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It always bothers me when people say things like all lesbian movies are sad. Because while there are numerous examples of depressing or tragic lesbian movies (okay, probably too many examples), lesbian movies with a sense of humor do exist. Camp doesn’t belong solely to gay men, and there is such a thing as a lesbian rom-com.
What follows is a roundup of lesbian and queer films where humor and levity take center stage – at least some of the time. If you’re looking for a laugh, you’ve come to the right place, and if you’re looking for a cry, well, there are plenty of other movies that can help with that. Either way, strap in for some lesbian laughs, some sapphic smiles, some gay giggles…You know what I mean.
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love (1995, dir. Maria Maggenti)
The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love was based on director Maria Maggenti’s first girlfriend. What began as the image of a tomboy with love notes in her back pocket became a dark story about teenage sexuality. The script that ended up resonating most with producers was not a broody picture, however, but a lesbian rom-com about first love.
Laurel Holloman (of The L Word fame) plays Randy, a teenage tomboy who lives with her lesbian aunt and her girlfriend, along with her aunt’s ex. A stoner and out lesbian, Randy has few friends at school, and her only romantic prospect is the married woman she’s having an affair with. When Randy meets Evie (Nicole Ari Parker), her popular and wealthy classmate, the two develop an unlikely connection. While falling in love is easy, contending with the opinions of their friends and family is more difficult.
Despite the obstacles Randy and Evie face, The Incredibly True Adventure of Two Girls in Love is ultimately a lighthearted, sweet film. It’s wonderful to see a grungy tomboy like Randy – who wears dirty Converse and listens to Bratmobile – as the protagonist of a movie, and the teen love story is perfectly tuned to the maturity level of the characters. It’s hard to think of a more adorable lesbian teen rom-com – probably because there isn’t one.
Saving Face (2004, dir. Alice Wu)
![Saving Face [In-Person Only] - Northwest Film Forum](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yHgE!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff1e40c75-1321-407e-9fc8-7556b9b1b2a3_1600x900.jpeg "Saving Face [In-Person Only] - Northwest Film Forum")
While younger moviegoers may be more familiar with Alice Wu’s 2020 project The Half of It, her 2004 rom-com Saving Face is the superior film. We follow Wil (Michelle Krusiec), a successful surgeon who isn’t out to her Chinese mother (Joan Chen, who also stars in another film on this list). Wil makes the acquaintance of Vivian (Lynn Chen), a dancer and the daughter of Wil’s boss. Meanwhile, Wil’s mother has been kicked out of Wil’s grandparents' house for getting pregnant out of wedlock, and she subsequently moves in with Wil.
Though Wil and Vivan form an instant connection, Wil struggles to fully commit to the relationship. Part of it is her awkwardness, which is not so much a problem as it is one of the film’s funniest elements. In one scene, Vivian attempts to kiss her, and Wil falls to the floor to avoid the interaction. Wil’s fear of coming out complicates things, as does Vivian’s tense relationship with her father.
Goofy and tender in equal measure, Saving Face tells a lesbian story rarely seen in the media at the time of its release, nor today. The specific struggles Wil and Vivian face are universal in some ways, but the specificity of each of their experiences gives the movie its texture and grounds its sillier elements in a sense of gratifying verisimilitude.
D.E.B.S. (2004, dir. Angela Robinson)
In the running for the title of funniest lesbian movie of all time, Angela Robinson’s D.E.B.S. makes no effort to paint a realistic story, and that’s precisely what makes it so delightful. Our protagonist is Amy (Sara Foster), the star agent of a secret agency of collegiate spies. To give you a sense of the seriousness of the operation, their uniforms are sexy schoolgirl outfits a lá “Hit Me Baby One More Time,” their lair is a forcefield-protected sorority horse, and their superior, played by Holland Taylor, frequently appears to them in hologram form.
Amy and her sorority sisters are tasked with tracking Lucy Diamond (the highly charismatic Jordana Brewster), a notorious criminal and supposedly one of the world’s most wanted women. Contrary to the mission directive, Amy falls for Lucy and they begin a clandestine affair. What follows is a spectacularly silly and nonsensical love story and the goofiest caper you’ve ever seen. Robinson, who also directed the Lindsay Lohan classic Herbie Fully Loaded and the queer BDSM movie Professor Marston and the Wonder Women, deserves major kudos for giving the film its wonderfully campy tone and its occasional dips into straight-up surrealism. One of the best counterarguments to the ‘all lesbian movies are serious and sad’ assumption, D.E.B.S. is unserious to the max.
A Date for Mad Mary (2016, dir. Darren Thornton)
Though not a full-throttle comedy, A Date for Mad Mary has enough laughs and silly hijinks to balance out its more dramatic elements. Seána Kerslake plays the eponymous Mary, a young woman recently released from prison on an assault charge. Mary learns that her best friend Charlene (Charleigh Bailey), whom she has very strong feelings for, is getting married, and she seems to have forgotten about Mary during her time away. Incensed by Charlene’s refusal to give her a plus one for the wedding on the grounds that she won’t be able to find anyone to go with, Mary makes it her mission to find a date for the wedding.
She signs up for a speed dating event and meets a slew of men she has no interest in, but remains determined to prove Charlene wrong. In the meantime, Mary grows close with Charlene’s wedding photographer, Jess (Tara Lee), and she learns that perhaps her desires lie elsewhere.
Though the film paints with shades of melancholy, we quickly learn that Mary’s hard exterior belies a softness and vulnerability within. Indeed, some of the film’s best moments are so tender they’ll make your heart clench. Lovable and filled with plenty of good-spirited laughter, A Date for Mady Mary is a winning coming-of-age debut.
Signature Move (2017, dir. Jennifer Reeder)
Co-written by and starring Fawzia Mirza and directed by Jennifer Reeder, who now exclusively makes horror movies, Signature Move is one of the most unique lesbian films you’ll ever see. Mirza plays Zaynab, a Pakistani lawyer living in Chicago. Zaynab’s widowed mother has recently moved in with her, and spends her time watching her favorite soaps and looking for a husband for her lesbian daughter. Zaynab, who has recently been training in lucha-style wrestling, meets Alma (Sari Sanchez), a Chicana bookstore owner whose mother is a former Luchadora.
The differences in how Zaynab and Alma live their lives quickly become apparent, and Zaynab struggles to reconcile the person she is with her mother, with Alma, and inside the wrestling ring. Signature Move invests in cultural authenticity, and the rhythms of these characters' lives feel unique to their own experience of family, culture, and place. The film provides laughs as well, often in a strange way, and its wholly original premise makes for an entertaining watch.
La Llamada (2017, dir. Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo.)
Dedicated PDL readers may recall that I’ve included this next film in a list before, but it tickles me so much that I’m featuring it again. Holy Camp! (also known as La Llamada), based on a stage musical of the same name, follows two Spanish teenage girls, María (Macarena García) and Susana (Anna Castillo), as they attend a summer camp run by nuns. The friends frequently sneak out to attend Electro Latino shows and smoke cigarettes, ignoring the camp’s conservative Catholic rules.
Though neither of the girls has any interest in religion, María has an epiphany when a flashy showman singing Whitney Houston songs starts appearing to her in visions. She believes this snazzily-dressed man is God himself, sending her messages. Susanna’s surprising connection to God takes a very different form. She begins to develop feelings for one of the nuns, challenging her preconceived notions about religion and sexuality.
An ambitious musical comedy, Holy Camp! takes place in a world none of us have access to. It’s blasphemous and over-the-top and utterly absurd. Whitney Houston being the voice of God – duh! – is the film’s most grounded element. An unconventional film that nails the landing, Holy Camp! delivers spectacle and humor like you’ve never seen it before.
Tahara (2020, dir Olivia Peace)
I know I said this list features films that aren’t about sadness and death, so I’ll admit upfront that the 2020 film Tahara does take place at a funeral. The film follows two best friends, Carrie (Madeline Grey DeFreece), and Hannah (Rachel Sennott, in her second film where she smooches a girl at a Jewish funeral). When they kiss at the funeral of a queer classmate who died by suicide, it causes potentially irreparable damage to their friendship.
Carrie has a crush on Hannah, but Hannah has a crush on someone else (also at the funeral) and is occupied by her rivalry with another student. Both Carrie and Hannah endeavor to fit in, but Hannah does so no matter the cost.
It may sound strange to describe a film that takes place entirely at the funeral of a teenager as funny, but Tahara manages to balance the existential maladies of its characters with juvenile hijinks and humorous, relatable adolescent awkwardness. Cleverly composed and shot (several interstitials depict the two BFFs as claymation figures), the film balances depth with a necessary supply of foolishness.
Ellie and Abbie (and Ellie’s Dead Aunt) (2020, dir. Monica Zanetti)
This next film literally has the word “Dead” in the title, but I promise it contains only a smidge of heartache. The Australian film stars Sophie Hawkshaw as Ellie, a 17-year-old who has recently come out. Ellie has a major crush on her classmate, Abbie (non-binary actor Zoe Terakes), and wants to ask her to the school dance. Before she can go through with her plan to win over her true love, she’s visited by the ghost of her aunt Tara (Julia Billington), who was a lesbian activist in the 1980s.
While she’s not worried much about the appearance of a ghost in her life, Ellie ignores Aunt Tara’s dating advice, finding it outdated and not relevant to the more progressive 21st century. But once Ellie learns more about Tara’s life and death in the ‘80s, she becomes more connected to queer history and re-commits herself to achieving her happy ending.
Though it’s a little too cringe at times, the movie sticks the landing when it comes to composing a lighthearted teen comedy with hidden depth. While Ellie’s youthful, blustering confidence is occasionally frustrating, it’s hard to deny the film’s touching message and the kookiness of its delivery.
Crush (2022, dir. Sammi Cohen)
The 2022 film Crush doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but that’s a large part of why it's so satisfying. The Hulu movie centers on Paige (a delightful Rowan Blanchard), a gay teenager interested in art. Paige has had a crush on her classmate Gabriela (Isabella Ferreira) since middle school, but has never made a move. When she’s forced to join the track team, this brings her closer to Gabriela and also introduces her to her enigmatic sister, AJ (Auli'i Cravalho).
The narrative blueprint feels familiar. We have a protagonist who learns to ignore what she should do and discovers what she truly wants, teenage hijinks and miscuommincations, and nearly every teen movie trope in the book. What makes the film novel is that its queer take on this narrative isn’t framed as a novelty. The fact that Paige’s high school houses numerous queer students is a given, which means their trials and tribulations don’t revolve around coming out or bullying.
Written, directed by, and starring queer women, Crush makes queerness a central element of the story without turning it into a message movie. The lighthearted, occasionally hilarious script is buoyed by two great performances from Blanchard and Cravalho, who both have enough charm to power a small city and make the movie’s tropey elements feel new again.
The Wedding Banquet (2025, dir. Andrew Ahn)
The most recent film on this list, The Wedding Banquet is actually a “reimagining” of a much older film. Andrew Ahn’s update of the 1993 film of the same name, The Wedding Banquet follows a queer foursome who get themselves into a bit of a pickle. Kelly Marie Tran plays Angela, a scientist who lives with her long-term partner Lee (Lily Gladstone) in Lee’s family home. Chris (Bowen Yang) and his boyfriend, Min (Han Gi-chan), who live out back, round out their queer family.
Min’s visa is about to expire, so he proposes a plan: he’ll pay for Angela and Lee’s expensive IVF treatment if Angela marries him for a green card. Amazingly, everyone agrees to the plan, but it goes off the rails when Min’s grandmother (decorated actress Youn Yuh-jung) decides to visit Min and throw the pair a traditional Korean wedding.
Though billed as a rom-com, this categorization doesn’t account for the more serious elements that crop up in the latter half of the film. Still, there’s plenty of humor and sweetness in the mix, and several standout performances. Veterans Youn Yuh-jung and Joan Chen, who plays Angela’s performantly supportive mother, deliver the film’s most impressive performances, while Tran and Gladstone give the film a ton of heart. Though not perfect, it's hard to fault The Wedding Banquet’s earnest approach to queer found family.
Honorable mentions
It’s In The Water – I’ve written about this gem of a film before.
So Damn Easy Going – I saw this adorable Swedish film at a festival in 2023, but it’s still not available to watch in the US.
Late Bloomers – I’ve also written about this one.
But I’m a Cheerleader – One of the greatest lesbian films of all time.
Wild Nights with Emily – Also featured on a recent list.
