Review: Drop

Synopsis

Emmy nominee Meghann Fahy, breakout star of White Lotus and The Perfect Couple, plays Violet, a widowed mother on her first date in years, who arrives at an upscale restaurant where she is relieved that her date, Henry (It Ends with Us’ Brandon Sklenar) is more charming and handsome than she expected. But their chemistry begins to curdle as Violet begins being irritated and then terrorized by a series of anonymous drops to her phone.

She is instructed to tell nobody and follow instructions or the hooded figure she sees on her home security cameras will kill Violet’s young son and babysitting sister. Violet must do exactly as directed or everyone she loves will die. Her unseen tormentor’s final directive? Kill Henry.

What We Thought:

I’m a big fan of Director Christopher Landon’s Freaky and Happy Death Day films. I knew nothing about Drop before seeing it and I have to say, it’s really disappointing. If you are a fan of M. Night Shyamalan you’ll probably love it, but I hate his movies and Drop feels like one of them.

The film is about a widow going on a first date. Her sister is watching her son while she’s at a fancy restaurant. She starts getting weird drop messages and soon realizes it’s not a joke. Her son and sister are in danger and she must complete some tasks for someone at the restaurant without letting her date know or getting the authorities involved.

My biggest issue with these types of “thrillers” is I get bored with them quickly. I sit there waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop (pun intended) and for the big reveal to come. Most of the time they don’t hold my attention nor do I like the reveal twist. That’s this movie. Despite the two leads being very attractive people, my attention span went out the window watching the lead character make poor decision after poor decision. She needed to do a few things and ultimately kill someone or her sister and son were going to be killed, but what makes someone think that if you do those things you’re free to go? You’re being blackmailed, the blackmailer won’t stop. I find this type of situation more frustrating than entertaining. I said after the screening I’d rather have seen this couple on a date in a romance movie than this lame drama.

The worst part is, Drop will probably make money. There’s very little at the theater worth anyone’s time and M. Night movies make a fortune. He’s not involved in this, but it definitely has his vibe to it so it could shock the box office. People walked out of the screening talking about how great it was and how good certain scenes were and I stood there wondering if they had ever seen a movie before. So much of it is by the numbers and unoriginal that I question how anyone can enjoy these films. Both leads do their best and Brandon Sklenar is becoming the king of spousal abuse movies (he was also in It Ends With Us), but I’d rather see him handle action like he does in 1923 than another movie like this one.

Cast
Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, Travis Nelson

Written by
Jillian Jacobs & Chris Roach

Directed by
Christopher Landon

Producers
Michael Bay, Jason Blum, Brad Fuller, Cameron Fuller

Executive Producer
Sam Lerner

Rated PG-13 for strong violent content, suicide, some strong language, and sexual references.