Drop
For the first time in a long time, single mom Violet (Meghann Fahey, HBO's 'The White Lotus') leaves her young son Toby (Jacob Robinson) with her sister Jen (Violett Beane) to go to a fancy restaurant on a blind date. Henry (Brandon Sklenar, "It Ends with Us") turns out to be more than she'd expected, but their evening takes a sinister turn when requests to her phone coming from inside the restaurant make demands backed up by threats to her loved ones shown on her own home security cameras in "Drop."
Laura's Review: C
It's a bit difficult to cheer for a thriller aimed at the masses that begins with horrific domestic abuse and child endangerment and ends with bone shattering physical violence against women and the endangerment of that same, already traumatized child. Add to that screenwriters Jillian Jacobs and Christopher Roach's contrived storytelling, strewn with red herrings while the real villain is far more obvious than they seem to believe, and "Drop" ends up disappointing despite the general appeal of its concept, its charismatic leads and beautiful set design (production design by "Abigail's" Susie Cullen).
Once we learn the reason behind Violet's reluctance to reenter the dating world, her trauma as an abused wife having turned her towards a career in domestic abuse counseling, director Christopher Landon ("Happy Death Day") establishes her relationship with the tomboyish Jen using a wardrobe change trope. After the adorable bespectacled Toby declares her 'beautiful,' Violet having ditched business attire for a deep cut red velvet jumpsuit and fashionable updo, she heads into the city. Staring up at the soaring building which houses Palate on its rooftop, she recites her Jen-supplied mantra, 'It's only a date,' but the hallway that leads into the restaurant is studded with a series of arches like a ribcage. Violet is literally entering the belly of the beast.
Henry's apologetic text that he's running ten minutes late allows Violet to interact with several people before his arrival. There's the guy (Travis Nelson) who bumps into her way too obviously, knocking her phone out of her hand. There's the insightful bartender (Gabrielle Ryan) who quickly ferrets out information about Violet's son. And there's Richard (Reed Diamond), the man looking for his blind date whom Violet commiserates with. But the glass of malbec which is supposed to be calming Violet's first date jitters is undone by a couple of drops that pop on her phone before Henry even gets there, the second one indicating she's heading into the worst night of her life.
At first, Violet shares this information with Henry, who takes on white knight shining armor as he tries to identify the perpetrator, but soon she's warned not to share any information or her son will be killed, backed up by the sight of a masked man in her living room. She's ordered to steal the SD card from photographer Henry's camera and smash it, but even after she's accomplished that seemingly impossible task in the restaurant's lavish ladies room, she's told to look inside the towel dispenser and finds a vial of poison. Every attempt Violet makes to signal distress is thwarted, cameras and listening devices all strategically placed.
Some of the film's moments are clever, such as when Violet sends a $20 tip to the sleezy piano player (Ed Weeks) who hit on her earlier when he acts on her sarcastic request for 'Baby Shark' with a stylized lounge rendition. She's written a note in red lipstick on the back of it, but the way it is returned to her is thoroughly illogical. There are also questionable choices, such as why does Violet's abusive husband Blake (Michael Shea) resembles her 'perfect man' date Henry, who puts up with no end of bizarre behavior from Violet. And why would such a tony restaurant as Chicago's Palate allow the totally inappropriate behavior of new waiter Matt (Jeffery Self), comic relief perhaps, but again, not credible. People are shot at point blank range only to survive remarkably well. And Violet's unexpected assist during the film's climax is 'only in the movies' bunkum.
"Happy Death Day" director Christopher Landon forgoes making us squint to read a character's phone screen by emblazoning messages in large graphics across the screen, helpful initially, but the device grows wearisome, as if we're watching the movie's trailer midstream. What he does do is elicit routing interest in his protagonists, Fahey, especially, modulating her expressions as she walks a puppeteered tightrope. But while its use of technology makes for an interesting hook, in the end "Drop" is a collection of cheap thrills.
Universal releases "Drop" in theaters on 4/11/25.
