The new movie Drop is a psychological thriller that will keep you guessing from beginning to end. The premise is that widowed mother Violet (Meghann Fahy) goes on her first date in years. Her sister Jen (Violett Bean) comes over to help her decide what to wear and to babysit Violet's five-year-old son, Toby (Jacob Robinson).
Henry (Brandon Sklenar), her date, is running late, so she waits at the bar where she chats with a number of people, including an older man waiting for his blind date, the restaurant's piano player, and the bartender.
After Henry arrives with a bag containing his photography equipment, saying he's afraid it will be stolen if he leaves it in the car, they get a beautiful window table overlooking the city. But even before they can order, Violet has begun to receive strange messages through an app called Drop. Henry does a sweep of the restaurant to see if he can find anyone sketchy, because the app only works if the sender is within 50 feet. During that time, Violet gets a message that there is an intruder in her house, shown to her on cameras, with a knife. She can't let Henry know what's happening, or her son will be murdered. She also has to go along with every instruction she's given, and not try to get help from 911 or anyone within the restaurant.
The tension builds as she gets increasingly alarmed and stressed, but she has to hide it from Henry, who begins to wonder if she even wants to be on a date with him.
She's definitely put in a very tricky position, especially when a message tells her if Henry leaves, her son will be killed, so she tries to put on a brave face and pretend nothing is going wrong.
The two leads, Meghann Fahy and Brandon Sklenar, play their roles to perfection, as we see Fahy getting increasingly stressed out, but desperately trying to cover it, while also trying to figure out who's sending the messages and how she can get out of this mess with her son alive. Sklenar plays his role as a man who is incredibly patient with a woman who seems to be all over the place, and even when he begins to suspect she's playing games with him and not being honest, he continues to hang in there.
Six-year-old Jacob Robinson is a standout as Violet's son Toby. Hailing from Dublin, Jacob is well known on Instagram from his lively chats and youthful wisdom at donna_jacobs_mammy. Not only is this his movie debut, but he managed to perfect an American accent. For his young age and inexperience in the field of acting, he was spot on in all of his scenes and even got an "Awwwwww" from the audience when he first appeared.
Every step of the way, I was waiting to see what Violet would do next and how she tried to get ahead of what was happening to her. It was absolutely fascinating and thrilling to watch. I highly recommend Drop to anyone who loves a fast-paced, thrilling 90 minutes at the movies. ~Alexandra Heilbron
5 out of 5 stars
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