‘Drop’ review: Whodunit? Who cares

Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon welcomes The White Lotus alum Meghann Fahy to a half-baked mystery thriller in Drop.

Making a mystery involves walking a very thin line. There has to be an understandable setup meant to grab an audience’s attention, a collection of characters whose intentions are not crystal clear (yet), and a carefully constructed series of events that get viewers closer and closer to a big reveal that ties everything together. A filmmaker has to balance that all on their shoulders while walking on that very thin line. They might wobble a bit getting to the other side, but that’s ok as long as everything they’re balancing stays steady. But if they wobble too much and can’t keep things on the level, it’s hard to appreciate them making it to the other side. Especially when you look back and see all the stuff they dropped along the way.

Speaking of drops, Drop is the latest twisty thriller from writer/director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, Freaky). It follows Violet (Meghann Fahy), a single mother going on her first real date after leaving an abusive relationship. With her sister (Violett Beane) babysitting, Violet heads to a rooftop bar for dinner with rugged photographer Henry (Brandon Sklenar). Suddenly, she’s sent random messages via AirDrop that tell her to do some dangerous tasks or her sister and son will be killed. Now Violet has to play it cool and figure out who in the restaurant is sending the sinister texts before the messages become deadly.

Simple, but shaky.

Drop is the most stripped-down story in Landon’s filmography. Taking in his directorial and screenwriting credits, which include various Paranormal Activity sequels and the recent Heart Eyes, Landon likes goofy premises played out in a heightened, stressful package. Drop is pretty tame by comparison, with the silliest thing about it being the use of AirDrop messages as the antagonist. It’s a fairly straightforward mystery thriller with occasional bits of visual flare and humor that harken back to Wes Craven’s Red Eye or even Scream. Landon could’ve done without an overbearing score that plays discount Hans Zimmer stings every time drama happens, as if he doesn’t trust the audience to know when to pay attention. The humor in the script from Jillian Jacobs and Chris Roach (Fantasy Island, Truth or Dare) also falls flat and awkwardly breaks any tension the movie builds up.

Landon could only do so much with a weak script. Jacobs and Roach have a decent premise in a mystery assailant pulling the strings on a helpless stranger. They throw in a red herring and give Violet some tense scenarios to keep the plot creeping along. The basics are there, but none of the setups or payoff are clever. Going back to Red Eye, that script paced itself with unique scenarios and gestating setups for the stressed flight passenger to use against the consistent, in-person threat. Drop feels like it’s just hitting predictable story beats with too much awkward first date chatter in-between. The real irony is that Craven’s claustrophobic thriller was only 85 minutes long, whereas Drop is an hour and 40 minutes of spinning wheels before suddenly hitting the gas into the finale. Its big twist is less of a surprise to the audience and more like a blasé footnote.

Bad dates.

With the script lacking and the director feeling less inspired than usual, Fahy is left to carry most of the movie. She rises to the occasion, balancing the fear of her unknown assailant with a quick-thinking wit trying to problem solve throughout the movie. Fahy brings such commitment to putting on a straight face while trying to save lives that you wish the movie’s drama could rise to her level, giving her more unique scenarios to wriggle out of. Still, the way she easily flips from flirtatious to frazzled (and back again) is impressive. No doubt a skill she honed during her stay at The White Lotus and something she can build on when a better script comes across her desk.

She could’ve used some better scene partners too. Despite looking like Indiana Jones with a cowboy mustache, Sklenar has shockingly little charisma as an actor and almost no chemistry with Fahy. He delivers lines like he just chugged a bottle of NyQuil and screen presence as bland as his beige t-shirt. The real twist would’ve been to make his character another decoy for our heroine to outsmart, considering he can’t show legitimate romantic interest in his date. There are some other grating supporting characters, including Jeffery Self as an annoying first-time waiter/improv actor and Reed Diamond as the dorky half of a blind date. Fahy is more than capable of handling the heightened tension Drop has to offer, but no one else in the cast seems to be taking this seriously.

The bottom line.

You might notice that Drop is produced by not only Blumhouse, the modern masters of cheap jump scares, but also Michael Bay’s production company Platinum Dunes. So you have one studio wanting thrills done with a low budget and less effort teaming with another studio that specializes in broad and stupid horror tropes. That’s a bad concoction no matter who’s ultimately stirring the pot, and Drop can’t rise above its undercooked setup and flimsy execution. There’s potential in its premise and it has a star/director combo clearly willing to work out the kinks. Sadly, nothing else about Drop clicks into place for something gripping or fun. It’s pretty easy to just leave this on read.

Drop is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer here.

Images courtesy of Universal Pictures. Read more articles by Jon Winkler here.

Jon Winkler