It’s the rare Disney film that can make a good running joke out of struggling actors’ preferred borough of residence (Queens). And he clearly loves New York and Broadway too, both what they are in real life and what young dreamers like Nate imagine them to be like.
He nails Nate’s musical numbers, drawing on inspirations from Singin’ in the Rain to Rent without being too obvious about it, and infuses the film with a cartoon-like energy that gives it a zip normally not seen in movies like this. The director, Tim Federle, knows the material very well After all, he wrote the young adult novel the screenplay is based on.
If the plot is routine, and it is, the direction manages to breathe enough life into the movie to make it enjoyable. Secrets are revealed, hearts are broken and mended, and would it surprise you if I told you that everything works out in the end? Beyond the stage In need of an adult to sponsor his audition, Nate calls on his estranged Aunt Heidi (Lisa Kudrow), an actress who does more catering than Shakespeare, to help him out. After tellng Nate’s working-class parents (Norbert Leo Butz and Michelle Federer, two Broadway vets who are married in real life) and wrestler brother ( High School Musical: The Musical: The Series‘ Joshua Bassett) that he’ll be spending the weekend with Libby, the middle schoolers hop on a bus to the Big Apple to pursue their dreams.Īntics, of course, ensue, and the film has fun with juxtaposing the harsh reality of New York City, with its bored Duane Reade cashiers and trash-covered streets, with Nate’s idealized version of it, which is straight out of On the Town. After failing to get cast as even the understudy, Nate and his best (and only) friend, Libby (Aria Brooks), concoct a plan to make Nate’s dream come true: He’ll audition for the lead role of Stitch in a forthcoming Broadway production of Lilo & Stitch. Stuck in a small Pennsylvania town, Nate tries his best to fulfill his stage-bound dreams by trying out for the lead role ofAbraham Lincoln. A star is (still being) bornįrom the opening scene set to George Benson’s cover of “On Broadway” to the many, many references to Wicked, it’s clear that Nate (Rueby Wood) loves the Great White Way.
If the destination is obvious, the journey to it has just enough spark to make it marginally interesting, even when stereotypes about New York City, sassy best friends, and spinster aunts are dragged out of mothballs. In the slight but exhaustingly charming Disney+ original movie Better Nate Than Ever, the answer is, of course, none.