Better Nate Than Ever

Nate Foster, a thirteen-year-old with ambitions of performing on Broadway, cannot even win a decent part in his middle school production, where he is cast as a tree. When his parents leave town, he and his best friend Libby travel from Pittsburgh to New York City without telling them, hoping to audition for a musical and prove his doubters wrong. A chance meeting with his estranged Aunt Heidi upends their plans and forces the pair to reconsider what they are chasing.

The film is a Disney family comedy directed by Tim Federle, who also wrote the screenplay, from the novel by the same author. It was produced by Marc Platt and Adam Siegel. Rueby Wood plays Nate, with Lisa Kudrow as Aunt Heidi, Aria Brooks as Libby, Joshua Bassett as Nate's brother Anthony, and Norbert Leo Butz and Michelle Federer among the credited cast of twenty-six. It runs ninety-two minutes.

Released in March 2022, the film drew a 6.4 rating on IMDb from roughly 3,200 votes and a 6.5 on TMDB from a much smaller sample of about 108. A critics' rating of 6.8 from forty-seven reviews places it somewhat above what general audiences scored. It was Federle's second feature as director, following his 2020 debut.