Better Than the Movies is a young adult romance novel by Lynn Painter that tells the story of Liz Buxbaum, who has bloomed in love once again when her childhood crush, Michael Young, is back in town. She decides to scheme with her longtime neighbor-slash-frenemy Wes Bennett to secure Michael as her prom date ever since she learns that the boys hit it off right away, only to discover that it is with Wes where she feels much comfortable as herself and truly likes hanging out with her attractive yet annoying neighbor. As things get out of control, Liz might have to reexamine her love life before she hits rock bottom.

This book has everything to adore in romantic comedies: predictable enough to follow, but it has a flair of campiness and sappiness that you would see in the 2000s era of this genre. Overall, we can say that Lynn Painter has it down to the T in constructing the story to appeal to all light romance lovers, including me, which is why I had high hopes that it delivered as much as it promised through the hype. I do admit that she does deliver in certain parts, but the rest... well.

I have said it many times, but let me say it once more: the charm of predictable plots relies on the construction. We have read books with the same tropes and witnessed characters who embody similar stereotypes. Not to mention, romantic comedies like these require characters who are equally relatable and dreamlike since characters are the true gear in moving the plot as it goes. So, if the writing on characters is shit, the same goes for the story.

Correlating to Better Than the Movies, characters are my issue from fully enjoying the book. As a protagonist, Liz Buxbaum is half-assed in execution; Painter wants to illustrate her character as someone who manifests the traits of a manic pixie dream girl—a feat that Painter does succeed at the beginning of the story, displaying her quirks as someone who is obsessed with romantic comedy films that she transforms the characteristics of that genre into her entire personality. However, with no proper development in her characterization aside from her long-extended grief of her mom's death, her personality turns bland very quickly. She has nothing to offer aside from the preppy, film-referencing self, and her limited scope of perspective rapidly turns her into an annoying person who is only thinking about herself, lacks empathy, and is quick to judge someone based on the stereotypical notions she has attributed from the films she watches.

So, forgive me for thinking how it is miraculous that she has friends like Laney or someone who likes her that way like Wes.

Before we skip to Wes, let's talk about Michael Young first. I have to admit that he has charisma as both a jock and a nerd, and I have a feeling that Painter intentionally avoids writing the main male characters as assholes with no feelings for her young adult novels. However, he comes off as being too straight-laced and too over his head to be interesting, too preoccupied with everything else other than Liz. As a romantic interest, he also comes off as passive-aggressive in his characterization. He cannot even form a solid decision in his mind about his feelings, which, unfortunately, does make him look like an asshole in the end because he strings a girl along. I wonder how and why Liz is that blind not to understand his interest in her is so fleeting that it hurts. It could've saved a lot of time.

Moving on to Wes himself, I find him to be a standout character in this book. He's your everyday male teenager: handsome, playful, and a bit annoying. He embodies the "pulling pigtails" trope with the girl he likes without being overly offensive with his actions. What I find surprising is that he is decently wise in his words and actions, he knows where to properly position himself even in situations that are not favorable, not acting overly aggressive or pushy even when he disagrees with the condition. And the best part about his personality is that it is his true character, not a personality he curates solely to be liked by the girl he loves.

Laney and Helena are my favorite side characters in this novel. Both share the blunt nature in their characters, still thoughtful and generally friendly among their loved ones. They are the other logical and fairly perceptive characters aside from Wes. It is why these two and Wes are the particular good things in this novel.

The drastic difference in their personalities is the reason why I don't find the idea of Liz and Wes being together incredibly appealing; Liz is too distracted with her problems, even after she's settled things with her long-time grief over her mother's death, and Wes is too immersed in thinking about the others to even think about himself. It will just end up in disaster soon.

In short, do I find Better Than the Movies good? In my personal opinion, it's definitely a no for me. I have read books with better execution of this trope, so I don't find it to be urgent for me to read the sequel of this book or read other books by this author. However, I will not say that I won't recommend it because I understand there are people who might find this book and its characters to be right up their alley.