The Drop – An Aimless Indie Comedy (Early Review)

In this day and age, oddball comedies have to do that much more to stand out. It’s a fine line, entertaining audiences without turning them off from whatever stories they are trying to tell. While some go too far or in some cases, not far enough, comedy is subjective so they inherently won’t work for everyone. When it comes to The Drop, not to be confused with the much different 2014 film of the same name with Tom Hardy and James Gandolfini, it will find an audience regardless although it will definitely not be for everyone. Though this oddball indie comedy features a great cast, the film is merely a parade of eccentric characters to play off of each other for laughs. However, beyond its premise, there isn’t all that much there as its schtick gets old very fast and fails to distract from what it’s lacking narratively. Unless audiences are fans of the cast, the film mostly comes off as a 90+ minute aimless exercise. If anything, that cast saves it from being a complete disaster but at the end of the day, they all deserve something better.

The Drop follows a married couple named Mani (Fowler) and Lexi (Konkle) whose trip with a group of friends to attend a tropical island wedding takes a turn for the worst after one of them drops a baby. The fallout would see their marriage put to the test as they had to survive not only each other but also navigate the awkward atmosphere around their friends. The other characters essentially don’t matter as the bulk of the film attempts to mine humor out of their awkward and arguably cringey interactions. While that may be enough for some audiences and it does work for at least a little bit, that schtick does get old, as mentioned. As far as the subplots are concerned, anything outside of Mani and Lexi also doesn’t matter whatsoever though even then, their character development was still thin at best as they dealt with the baby-dropping incident in their own way. In the end, the incident offered them some much-needed perspective. However, that development gets lost in a sea of needless wackiness that seemingly goes nowhere. It taps into that well far too many times.

For those who haven’t tuned out, regardless, the ending is predictable as the film fumbles its way to offering some resolution in an abrupt ending that felt like it forgot to but then remembered to end.  Despite everything else, what ultimately saves The Drop was its cast who were just there rather than contributing to anything of substance. Fowler and Konkle as Mani and Lexi are the only ones who remotely had anything to do and had decent chemistry while doing it though it wasn’t really that much. When it came to the rest of the cast, including Ambudkar, Jillian Bell, Robin Thede, and co-writer Joshua Leonard just to name a few, they weren’t necessarily bad, they just weren’t necessarily good either. They fit their roles well, however, they may still rub some the wrong way as the film’s sense of humor won’t be for everyone.  

The Drop will likely appeal to a smaller subset of audiences who are sure to pick it up but most are better off just letting it lie,

still courtesy of Hulu

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.