Better Than the Movies Review | A Popular Rom-Com That Didn’t Quite Work for Me

Book Spotlight: Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

Genre: Young Adult Romance • Romantic Comedy • Coming-of-Age

☕ Book Details & Rating

Format: Audiobook

Series: Better Than the Movies #1

Year Published: 2022

Page Count: 384

Rating: ☕☕ (2 Coffees)

🥤 Coffee Pairing: Decaf Iced Coffee with Vanilla Cold Foam

It looks like your perfect iced coffee—smooth, creamy, and topped with that irresistible cold foam. It tastes like coffee… but it’s decaf.

It fits Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter perfectly. All the elements of a swoony rom-com are there, and on the surface it checks every box—but it’s missing that kick. The depth just isn’t there, leaving it feeling a little flat despite how cute it tries to be. ☕✨

About the Book

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter follows Liz Buxbaum, a hopeless romantic who believes her life should play out just like the movies she grew up loving. When her longtime crush moves back to town, she sees it as her chance to finally get her perfect rom-com ending.

The only problem? She needs help getting his attention—and the last person she expects to team up with is her annoying (and very persistent) neighbor, Wes.

As Liz works to create her ideal love story, things don’t go quite according to plan. What starts as a strategic partnership quickly becomes more complicated, forcing her to question whether real life can—or should—mirror the movies she’s always believed in.

⚠️ Trigger & Spoiler Warning ⚠️

This review contains spoilers for Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter. If you haven’t read the book yet and want to go in blind, you may want to come back to this review later.

Content-wise, this book includes strong language throughout, which may not be suitable for all readers. It also touches on grief and the loss of a parent, though this is not the primary focus of the story.

As always, if you prefer completely clean reads with minimal language, this is something to keep in mind before picking up this book.

My Thoughts

I may get hate for this, but Better Than the Movies is a beloved book across BookTok, BookTube, and Bookstagram—basically all corners of bookish social media. It’s a darling of a book. And yet… this is my lowest-rated book to date.

“Sometimes we get so tied up in our idea of what we think we want that we miss out on the amazingness of what we could actually have.”― Lynn Painter, Better Than the Movies

Before we dive into the negatives, let’s talk about the positives.

Wes, overall, was not a bad character—though we’ll get his major red flag later. The late-night phone conversations he and Liz shared were sweet, and I liked how willing he was to help her. His secret love of rom-coms made me smile, and I especially appreciated the way he shared memories of Liz’s mom that she hadn’t experienced herself. That gave her new moments to hold onto—something she wouldn’t have had if she’d continued treating Wes like the enemy. That said, because the story is told entirely from Liz’s perspective, we don’t get access to Wes’s inner thoughts, which makes his character feel a bit flat on the page.

I also loved the movie and music references throughout the book. One of my favorite things about Liz is how she creates a mental soundtrack for every moment. I do this too—maybe not to her level, but I related to that so much. I also appreciated that she has a strong sense of personal style. She knows what she likes and doesn’t care what others think… until (we’ll get to that in a minute). She’s genuinely funny, and there were definitely moments that made me smile.

Some of the grief elements in this story felt incredibly real. Birthdays, prom dress shopping, graduation—those milestones without your mom are heartbreaking. My mom passed away before I got married and had kids, and those moments in my life have always been bittersweet. They were happy, but there was always that ache of wishing she could be there with me.

That said, the positives only go so far—and this is where my issues with the book really start to come in.

I want to start with the grief aspect of the story, because I may have a different perspective than some readers. I lost my mom in my mid-20s, so while I wasn’t as young as Liz, I do understand grief on a personal level. And for me, grief is not an excuse for being a crappy person.

Liz treats her stepmom, Helena, terribly. I understand that her dad remarried relatively quickly and that Helena is very different from Liz’s mom, so of course there would be friction at first. But by the age Liz is now, that tension should have eased at least a little. Even in her inner monologue, Liz acknowledges that Helena is trying and that she wants to give her a chance—but then she just… doesn’t. Grief is complicated, but Liz has been holding onto an unwarranted grudge for years. Helena never tries to replace her mom—she simply wants to support her. The prom dress shopping scene absolutely broke my heart for Helena. She just wanted to be included, to be there for Liz in those important moments.

I had mixed feelings about Liz’s friend, Joss. On one hand, she’s the kind of friend most people would want—honest, supportive, and willing to tell you what you need to hear instead of what you want to hear. But she also felt a bit short-sighted at times. I’ll give her some grace because she’s a teenager, but it still stood out to me. Liz was clearly struggling—canceling plans, acting off, pulling away—and those are big red flags that something deeper is going on. Joss knows her well, but she didn’t seem to connect the dots that all of these senior milestones might be especially difficult for Liz.

At the same time, Liz wasn’t a great friend either. She repeatedly canceled plans and even lied to Joss just to spend time with her crush because she was too embarrassed to be honest. Joss had already warned her it wasn’t a good idea, and she was right. Liz chose to ignore that and hurt her friend in the process.

And then there’s Michael.

I mentioned earlier that I loved how Liz knew her style and didn’t care what others thought… until him. The guy she believed she was destined to be with. One of the first things that happens is a makeover (yes, I know it’s a rom-com trope, but it still frustrates me). Suddenly it’s about changing who she is—different clothes, different hair, becoming what she thinks he wants. And the worst part? Wes is the one who encourages it, only to turn around later in the book and tell her he likes her best when she’s herself… ugh. I wanted to throat punch both of them. Wes for pushing her to change in the first place, and Liz for going along with it.

And finally, the language.

I understand that these are high school students and that some level of language is realistic, but this felt excessive. It was constant, and honestly, it was distracting. It probably should have been enough for me to put the book down altogether.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter had all the elements of a rom-com I should have loved—movie references, a charming love interest, and a nostalgic, feel-good premise. And there were moments where I could see why so many readers adore this book.

But for me, the execution just didn’t land.

The way grief was handled, Liz’s treatment of the people around her, and the lack of meaningful growth made it difficult for me to fully connect with the story. I would have loved to see more character development in her grieving process—where she learns that she can grieve, honor her mom, and still treat the people around her with kindness. That kind of growth would have added so much depth to her character.

Add in the excessive language and some frustrating character choices, and it ultimately pulled me out of what should have been a fun, heartwarming read.

That said, I can absolutely see the appeal. If you love rom-com tropes, big personalities, and stories that lean heavily into that cinematic, over-the-top romance vibe, this might still work for you.

For me, though, this one looked like the perfect rom-com… but felt a little more like decaf.