Right off the bat, I want to start this review by mentioning that I’ve definitely heard a lot of really great things about Lynn Painter’s book, Better Than The Movies, ever since its release back in May of 2021. After having finally read Better Than The Movies, I have to say that while I’ve always had very mixed feelings about young adult romance books, I really enjoyed this book for the most part.
Liz Buxbaum was a very well-written, interesting, and likable protagonist for the most part. Despite my being a guy, I actually found myself really being able to relate to Liz’s hopeless romantic nature and her love of romantic comedies quite a bit, because I’ve considered myself a hopeless romantic ever since I watched the romantic comedy Pretty Woman for the first time when I was either five or six years old.
I felt like Painter did a fantastic job of establishing for the reader what Liz’s relationship with her biological mother was like, even though her mother had passed away before events that take place in the book, and it’s very clear that her relationship with her mother had a significant influence on her when she was alive; especially when it came to mentioning the fact that her mother had been an aspiring screenwriter. Plus, it was pretty obvious that her mother had played a big role in instilling her with a hopeless romantic nature when she was still alive. I also thought that Painter opening every chapter with a quote from numerous famous romantic comedies was very fitting, since it was mentioned at one point in the book that Liz and her mother had owned a big box of romantic comedies, but Helena had sold them, thinking that Liz didn’t watch them anymore.
That being said, it did frustrate me that Liz’s behavior throughout the book caused problems for her in both her relationship with her stepmom, Helena, and her relationship with her best friend, Joss, as she and Wes grew closer. When it comes to how Liz treated Helena, it was initially established in the book that Liz thought of Helena as being really cool, but as the book progressed, Liz seemed to push Helena away because she was having a difficult time dealing with her mom’s passing away. Liz having a difficult time dealing with her mom’s passing also caused her to basically do the same thing to her best friend Joss throughout the book; which I thought kind of made her come across as a shitty friend and a just shitty person in general, but at least it made her a flawed character, and not a Mary Sue; which is a great thing in my book!
Wes also proved to be a well-written and nuanced character on Painter’s part as he worked with Liz to help her achieve her goal of getting her childhood crush, Michael, to go to the prom with her after he moved back to town. I loved the part of the book where Wes takes Liz to a party so she can talk to Michael. However, someone throws up on her, so Wes helps clean her up. Wes also takes her to the hospital after Liz gets hit in the face with a basketball at a basketball game that she went to with Wes, so she could talk to Michael.
One aspect of the book that I felt could have been better is that I think that Painter could have done a slightly better job of developing Michael as a character, especially when I think about what a great job she did of developing Wes as a character throughout the book. Painter did a great job of establishing why Liz originally didn’t like Wes, which ultimately helped make it easy to understand why they ultimately fell in love with each other. However, the reasons why Liz ultimately viewed Michael as the “guy of her dreams” felt slightly underdeveloped to me. I really think that it would have been nice for Liz to have at least one or two more interactions with Michael that actually went well between them while she and Wes were still in the process of carrying out their deal; instead of things going disastrously whenever they’re around each other. That definitely would have helped to flesh out the relationship between Liz and Michael, and further develop Michael as an individual character at the same time.
As for my thoughts on the ending of Better Than The Movies, I was really glad that Liz made up with Helena and Joss after having treated them poorly throughout the book. I found the whole thing with Liz discovering that Wes already had somewhere else that he could park his car, and that he never even needed the parking spot that they had been arguing over to begin with, to be an interesting revelation. However, the very final moment of the book between them was extremely abrupt and random for a romance novel, at least for my taste.
All things considered, Lynn Painter’s Better Than The Movies is a charming and fun young adult romance. The fact that Liz and Wes had as much chemistry as they did was a major strength of the book. Liz was a very compelling protagonist, and her love of romantic comedies added a fascinating element to her as a character. Wes ultimately proved to be a rather charming and well-written love interest. As I said earlier, the biggest complaint that I ultimately have with the book is that I think that the character Michael could have been developed a little bit more than he was, given the fact that Liz apparently viewed him as the “guy of her dreams”. Other than that major issue, I thought that this really was a very fun and well-written book.
That being said, my final score for Better Than The Movies is 8 out of 10.
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