You may not have heard of it, especially since Netflix seems to have chosen to bury the film for the most part, but streamer’s brand new original family comedy Mixtape has been a huge success. The film premiered last week on the service and despite almost no recognition from Netflix itself, or even a hint of repeated rivalry on their part, Mixtape has a perfect rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Admittedly, as of this writing, there are only a total of eight reviews for the film that have been posted on the aggregation site and it is highly acclaimed by RogerEbert.com and Variety. It takes a total of 80 reviews for a movie to be rated “Certified Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, which unfortunately seems like Mixtape may never have, but the perfect 100% is still impressive.
In their review, VarietyMichael Nordine wrote: “Valerie Weiss’s drama for very young adults is … a (deep) cut above the usual tween fare; while Kristen Maldonado’s Pop Culture Planet He called it: “A movie where you feel good about connecting with your roots, making friends and finding yourself, Mixtape is a movie that should not be missed for the whole family.” For those unfamiliar with the movie, Netflix’s official description for Mixtape is:
On the eve of Y2k, the orphaned, ruthless 12-year-old Beverly Moody (Gemma Brooke Allen) discovers a broken mixtape made by her teenage parents. Raised by Gail’s grandmother (Julie Bowen), a former teenage mom who finds it herself to talk about her late daughter, Beverly sees this mixtape as an opportunity to finally learn more about her parents, so she embarks on a journey to find all the songs on the tape. “Ellen (Audrey Hsieh), terribly tough, Nicky (Olga Petsa) and Anti (Nick Thune), a record store owner against everything that is the key to finding these tracks and a renewed bond between Gail and Beverly.”
Speaking in a previous interview with Fone movie for the film, director Valrie Weiss, who previously worked with Netflix on Outer Banks, had something to say about what drew her to the film:
“I read the script and immediately fell in love with it. I’m always looking, and what I like to describe my work as boldly light. Something that has weight and has to do with something real, but is done in the most enjoyable way, light, fun, I always say it’s the sugar spoon that helps the medicine fall down.I mean, I stole it from Mary Poppins, but that’s exactly the kind of work I like to do.This is a movie about sadness and loneliness and you try to find human relationships when you live in a small soup of grief or loss.Really anything that helps people learn how to forge these connections, when they can not figure out how to do it themselves, is something that really attracts me.
Mixtape is now airing on Netflix and one of their rare movies with a perfect rating.
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