Mixtape – Film Review

In 1999, a twelve-year-old girl named Beverly Moody (Gemma Brooke Allen) discovers a broken mixtape made by her late parents. She sets out to find the songs — and learn more about her mom and dad.

Valerie Weiss‘ Mixtape lets you know fairly early on that it’s not going to be a revolutionary step forward for the coming-of-age genre, but it simultaneously lets you know that it knows how to have fun nonetheless. It’s one of those oddball movies where nothing huge happens in the story at all, but rather, it shows us a glimpse at the everyday life of a typical pre-teen girl.

Because of just how simplistic the film is in its storytelling, it can most certainly drag at parts. For example, for about twenty minutes of the second act, I completely clocked out of the film and had to check the time which is never a great sign for a film. Thankfully though, screenwriter Stacey Menear finds some fun and charming things to do in the first and third acts.

The only disappointing thing is that some of these things have already been done before in coming-of-age films – and better, mind you. But there is simply no denying just how much heart this film has. Its beating heart and sense of love are what really keep this film afloat. And I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t smiling throughout a lot of it.

And man was this film ever funny, too. Menear injects some genuinely hilarious jokes into this film and that was definitely a pleasant surprise. If I were to pinpoint Mixtape‘s biggest flaw, it would have to be its characters. Aside from our lead protagonist Beverly, nobody ever really gets a chance to shine which is a shame because, after all, this is a film that’s all about celebrating various different people and their generations.

There’s one character in this film who goes by the name Anti and we learn almost nothing about him other than that he’s the owner of a local vinyl record shop and has been there for well over a decade. Other than that, he’s kind of a mystery which is definitely a shame because he could’ve been a deeply interesting character.

Still though, Nick Thune brings a legitimately heartwarming presence to the role, and he certainly had me smiling whenever his character was cracking jokes to Beverly. Speaking of Beverly, Gemma Brooke Allen similarly delivers a heartfelt and charismatic performance. Brooke Allen delivers easily one of the best child performances of the year.

I just wish that Mixtape had more to do and more to say by the time the credits rolled. This had the potential to be an incredibly moving and nostalgic coming-of-age movie but at the end of the day, it simply settles for being just okay. If you can get past the fact that’s far too cutesy and doesn’t really have much to say, you’ll more than likely have a smile on your face but you also probably won’t be recommending it to people.