Have you ever received a prank AirDrop? Ever thought it was a grand political conspiracy? Well, the writers for “Drop” clearly have.

The film follows Violet, a single mother played by Meghann Fahy, who goes on a first date at a fancy high-rise restaurant with Henry, a photographer played by Brandon Sklenar. 

The night takes a turn for the worst when Violet begins to receive threatening anonymous messages, in the form of AirDrops, or, as the film coined, “DigiDrops,” on her phone, stating that if she does not kill Henry, then her son Toby (Jacob Robinson) and her sister and babysitter Jen (Violett Beane) will be killed. 

Violet must discover the path forward to simultaneously save her son, sister and date, find the person behind these messages and deal with her traumatizing past that has mysterious connections to her current predicament.

“Drop” does not ask too much of its audience. It provides suitable thrills and presents some great moments, such as the performances, editing and mise-en-scène. If someone wants to have an enjoyable night out at the movies, this is an easy recommendation. At the same time, the repetitive structure, strangely boring camera positions and lack of adequate depth in the script sometimes make the film more annoying than enjoyable.

Fahy carries the film effortlessly, going through probably every combination of emotions that a human could possibly experience. Beane does great at portraying a simultaneously funny and reliable character in Jen, being unique and strong while still giving Fahy’s Violet the wheel.

The side characters that Violet and Henry encounter on their date are a particular highlight. Jeffery Self plays an amazing waiter and aspiring actor, bringing new bits to the dinner every once in a while to lighten the mood and provide some of the funniest moments in cinema this year. 

Reed Diamond brings surprising depth as a man on a blind date and gives one of the best performances in the film. Gabrielle Ryan plays a bartender who has all the right responses to the situations in front of her, increasing the film’s intelligence just by being present.

While these characters end up being the soul of the film, the script does not give any of these characters a conclusion and makes it very clear that these characters were built by their actors. 

Sklenar, for example, as the second lead, is given shockingly little to actually do. He utilizes a specific method of body language heavily in this role, gradually opening himself up physically as the script demands he open up emotionally, something that would work in any other film but doesn’t work here as a result of “Drop”’s failures to allow the ensemble cast to shine.

All of the characters aside from Fahy’s Violet are not written as well as their actors play them. Sklenar excels with what he is given, but ends up being quite flat in the grand scheme of things. The same goes for Self and Ryan, who aren’t even granted a basic conclusion for their stories. This seems to be an overarching issue in most of the script: having vague outlines of interesting things with neither the ability nor gall to actually go through with them.

Because it is very trapped in its central conceit, the film ends up feeling very repetitive in the middle. While the script is made well enough to keep the tension constant throughout, it is still not a great sign that at least three scenes could be removed entirely and without making a difference in the film as a whole. 

Theoretically, there are around 40 continuous minutes of this film that one could sleep through and miss genuinely zero important plot elements, which is not promising for a 100-minute film. It is worth noting that the film is still fun during these moments, just repetitive to an extent that makes one question why the writers bothered to include these scenes in the first place.

One thing the film does do quite well, however, is the portrayal of Violet’s past. It is revealed gradually that Violet’s ex-husband, played by Travis Nelson, was extremely abusive towards both her and her son Toby, with one particularly traumatic incident continually referred to throughout. 

These flashbacks are difficult to watch and provide the context for many of Violet’s relationships. While the film frames this abuse as distinctly part of her past that she has to go through mentally, it is only treated as a minor aspect of the main plot, allowing for Violet to be a character not purely defined by the abuse she endured.

One issue — which has been unfortunately quite recurring within woman-led horror and thriller films — is that all of the woman characters get literally thrown around the room by any male character during the fight scenes. 

Some examples of this include Leigh Whannell’s “The Invisible Man” (2020) and “Freaky” (2020), which was also directed by “Drop” director Christopher Landon. Although the purpose of this is to show how the women need to outsmart the men, and it occasionally makes sense in context, its usage in this film is frankly nonsensical and egregious.

Both main fight scenes in this film contain moments of the man — also the initial aggressor in both fights — having practically superhuman strength over the women. On top of that, both scenes ensure that multiple women are utilized and then overpowered by that singular male character. The fights end up not even being fun, just a waiting game to see which women will end up being collateral damage and how Violet will eventually gain the upper hand.

While this trend likely started as a way to show women being hit just as hard as men, it ends up looking a lot more like women being hit hard by men. The script shows Violet isn’t a woman who shows her strength; she’s a victim who gets lucky. Especially when considering how directly this film confronts abuse, this is, at the very minimum, a problematic trope to place at the climax of the film. Although it doesn’t detract significantly from the film’s enjoyment, it does point to a disappointing and strange trend within the genre.

While “Drop” certainly has its faults, it is, at the very least, a very entertaining film. Suitably thrilling, suitably smart and suitably romantic — just don’t look too deep or you may wish that someone was AirDropping something more interesting to you.