Charm City Kings

2020 Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto

Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.

Jahi Di'Allo Winston Meek Mill Teyonah Parris William Catlett Kezii Curtis Donielle T. Hansley Jr. Milan Ray Chandler DuPont Hero Hunter

125 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Cam ★★★★

If You Give a Mouse a Motorbike
”One way or another, I’m finna be with the Clique, and nobody gonna stop me”
A solid coming of age drama that’s propelled by some fantastic acting, including Jahi Di’Allo Winston, who crushes it as the ambitious dream filled Mouse. It’s through his eyes, that we experience this urban Baltimore world and he completely owns the journey.
Director Ángel Manuel Soto captures everything with an artistic flair that never overpowers the movie, and consistently finds ways to enhance the vision and make everything flow. Yeah, there’s a couple of plot speed bumps and a few too many cliches, but everything else is so well done that it makes it easy to overlook.
BONUS POINTS…
Review by Austin Burke ★★★½ 2

👍🏻72%
YouTube review - Click HERE
2020 list - Click HERE
Fourteen-year-old Mouse desperately wants to join the Midnight Clique, an infamous group of Baltimore dirt-bike riders who rule the summertime streets. Not only does this film feature some spectacular cinematography and impeccable emotion, it delivers for fans who wanted to see Meek Mill give a solid performance. We have a young group of guys who are trying to find their own path, but there are plenty of bad influences around them. This obsession with dirt bikes throughout the film captures exactly what we all go through at one point our lives. Whether we find something we love (to get away from the world around us) or become determined to be great…
Review by Matt Neglia ★★★★

CHARM CITY KINGS is a thunderous directorial effort from Angel Manuel Soto. A robust, thoughtful & adrenaline pumping look at biker gang life in Baltimore. It expertly builds up its characters, settings & stakes to deliver a walloping gut punch on masculinity, growing up & loyalty.
Review by Marquise! ★★★ 2

I've been looking forward to this for a while now simply because Meek was Co-starring in this & it's good to know this didn't disappoint that much. The story is familiar of of course but the Bike Sequences, and Meek Mill's surprisingly great performance is what makes this movie GOOD.
Black Is Beautiful
Review by alphonse0 ★★★★ 4

Third best thing Meek Mill has done this year behind rhyming “Pandemic” with “Bandemic,” and the time he dropped McDonald’s french fries in the pool.
Review by kevinyang ★★★½

Like Tarell Alvin McRaney meets Carlos Lopez Estrada. The film definitely drags in the middle, and there are subplots and side characters who end up feeling superfluous in the grand scheme of things. The ending is also a bit too contrived for its own good. But overall, it so clearly exudes style and energy and authenticity, building and living in a very specific world the entire time. The performances are strong, the film is well shot, and there's a very touching story at the heart of it. It's evident how much love is behind and in front of the camera in this project.
GRADE: B
Review by kayla ★★★½ 2

“Is..... is that Meek Mill????????” - me out loud to myself
Review by Robert Daniels ★★★★★

Every second of CHARM CITY KINGS swells with importance. Meek Mill should be proud of his performance.
Review by JJRabbit ★★★½

Motorbikes is what Mouse admires,
A movie reminisicent of "The Wire".
Set in Baltimore,
Much like Season 4,
Trying to make money in the quagmire.
Review by Brandon White ★★★★ 2

Damn, this is one of those films that I barely heard anything from people I follow on Letterboxd. This is going to be those types of films that are very much underappreciated because this was a great film that feels refreshing for this being a coming-of-age film that has a different approach. The child actors are fantastic in this that could’ve easily been bad since they are the main characters in it, but they’re given a lot of material to work with that understands how kids act.
I will say that the one aspect that people talked about the most about the film that I’m in the same boat, is Meek Mill’s performance. It’s his film debut, and damn does…
Review by 🐱Andrew Chrzanowski🐱 ★★★

☆"It's just me, the world, my bike, and the streets."☆
Film Independent screener.
Ángel Manuel Soto comes with a hard-hitting and powerfully-acted drama about Baltimore gang life and the choices foisted upon young men in an urban environment ready to abandon their dreams. Charm City Kings is the dramatic adaptation of Sherman Payne's screenplay, based on Lotfy Nathan's sensational documentary 12 O'Clock Boys, on the dirt-bike gangs of the Maryland city, and while this narrative film falls well short of that sparkling doc, it's worth checking out.
Thirteen-year-old Myron/"Mouse" (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) sees the appeal of "that bike life," as all day and all night the motorbikes and quads roll down the street past his mother Terri's (Teyonah Parris) home.…
Review by HeavenSentbutHellRaised87 ★★★

Another coming of age story about young black dudes growing up in the inner city. All about choices and making the right one in the face of temptation and the quick fix cashflow found in the streets. This doesn't reinvent the wheel at all but the cast makes it worthwhile. Jahi Winston is one of those youngsters to watch out for. He's been pretty good in everything I've seen him in. Meek Mill was the surprising standout as the ex-con trying to keep Winston's character Mouse on the straight and narrow and out of the streets.
It was a decent watch but I've seen done better before. Take about 20 mins out and this would be much better. Two hour running time wasn't necessary to tell this story.

Recent reviews

Review by Brandon White ★★★★ 2

Damn, this is one of those films that I barely heard anything from people I follow on Letterboxd. This is going to be those types of films that are very much underappreciated because this was a great film that feels refreshing for this being a coming-of-age film that has a different approach. The child actors are fantastic in this that could’ve easily been bad since they are the main characters in it, but they’re given a lot of material to work with that understands how kids act.
I will say that the one aspect that people talked about the most about the film that I’m in the same boat, is Meek Mill’s performance. It’s his film debut, and damn does…
Review by G Navarro ★★★★

Que no se terminen nunca las pelis del hood con tiros, calle, raperos y un buen soundtrack 💯
Review by Meh ★★★

We’ve seen similar stories to Charm City Kings yet it’s told with such conviction and sincerity by Angel Manuel Soto that it’s easy to forget this. The length is the only thing holding me back from a 3 1/2.
Review by IMA ★★★★

Grade A
Review by Multisse Schitzo ★★½

The story was meh...

Acting:
The lead, Mouse accent was too country not enough Baltimore, but he had moments he hit it. His supporting cast Sweartogawd & Lamont felt more authentic to me. I loved Lamont he was the most authentic to Baltimore caricature to the tee. The mom also did a great job of playing a Baltimore mother; on point.
The liked the Baltimore talent in the movie, wheelie queen and Chino; they just played themselves so that was amazing. Now for Pug aka Stro he is an obnoxious individual in real life, I remember when we were filming this; so I can see why his part was so small. I wished they just sprinkled him through the film as…
Review by KRBY ★★½

Eh I like the story, it was cool.
Seeing a film shot in Baltimore was dope,
Acting was not great. The main character’s forced Baltimore accent was too blatant and took me out of the film experience
Lamont, Jamal, & Blax were my fav characters
Review by Ripvanryan ★★★★

Epic. Stellar performances.
Review by barry ★★★½

A promising feature film from director Angel Manuel Soto, the story is captivating and moving, as Soto’s tone and direction meshes with the script well. Also, the cast do tremendously well as an ensemble as newcomers, all around a good film.
Review by Ty Campeau ★★★★

Didn’t expect meek to be in this, caught me off guard. Definitely excited my expectations those, damn!
Review by Feelin' Film Podcast

For the third week in a row, we discuss another of our Top 10 films of 2020, one that has seemingly (and unfortunately) flown under the radar of many film fans, but that is a unique black coming-of-age story that everyone should see.
Click here to listen now!
Discussed on Episode 275 of the Feelin' Film Podcast
Review by Ryan Corderman ★★★½

Biker Boyz: Origins
Review by gio ★★★

the storyline was decent but it was longer than what it should’ve been. script and acting was also good (very surprised with meek mill). wish we saw more bike chase scenes cause when we did see them they were visually really nice. angel manuel soto did a good job directing and i can totally see why they chose him for blue beetle!