scores on Rotten Tomatoes, an online movie and TV review aggregator, as of early May 2023, weighting all ratings equally. We considered only movies with at least 5,000 audience votes on either IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes, and ruled out documentaries. Data on streaming availability, also current as of early May, comes from the streaming guide Reelgood. Directorial credits are from IMDb. (Here’s a list of R-rated movies with a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes.)

Choose between artistic masterpieces like Darren Aronofsky’s psychological horror “Black Swan” and Guillermo del Toro’s inter-species romantic fantasy “The Shape of Water” – or watch both. Or take a dive into the true story of one powerful government agent’s obsession with taking down a jazz legend in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” directed by Lee Daniels.

Offbeat comedies abound, including Wes Anderson’s directorial debut, “Bottle Rocket;” the zombie comedy “Little Monsters,” starring Lupita Nyong’o; and the rom-com turned sci-fi flick “Palm Springs,” starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as wedding guests who find themselves stuck in an infinite time loop. (These are some R-rated movies loved by the critics but hated by everybody else.)

The list also features plenty of action movies and thrillers, including the classic ‘80s and 90’s films “Commando,” “Enemy of the State,” and “Speed,” as well as newer releases like “Patriot’s Day,” which follows the manhunt for two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon.