Between the jitters and the nerves, first dates don’t always go as planned. But when it’s being hijacked by threats of violence via drop messaging, it makes it worse. In what could have been a potentially creepy thriller that plays off the real fears of a single mother, instead Drop leaves you wishing you were able to leave the date early.
There are so many issues when you watch Drop, but most of all is the pacing. The story is slow, it doesn’t grab your attention or hold it. Between the many times the date should have ended until the very end of the movie, it just meanders along pulling you through weird editing and faux awkward moments that anyone else would have walked out from.
Violet (Meghann Fahy) spends more time checking on her phone and her kid even before the drop messaging starts. And yes, with her past as a survivor of domestic abuse, she questions everything around her. While this makes sense, it seems like too easy of a plot device and one that was just manufactured to try to give the story some interest. And to give her a reason to be paranoid. The reality of the current dating scene is she wouldn’t even need that back story to be paranoid about meeting any man for a date.
As for Henry (Brandon Sklenar), the amount of mental gymnastics it takes to sit through that kind of date and stay there – is actually quite impressive. Even if he had just come straight from work why didn’t he leave his work bag in the car with his equipment? Yes, that wouldn’t have made sense to the story, but it would for a normal person. There are so many questionable choices in this one.
Another hard sell is the young actor playing Violet’s son. Yes, he’s adorable and sure in the future he may have a great acting career. But it’s hard to believe that he was the best that auditioned for the role. While his part is very small in the overall scheme of things, the over acting is actually more distracting and starts pushing tense scenes in the comedic direction since he doesn’t know how to act yet.
Add in some weird editing with bad lighting and zooming, you’re going to be begging for Drop to be over as you know Henry was for this date to just end. The movie has major issues, and is lacking any thrill that is should have. But if you still want to give it a go, it’s in theaters everywhere this weekend.
Overall Rating
About Drop
First dates are nerve-wracking enough. Going on a first date while an unnamed, unseen troll pings you personal memes that escalate from annoying to homicidal? Blood-chilling.
Starring Meghann Fahy, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, Reed Diamond, Gabrielle Ryan, Jeffery Self, Ed Weeks, Travis Nelson
Directed by Christopher Landon