It’s been a big week for Lynn Painter and her readers (this one included). I was sitting down and getting ready to work on a review when I got a text message that Netflix announced the leadsof Better Than The Movies. If you are a reader of Lynn’s books you know it is a passionate fandom and we have been very vocal about casting.
So, sitting back and waiting for information on casting has been torturous.
Luckily today, Netflix had answers and announcedthat Beatrice Kitsos (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) will lead Better Than the Movies as Liz, opposite David Iacono (Jurassic World Rebirth) as Wes Bennett.
Meet Liz and Wes! Beatrice Kitsos and David Iacono will star in the upcoming Netflix film adaptation of Better Than The Movies, based on the bestselling novel by Lynn Painter.
— Netflix (@netflix) July 31, 2026
In this love letter to romantic comedies, senior Liz Buxbaum’s obsession with rom-com movies proves… pic.twitter.com/HnPDpGpPDE
Okay, we need to talk about Better Than the Movies, because THIS is the rom-com brain rot we all secretly crave. We LOVE a good coming of age story and this book definitely delivers on that and our favorite tropes.
Liz Buxbaum (Kitsos) has spent her whole life memorizing every soft-focus meet-cute and grand gesture rom-coms have ever given us, and honestly? Iconic behavior. Also same behavior we exhibit. So when it’s finally her turn for a happily ever after, of course she turns to her personal encyclopedia of movie magic — enlisting her infuriatingly charming (read: hot, drool worthy, sassy sexiness) next-door neighbor Wes (Iacono) to help her land the guy she’s been quietly pining after for what feels like forever. The chemistry, the banter, the “I hate you but also I cannot stop thinking about you” energy — it’s everything.
And listen, this book KNOWS what it’s doing. Fake relationship? Check. Enemies (okay, more like bickering almost-friends) to lovers? Absolutely check. The boy-next-door who was the love interest all along and we just didn’t see it coming (we saw it coming)? Triple check. But Better Than the Movies doesn’t just serve up the tropes we live for — it flips them, twists them, and hands them back to us glowing, reminding us that real love isn’t a perfectly scripted montage. It’s messier, funnier, and honestly so much more than anything Hollywood could storyboard.
Better that the Movies script was written by Heather Flanders and Julia Hart, as well as Jordan Horowitz. Don’t Say Good Luck director Julia Hart will helm this one.
We can’t wait for all the tropes and all of the information yet to come!
