Student Blog: Better Nate Than Ever, The Movie Of The Month

A few days ago, I watched the movie starring Rouby Wood, Lisa Kudrow and Aria Brooks on Disney+, Better Nate Than Ever. It was so beautiful, funny and inspiring; I think every theater kid or aspiring theater star must watch it.

The movie is about Nate, a young kid that wants to be a famous Broadway star one day and to achieve that, he auditions for every play in his school, one day his best friend Libby founds out that there will be auditions for the Lilo & Stitch musical, so he sees an opportunity that won't happen again and decides to start an adventure to the city that never sleeps: New York. I really loved Tim Federle's new project because he knew that the key was not just the plot, but the perfect kid to play the main character and Rueby Wood for sure did an amazing job. I'm sure that like Nate, he will be a star in the near future.

The characters were not iconic and it's ok, because I think it's because the story it's about Nate and there's no time to fully explore the others, but for sure it was lovely to see a little bit of their dreams too and their interaction with the main character. That made me imagine if a sequel would work, because there's material they could use to develop and continue a part two of the story, maybe seeing Nate struggling with school and having a job, the new relationship between Aunt Heidi and Nate's mom or even Anthony's future in college. I would love that, so if you need help, Tim Federle, I'm here.

Better Nate Than Ever has beautiful and memorable scenes, the fact that they use resources from the theater when Nate sings "Big Time" imagining an old New York, with those props, the costumes and that stage was magical and also made me really see how passionate he was about being a Broadway star one day. And wow with the references they put on some scenes like the Singing in the Rain little dance on that song too, the posters on Nate's room or the parts on the script where they mentioned Broadway icons or shows like Fiddler on the roof or West Side Story, that made me smile every time as a theater nerd. Also when there's just lights and Nate singing "No one gets left behind", the way Rueby was directed and how he nailed the performance, says a lot about the talent in both parts behind that scene.

A story about a kid who has big dreams and loves Broadway, is a story a lot of us from the theater community can relate to or if you're like Anthony (Nate's older brother), that doesn't really understand Nate and just ignores him. You'll definitely watch this movie because of the messages every character brings with their plots, for example, how Aunt Heidi and her sister learned to forgive each other and that sometimes family is more important than issues that happened in the past or how Nate never stopped pursuing his dreams or being himself, just because other kids make fun of him at school, he embraced who he was and that was worth it in the end.

For me the story of Libby was something I really enjoyed, because she tried to be comfortable on a stage to be on every show with Nate but she discovered that to be in that world, she could be doing other things, in her case being the manager suited her. A few years ago, seeing that on the screen would've really helped me to know about the other side of any show. In my case I didn't liked to be under the spotlights because I didn't sing, dance or act, but if I knew I could be a costume designer, a stage designer, to be in charge of the lights or even be the director in a play, I'd have chose to be in the drama club when I was in high school.

So if you are a fan of musicals, if you dream about seeing your name in the marquee on a Broadway show, if you have a kid that wants to be an artist or if you think you have no chance to be a star (in any way) on the theater or entertainment world, you need to watch Better Nate Than Ever.