MIXTAPE
A funny, heartfelt music journey for middle schoolers and up—with discernment.
Should You Watch It?
MIXTAPE is a warm, funny coming-of-age story with great nostalgic music, good acting, and an emotionally appealing search for family history. Beverly’s friendships and her care for her grandmother give the movie a morally uplifting center.
The film also romanticizes Beverly’s deceased parents through their music. That longing is understandable, but the story includes several elements that call for discernment: light obscenities and profanities, two verbal drug references, a mention of teenage pregnancy, a cemetery scene involving spirits, and a record store worker who gets middle schoolers into a bar without their parents’ knowledge.
If your family includes middle schoolers or older children, watch with discernment; young children should skip it. For the intended audience, MIXTAPE is worth watching on Netflix.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIn Spokane, Washington, on the eve of Y2K in 1999, Beverly is an orphaned middle school student being raised by her grandmother. When Beverly finds a mixtape her deceased parents had, she begins tracking down every song, hoping to understand their love story and know them better.
Along the way, she befriends Ellen and Nicky and gets help from Anti, a worker at the local record store. Beverly’s search also brings her closer to questions her grandmother has long avoided.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is a highly entertaining, effective film. MIXTAPE is funny, heartfelt, and dramatic, with music that captures the late 1990s and may transport older viewers to memories of their own.
The acting is good, and the movie follows the traditional pacing of a coming-of-age story. Its strongest qualities are its emotional warmth, nostalgic pop-culture setting, and relationships among Beverly, her friends, and her grandmother.
The Worldview
MIXTAPE presents a mixed worldview with both Romantic and morally uplifting elements. Beverly romanticizes her parents’ life through their music, but her longing is rooted in a sincere desire to know them better. The film also values friendship and caring for relatives after tragedy.
The movie’s moral center is complicated by a cemetery scene in which middle schoolers briefly confess secrets to spirits. A record store worker also acts as both a protector and a questionable guide: he warns the children about “stranger danger,” yet secretly gets them into a bar by lying so they can hear music. These choices make the film less straightforward for younger viewers.
At its heart, MIXTAPE understands the ache of a child who wants to know where she came from and who wants family love to make sense. Scripture speaks tenderly to that longing: “Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation” (Psalm 68:5).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Mixed worldview with Romantic and moral elements where a girl romanticizes the life of her parents through music though it’s rooted in her desire to know them better, there are themes of friendship and taking care of one’s relatives, but there’s one brief scene where middle schoolers briefly confess some secrets to spirits in a cemetery, there’s a politically correct, Anti-American comment where a girl says the United States was founded by jerks
Foul Language
One “h” word, one a** word linked with the word bad, six light profanities, freaking, a few oh my goshes, one shut up, and mentions of vomiting and menstrual cycles
Violence
Mention of a couple dying in a car accident, siblings roughhouse, and it’s encouraged by their father who sets the parameters for the fight, girl uses a ballpoint pen to stab the tire of a wheelchair of a boy in her class who’s a bully
Sex
Very light sexuality includes a mention of teenage pregnancy, plus a non-salacious photograph shows a couple kissing
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
Character mentions AA in passing, some social drinking at a bar, and man lies to get some middle schoolers into a bar so they can listen to some music from a mixtape that’s important to the main child
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
Mention of a character’s uncle trying to quit smoking, a character mentions that someone’s car smells like mushrooms, but it’s not talked about after that comment, and a woman intimates that a man might be selling drugs to children, but the viewers know it’s not true;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Some light bullying which sends characters to the principal’s office, name-calling by schoolchildren, some girls skip school, and man sarcastically says rock and roll makes people want to worship Satan.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Beverly wants to understand her deceased parents through their music. How can learning about your family help you while still leaving room for an honest view of the past?
Psalm 78:4 · Proverbs 4:23Beverly, Ellen, and Nicky form a friendship across their differences. What makes a friendship trustworthy and kind?
Proverbs 17:17 · John 15:12–13Beverly’s grandmother worries about providing for her granddaughter. How can families care for one another when life feels uncertain?
1 Timothy 5:8 · Galatians 6:2The film includes a cemetery scene involving spirits. What does Scripture teach about where we should seek guidance and comfort?
Deuteronomy 18:10–12 · Psalm 119:105The Final Word
MIXTAPE offers funny, heartfelt storytelling, nostalgic music, and positive themes of friendship and family care. Its language, bar scene, drug references, and spiritual content call for discernment. For middle schoolers and older children, watch with parental judgment; young children should stay home. WORTH THE TRIP — MIDDLE SCHOOL AND UP.
