The true heart of the film, however, is the unlikely trio of misfits Beverly assembles: the punk-rocker neighbor (Nick Thune, surprisingly tender), the shy boy with a bootleg CD burner, and the school’s “weird” girl. Their chemistry feels authentically pre-teen—clumsy, loyal, and fueled by snacks and shared secrets.
Set in 1999—a year that now feels like a quaint analog last stand before the digital deluge—the film follows Beverly Moody (a wonderfully earnest Gemma Brooke Allen), a shy, awkward orphan raised by her grandmother (Julie Bowen). After discovering a broken mixtape left by her late parents, Beverly embarks on a mission to decode its tracklist, believing the songs hold the key to understanding the family she never knew. MIXTAPE
A warm hug that smells like old plastic and teen spirit. The true heart of the film, however, is
Mixtape is not here to reinvent the genre. If you’ve seen The Edge of Seventeen or Eighth Grade , you’ll recognize the beats: the lonely protagonist, the misunderstanding that threatens the new friendship, the climactic public scene where music saves the day. The grandmother character, too, is written as a trope (strict but secretly soft) before she’s given any real dimension. After discovering a broken mixtape left by her
Here’s a review of Mixtape (the 2021 coming-of-age film directed by Valerie Weiss), written in the style of a critic’s take.