Better Than the Movies

Better Than the Movies is Lynn Painter's 2021 YA romantic comedy about Liz Buxbaum, a high school senior who loves classic rom-coms so much that she tries to engineer one for herself. Netflix Tudum says the upcoming feature film is inspired by Painter's novel, with Beatrice Kitsos as Liz and David Iacono as Wes Bennett. Simon & Schuster lists the hardcover ISBN 9781534467620.

The book is useful before the movie because it explains why Liz's movie logic matters. Her prom-date fantasy is also a way to manage grief, embarrassment, and the fear that real life may not give her the ending she wants.

Read it if you want a fast, bright entry into current YA romance. The strongest parts are the neighbor dynamic, the soundtrack feeling, and the way Liz slowly realizes that a planned love story can hide the person already paying attention.

Liz Buxbaum is the rom-com believer whose schemes are funny because they are also protective.

Wes Bennett is the next-door neighbor who knows Liz well enough to annoy her and help her.

Michael Young is the crush who seems to fit the story Liz has been rehearsing.

Liz's family and friends keep the book grounded in school, memory, and the pressure of senior year.

No. 1 - Current Netflix route. Tudum gives the book a clear read-before-the-movie window.

No. 2 - YA rom-com fluency. The book understands the tropes it is using.

No. 3 - Low-friction read. It is easy to hand to a show-first or movie-first reader.

Read this if you are...

• Coming from Netflix's Better Than the Movies casting news.
• Looking for enemies-to-lovers tension at a YA level.
• A reader who enjoys rom-com references inside the plot.
• Choosing a lighter romance with grief under the surface.

Skip it if you are...

• Avoiding high school romance.
• Looking for adult heat or darker romantic drama.
• Impatient with characters who make plans before they understand their own feelings.
• Bothered by heavy use of rom-com tropes.

• Treat the movie references as character clues. They show what Liz wants life to feel like.
• Watch Wes in the margins. The book rewards attention to what he does before Liz names it.
• Expect YA pacing. The emotional beats are quick, social, and school-year shaped.
• Separate source and film. Netflix will choose its own balance of comedy, grief, and nostalgia.

• Jenny Han - To All the Boys I've Loved Before. For YA romance built around a private fantasy becoming public.
• Ali Novak - My Life with the Walter Boys. For another Netflix YA romance route.
• Sally Thorne - The Hating Game. For an adult workplace version of antagonism turning intimate.
• Emily Henry - People We Meet on Vacation. For rom-com structure with older characters.
• Beth Reekles - The Kissing Booth. For another YA romance that moved from page to Netflix screen.

1. What does Liz get from imagining life as a rom-com?
2. When does Wes move from nuisance to real emotional option?
3. Does the book celebrate romance tropes or gently correct them?
4. How should the Netflix movie handle Liz's grief without slowing the comedy?
5. Which side characters make the high school setting feel specific?
6. Does Michael matter more as a person or as an idea Liz has protected?
7. Where does the book feel most honest about embarrassment?
8. Would the story work if Liz did not know rom-coms so well?