Movie Review: "Mile End Kicks" Recaptures The Aimless Glory of 2011
9/12 ForReel Score | 4/5 Stars
Chandler Levack is obsessed with people who are obsessed with media. Her debut I Like Movies chronicled the adolescence of mentally ill teenager Lawrence who was only tethered to reality by cinephilia. It was a film I appreciated more than loved mostly because I’ve had to deal with many Lawrences in my life and they do not get better with age. In her follow-up, Mile End Kicks, Levack shifts to a local music scene; a setting where you’ll find far goofier and more likeable people. Mile End Kicks reflects this with a pitch perfect re-creation of the blissful reckless abandon that early 2010s adults got to participate in. It is perhaps the first true period piece for that era.
We follow music critic Grace Pine (Barbie Ferreira) who moves to Montreal after leaving a full time gig at a magazine. She intends to write a 33 ⅓ book about Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, selling a publisher on the idea with a passionate rant about Morissette’s cathartic female rage. However, she finds herself a bit wayward when she comes across local band Bone Patrol after her roommate’s (Juliette Gariépy) rude French boyfriend Hugo (Robert Naylor) reluctantly invites her to their show. Intent on having a proper sexual relationship for the first time, she briefly crushes on guitarist Archie (Devon Bostick) before learning that he is celibate. From there, she decides to mack on the significantly dumber Chevy (Stanley Simons) who is more receptive to her advances despite being an extremely strange guy with intimacy issues of his own.
What a wonderful month to be Barbie Ferreira. After knocking a killer final girl performance out of the park in Faces of Death just one week ago, she delivers another excellent and entirely different performance in Mile End Kicks. Grace spends virtually the entire film squandering the opportunities she is given. This could’ve been insufferable, particularly since we are watching this in 2026 where opportunities of any kind are near non-existent. Yet, Ferreira so winningly captures the spirit of a woman in her early 20s who simply isn’t ready to start being responsible. She made this move under the guise of advancing her career but we quickly see that it is just to allow herself some genuine freedom and fun. Even at Grace’s worst, we still see the potential in her.
Devon Bostick is a fun meta casting choice considering that his turn as the titular drummer in Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules (2011) is still adored to this day. He’s a perfect smarmy but loveable foil to Ferreira, even if his celibacy all but disqualifies him from any real sexual tension with her for a great deal of the film. Instead we spend a ton of time with Chevy who is just a total airhead. Stanley Simons plays dumb well but sadly the character just isn’t that compelling. Jay Baruchel also shows up as Grace’s old editor. While his fraught dynamic with her could’ve been one of the film’s most engaging and complex elements, he’s mostly left as an afterthought for the third act.
Would it really be 2011 if a woman with promise wasn’t wasting her time with stupid men? Mile End Kicks may not feature the most layered people in the world but that fact in itself captures 2011 culture vividly. There’s no sense of urgency or desperation here. Just people living their lives in pursuit of an artsy dream that feels a thousand miles away. They have time to enjoy the ride. Even though Grace is broke and can barely afford to pay the rent, that isn’t even a true issue until she gets really behind. This relaxed atmosphere permeates the entire film. It feels like a chronicle of the last window of time where people actually got to be young.