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At the Movies

 I generally like character-driven writing, but sometimes a set-up is so fun, all incidental missteps can be forgiven.


"Drop" features a young widow on a first date. She has left her little son in the care of his aunt. The woman, Violet, receives a mysterious message: "Your son is now my hostage. Kill your date--or your son dies. Make any noise about this, and your son dies."

Because of the limitations of "drop" technology, Violet knows that the messages are coming from somewhere within a tight circle surrounding her body. Someone in the restaurant is sending the messages. But this is all that Violet knows.

Violet is smart and inventive; she tries commandeering the hostess station (where you can send IMs to a domestic-abuse counselor through "support.com"). Violet writes a desperate message on a napkin; she uses lipstick. Moments from imploding, Violet does some fancy work with a lime-slice from a shot of tequila; to say more right here would be unconscionable.

This movie becomes increasingly absurd, and we never really learn anything about any of the people in the story. But who cares? By the time a corpse began dripping blood from the top of a dessert tray, I had found myself in heaven.

This is a great date night option.
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