So let me this straight – You want the woman to kill her date … and to make sure she’s going to do it, you are willing to kill her sister, her son, the maître d’, the bartender, the pianist, or any random patron of this upscale restaurant … but you want her to kill the guy because otherwise, it might look bad? Am I understanding that correctly?
Such is the unlikely premise for today’s thriller, Drop, about a couple about to have the most memorable first date either has ever been on.
Hoo boy.
Violet (Meghann Fahy) is a pretty person. She’s so pretty she can wear a curtain out to dinner and does so. Naturally, she’s attracted another pretty person, Henry (Brandon Sklenar), so that they can have a pretty first date in a tower restaurant several stories above Chicago streets. Violet has a child at home, so she’s glued to her phone for updates. I’m honestly not sure what the lesson is here, because if she just doesn’t pay attention to her phone, there is no plot. However … do you really want a mother to ignore a potential emergency update? Ok, I guess the answer is “yes.”
Once Violet enters the restaurant, she gets an anonymous message or Drop. The message warning her of an intense night ahead is intriguing and vaguely threatening but seems like a mistake. It is followed by another Drop … and another. The drops continue until the messages become clear: Violet has been targeted by someone who knows a great deal about both she and her date. The anonymous sender wants her to kill Henry, has given her the tools to do so, is watching her, and needs this to happen before dinner ends or her child will be killed instead. To make the threat real, the drops encourage Violet to spy her home cams which reveal that there’s a masked man in her living room with a gun.
I can’t say you don’t have my attention. Sure, there’s the part of “you went to this much research on subject and victim just to finesse a murder?!” And there’s the part where you’re willing to murder -and have committed murders- just to have somebody else murder this particular guy? Neither of these things make sense, even a little. BUT, I cannot deny you have 
my attention, movie. So … exciting if ridiculous premise. The key here is: how does this play out?
The writers were not quite up to the challenge. When I go out to dinner, I get seated and stay there. Every third or fourth time I go out, I use the restaurant bathroom. Otherwise, and I cannot stress this enough, I stay seated. Violet gets up at least eight times during dinner. She gets up to get drinks, to get reception, to find a watch, to use the bathroom, to investigate, to change tables, to sit with another man, to get a weapon. I’ve seen exercise videos that weren’t as active as this sit-down dinner. And it’s clear that 1) her mind is on her phone and 2) she’s considering every man in the restaurant who isn’t her date. Why Henry stays for that meal is beyond comprehension.
That silliness aside … and all the machinations of evil take up more than an hour of screentime, when the film FINALLY gets to the thriller part, it is thrilling. There’s no denying that once the mystery Drop is solved, Drop becomes an effective thriller. The amount of work and waste it took to get there, however, not as worth it as one would hope. Marginal approval. Not much more.
One single mother from the stix
Decides it’s time to get out and mix
Her first date goes awry
When blackmailers give a try
You were better off at home with Netflix
Rated PG-13, 95 Minutes
Director: Christopher Landon
Writer: Jillian Jacobs, Chris Roach
Genre: Things that seem like they could happen, but really can’t
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Thriller junkies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Masterminds
