If you have your hot date lined up this Valentine’s Day, enjoy it. For those who don’t, Showmax’s Valentine’s Day lineup is just what you need to snuggle up with
It’s guaranteed to remind you that there are hotter, funnier, kinder, and more romantic partners out there than your ex, and that spending time alone or with friends on your couch can be lots of fun too.
LOVE ISLAND COLLECTION | Binge from Friday, 14 February
Love Island has become an undeniable cultural phenomenon. In the first season of Showmax cult favourite Euphoria, Zendaya’s character Rue admits to watching “22 hours straight of Love Island over a two-day period” and still “yearning for more.” Similarly, Girls creator Lena Dunham wrote in her love letter to The Guardian about the reality TV sensation: “I was totally unprepared for how wholly it would take over my life and days.”
This Valentine’s Day, Showmax has lined up not one but four new seasons of Love Island, including two brand-new spinoffs. These are:
• Love Island: All Stars S1, filmed in South Africa in the Franschhoek winelands
• Love Island Games S1, already renewed for a second season
• Love Island USA S6, with new host Ariana Madix (Dancing with the Stars, Vanderpump Rules)
• Love Island UK S11, filmed in Mallorca
Watch the Love Island: All Stars S1 trailer here
NOT MY TYPE | Stream from Friday, 14 February
Church baddie Letsatsi has spent years designing wedding dresses while waiting for the perfect man God has in store for her. When her younger sister receives a marriage proposal, she becomes desperate. Her meticulously planned life, which should have included a husband by now, is not unfolding as she expected.
Lorraine Moropa stars as Letsatsi, opposite Lulama Nyembezi (The Queen, House of Zwide) as Thimothi and Moagi Kai as Mhlonishwa.
Not My Type is directed by SAFTA winner Siyabonga Mkhize (Umkhokha, eHostela) and executive produced by Thabang Masanabo (Kleva-ish).
Not My Type is one of three local romcoms launching on Showmax this Month of Love. Also look out for the hilarious Soos Pynappel Op Pizza, with Schalk Bezuidenhout and Kate Pinchuck, and the knockout Gebokste Liefde, with Tarryn Wyngaard.
Watch the trailer here
COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS S1 | Binge now, with S2 launching on Tuesday, 18 February
Colin from Accounts follows Ashley and Gordon, two single-ish, complex humans who are brought together by a car accident and an injured dog.
Created by and co-starring real life couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, the Australian romcom series still has a 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Season 2 named their second-best romance series of 2024.
In their 5/5-star review, Guardian says, “This unfailingly funny, perfectly acted Australian sitcom features a lead that’s neither a hot mess nor a manic pixie dream girl. It’s honest, kind and goes from strength to strength… It is ordinary life with all the good lines jammed closer together… It’s really rather wonderful.”
Watch the trailer here
YOUNGER S1-7 | Binge now
Younger stars Sutton Foster as unemployed single mother Liza Miller. After being mistaken for younger than she really is, she decides to take the chance to reboot her career in publishing - and her love life - as a 26-year old, with hilarious consequences.
Younger’s finale screened on Showmax way back in 2021, but the show has found new life after being released on Netflix in the US last month. This saw three different seasons on the romcom charting in the Netflix Top 10 simultaneously in the US, and Younger becoming the most popular romance series on IMDb right now.
Foster was nominated for a Critics Choice award for the role, with Hilary Duff nominated for People’s Choice and Teen Choice awards as Kelsey, but really you’ll be rooting for either Team Josh (Nico Tortorella) or Team Charles (Peter Hermann).
Created by Emmy winner Darren Star (Emily In Paris), Younger still has a 97% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
On Showmax, you can also stream all six seasons of Star’s other hit series Sex and The City as well as both seasons of its spinoff And Just Like That.
Watch the trailer here
THE BEST MAN: THE FINAL CHAPTERS | Binge now
Based on the multi-award-winning film franchise, The Best Man: The Final Chapters catches up with Harper, Robyn, Jordan, Lance, Quentin, Shelby, Candace, and Murch as relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.
The Best Man: The Final Chapters won the Black Reel Award for Outstanding Limited Series, after receiving a record 18 nominations in 2023. This included acting nominations for Morris Chestnut and Nia Long, as well as their co-stars Terrence Howard, Taye Diggs, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan, Melissa de Sousa and Harold Perrineau.
The Best Man: The Final Chapters has a 91% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety saying, “For fans of a specific period of Black cinema [black romcoms between 1990 to 2000], Peacock’s The Best Man: The Final Chapters is an epic, end-of-an-era conclusion on par with Avengers: Endgame.”
You can also catch The Best Man and The Best Man Holiday on Showmax.
Watch the trailer here
THE FALL GUY | Stream now
The Fall Guy stars Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Barbie’s Ken) as Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred former stuntman who is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie — being directed by his ex — goes missing.
Golden Globe winners Emily Blunt and Aaron Taylor-Johnson play the director and lead actor respectively, with Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) as the film’s ruthless producer. Inspired by the hit 1980s TV series, the action romcom also stars Winston Duke (Black Panther’s M'Baku) and Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once).
Directed by former stuntman David Leitch (Bullet Train, Deadpool 2 and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), The Fall Guy was a #1 box office hit and Rotten Tomatoes’ third best-reviewed action and adventure film of 2024.
As RogerEbert.com says, “This is a ridiculously fun movie, anchored by a movie star in a part that fits him perfectly and a director who really has been working toward this film for his entire career.”
Watch the trailer here
NOTTING HILL | Stream now
In Notting Hill, a chance encounter between a humble London bookstore owner and a world-famous American actress sparks an unexpected love story, which baffles their friends, family and the world at large.
As Anna and William, Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant were both nominated for Golden Globes, with Rhys Ifans BAFTA nominated as William’s eccentric flatmate Spike.
Recently named one of the 10 best classic romantic comedies of all time by Harper’s Bazaar, Notting Hill is written by Oscar nominee Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral).
There’s a strong South African link too: both director Roger Michell and composer Trevor Jones were born here.
You can also watch Julia Roberts on Showmax in another classic romcom, My Best Friend’s Wedding.
Watch the trailer here
ROMANCE ON THE COUCH
Showmax has no shortage of classic romcoms - and tearjerkers - for you to relive, from recent hits like the record-breaking Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, to multi-award winner Queen & Slim, starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, as well as:
• 2024 SAFTA Best Telenovela winner Outlaws
• Multi-award-winning Kenyan love story Rafiki
• Cult classic Umakoti Wethu, starring Fulu Mugovhani, Melusi Mbele and Kwanele Mthethwa
• Hitch, starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes
• A Star Is Born, starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper
• Bridesmaids, starring Kristen Wiig
• Think Like A Man, starring Kevin Hart and Gabrielle Union
• Knocked Up, starring Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl
• This is 40, starring Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin, starring Steve Carell
• Forgetting Sarah Marshall, starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis
• Trainwreck, starring Amy Schumer and Bill Hader
• Mamma Mia!, starring Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan
• Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray and Andie Macdowell
• The Bodyguard, with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston
• Shakespeare in Love, starring Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow
• Bridget Jones Diary, starring Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth, as well as Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, with Hugh Grant, and Bridget Jones’ Baby, with Patrick ‘McDreamy’ Dempsey
• True Blood, starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgård
Explore them here
