I love coming-of-age stories. Especially one that has the backdrop of fantastic music like Netflix’s MIXTAPE.

What is MixTape?

Last year’s The Ultimate Playlist of Noise pulled at your heartstrings with the story of a boy who is going deaf. So, he wants to make a playlist of his favorite sounds for his friends and family. This time around, Netflix’s MIXTAPE introduces us to Beverly Moody, a 12-year-old orphan girl who discovers a broken mixtape created by her late parents.

Beverly (Gemma Brooke Allen) lives with her grandmother (Julie Bowen), who struggles with talking about Beverly’s mother. Which only leaves the young girl with questions and a loss of identity. After going through a box of her mothers’ things, Beverly finds a broken mixtape that her parents dedicated to each other. With the help of her friends and a record store-owning hipster that would give Rob Gordon a run for pretentiousness, Beverly collects each song one by one.

What I love about MixTape

Beverly’s journey during MIXTAPE is a coming-of-age story told in a fun new way. First, I love period pieces. So, placing this story in the ‘90’s I’m already in. Music is incredibly influential in one’s life for tween years and beyond. So, I love how the music journey takes Beverly to all sorts of new places from befriending the school’s outcast who has great taste in music. Figuring out her own ‘90s fashion. As well as, convincing Anti (Nick Thune) into taking the girls to a club in order to find a musician who actually knew her mother (Jackson Rathbone)! 

Allen as Beverly is absolutely adorable. I love watching the relationship she has with her grandmother. As hard as it is to watch Bowen struggle with her own relationship with her late daughter, she still makes you empathize without being too angry at the door she’s closed. I also really enjoyed the cool uncle friendship Beverly forces from Anti. Their back and forth is hilarious. I would watch an entire series about him educating these tweens or taking down douchebag musicians. 

MIXTAPE is now streaming on Netflix! Make sure to add it to your must-watch list and stay tuned to That Hashtag Show for more reviews.