A raunchy comedy with real emotion leaves streaming crowds reaching for the tissues

The raunchy sex-driven comedy with a heart of gold has been fertile cinematic ground for decades, but it was Judd Apatow and his regular cast of on and offscreen collaborators who dominated the market throughout the 2000s and 2010s. However, The Girl Next Door deserves to be part of the conversation when listing off the best efforts from the subgenre’s creative zenith.

It even landed a pair of MTV Movie Awards nominations and a Teen Choice nod to solidify its appeal to the target demographic, before embarking on a streaming renaissance 18 years on. As per FlixPatrol, the surprisingly heartfelt sex-mad romp that comes packing plenty of genuine emotion has charted on the Prime Video global most-watched list, winning new fans in the process.

Emile Hirsch stars as a shy teenager who prefers prudence over partying, until Elisha Cuthbert moves in next door. Naturally, he finds himself instantly smitten, before he discovers that she moonlights as a porn star. Shocked at first, he eventually learns to embrace the person she is in real life despite the unwanted attention she regularly gathers from “fans”, but Timothy Olyphant’s sleazy producer isn’t willing to let her walk away so easily.

If you can believe this, The Girl Next Door boasts a 69% user rating on Rotten Tomatoes, slightly stiffer than the fairly flaccid 56% critical consensus. It was a box office bomb, too, barely recouping the estimated $30 million production costs from theaters, but it instantly found a long-lasting life on home video and beyond.