Drop (2025): A Review (Review #2235)

DROP (2025)

It is not easy to date in this day and age. You have divas asking for lavish dinners and shopping sprees on the first date. You have bros who think sex comes before coffee. If all that weren't enough, what if a random stranger attempted to force you to kill your date? Drop is a surprisingly taut film that, if not for one element, would have rated higher.

Psychologist Violet Gates (Meghann Fahey) is about to go on her first date in years. She has been somewhat reclusive after having survived a deadly encounter with her former husband, Blake (Michael Shea). Despite the awfulness of her experience, Violet has one positive: her son, Toby (Jacob Robinson). Now, it is off to the elegant Palate rooftop restaurant where she will meet photographer Henry Campbell (Brandon Sklenar).

He will be late and she is nervous. Toby is being watched tonight by fun Auntie Jen (Violette Beane), but Violet is still anxious. A little drink before dinner would help, she hopes. Henry finally shows up, and so do strange messages on her phone. These "digi-drops" are puzzling to Violet. They are also turning violent. Eventually, Violet is instructed to do various criminal activities. If she does not, Toby and Jen are dead.

What does Violet need to do? She first has to destroy the pictures that Henry has. That, however, is the easy part. The hard part is for her to poison Henry. Who could be behind all this? Is it the Palate bartender Cara (Gabrielle Ryan)? What about the cocky piano man, Phil (Ed Weeks)? Could it be bumbling Richard (Reed Diamond), who is on his first blind date and completely clueless about technology? Might it even be excessively perky waiter Matt (Jeffrey Self)? There is a wild card of the mysterious Connor (Travis Nelson), who is always on his phone but is not with anyone.

The hunky Henry is puzzled by Violet's behavior, especially after he finds the watch that she claimed to have lost in her purse. Who is behind all this, and why? Will the real malevolent force reveal him/herself? Will Violet be able to kill her date? Will Toby and Jen make it through the night?

I did think well of Drop. Running at a brisk 95 minutes, the film keeps the plot going through various twists and turns. It delivers on what it promises: a taut thriller where everyone is a suspect and our heroine has to think her way out of this impossible dilemma. Drop is not trying to be too clever with its premise. It gives us just enough to find who could be behind all this.

I would argue that sometimes Drop goes a bit over the top in capturing a sense of dread and paranoia. How exactly the mastermind manages to both see and hear Violet in the ladies' room is a bit sketchy. The villain would have to have done one of two things. They would have had to tap into the Palate restaurant cameras (and I doubt the restaurant would have listening devices and cameras inside their restrooms). Conversely, they would have had to come beforehand and set up the cameras and listening devices, which is also a stretch. Drop is the type of film which follows my Number One Golden Rule of Filmmaking: Something Will Happen if the Plot Requires It To. 

However, since Drop's sole purpose is to entertain me for an hour and a half, I can roll with it.

Drop also keeps to acceptable but not great acting. I can say that all the performances save the villain are adequate though not great.  Meghann Fahy did well as Violet, the woman caught in this web of manipulation and murderous mayhem. I thought that she was a bit blank at times. However, I think Mahy did as well as she could. I do not think that she is a good actress, but I saw her trying hard. That gets mad props from me. Brandon Sklenar was fine as Henry. He matched Fahy's blankness and like Fahy, seemed to be there mostly as eye candy. Far be it for me to be cynical, but I doubt someone who looked like Brandon Sklenar would genuinely struggle to get dates. For someone on his first date in a long time, Henry seems eternally patient with his distracted partner.

Reed Diamond is an exceptional actor who has never been given the credit that he is due. As Richard, Diamond makes his bumbling manner almost endearing but curious. Ed Weeks is appropriately arrogant and cocky as Phil, Gabrielle Ryan does well as Cara, the barmaid who tries to help everyone. The most enjoyable performance was Jeffrey Self as Matt, the openly campy actor who is just waiting tables while his big break is coming. There seemed to be something delightfully amusing about Matt's enthusiasm for serving people. 

Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach's screenplay keeps things going. It builds a good amount of suspense while keeping the audience guessing who could be behind all this. It does, to its credit, also allow little nuggets of information that do pay off later in Drop. I do question how Violet can get home from downtown Chicago to her presumably suburban home in time to save Toby and Jen. Then again, Drop is not meant to be solid but entertaining.

Here is where I do take Drop to task and why I did not give it a higher rating. I have a visceral reaction against films that put children in danger. Drop seemed to go out of its way in putting both Toby and Jen close to getting killed. I get that putting their lives in danger is what holds Violet prisoner. However, the film's climax involves hitmen targeting Jen and Toby. Something about that troubles me. That took some of the enjoyment out of Drop for me.   

Drop is directed efficiently by Christopher Landon. He kept things flowing well, even if the conclusion seemed a bit over-the-top (both the restaurant's demise and Violet's rescue). The final scene that was meant as almost lighthearted did not hit that way, at least with me. It felt a bit too obvious. 

I don't fault Drop for being a B-movie. It's an entertaining B-movie which I liked and thought well of on the whole. I still find any film that puts kids in mortal danger a hard watch to sit through. That, to be fair, is a personal thing. Minus that, I think Drop works well in keeping things suspenseful and entertaining. 

DECISION: C+