HBO Max has so many critically acclaimed movies in February that some of the newly arrived films are bound to get lost in the shuffle.
A low Rotten Tomatoes score doesn’t mean a film can’t be entertaining or worthwhile.
That’s why Watch With Us has brought together three underrated HBO Max movies you should watch in February 2026.
Our picks include a sports romance, a cult classic comedy and a supernatural horror thriller starring a Gladiator actor
‘Love & Basketball’ (2000)
Love & Basketball is an aptly named movie because the passion that Quincy McCall (Omar Epps) and Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan) have for the game is what brings them together in the first place. It’s also their shared passion that may drive them apart when their fortunes in the sport go off in different directions.
Writer and director Gina Prince-Bythewood structures this film like a four-quarter basketball game. The first quarter chronicles the way that Quincy and Monica meet as children, while the remaining quarters follow them through high school, college and into pro sports. There’s definitely a strong bond of love between Quincy and Monica that takes shape over the years, but it just may not be enough to make them last as a couple.
Love & Basketball is streaming on HBO Max.
‘MacGruber’ (2010)
Saturday Night Live spinoff movies are becoming an endangered species in cinemas, largely because most of them can’t sustain their comedic momentum for the length of a film. MacGruber stands out from the pack because Will Forte‘s title character is a hilariously inept and unlikable action hero who was inspired by Richard Dean Anderson‘s MacGyver TV series from the ’80s.
For the feature film, the late Val Kilmer portrays MacGruber’s personal nemesis, Dieter Von Cunth. To defeat Dieter, MacGruber will need to assemble a new team. And once he gets that team killed due to his carelessness, MacGruber will just have to settle for Vicki Gloria St. Elmo (Kristen Wiig) and Lieutenant Dixon Piper (Ryan Phillippe) as the fate of the world lies in their hands.
MacGruber is streaming on HBO Max.
‘The Pope’s Exorcist’ (2023)
If you’re looking for the movie where Russell Crowe plays an actor who is portraying a priest who battles demons, that one’s called The Exorcist. The Pope’s Exorcist is an entirely different movie starring Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth, a rockstar among exorcists due to his reputed ties to the Pope. This film is loosely based on Amorth’s biography, with what we suspect to be a lot of embellishment.
For his latest case, Father Gabriel is teamed with a younger priest, Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto), as they face a demon that possesses a young boy named Henry Vasquez (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney). The demon’s reach extends to Henry’s sister,
Amy Vasquez (Laurel Marsden), and the investigation by the two priests uncovers some secrets that the Catholic Church would probably wish to remain hidden.
The Pope’s Exorcist will stream on HBO Max on February 12.
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