Westside Messenger - January 29th, 2023

PAGE 16 -WESTSIDE MESSENGER - January 29, 2023
Valentine’s Show
Mike Albert
&
The Big E Band
Tickets - $ 58.00
(Includes dinner)
Sat., February 11th
Villa Milano - 1630 Schrock Rd.
Doors Open - 5:30pm | Dinner - 6:30pm
Show -7:30pm
CALL FOR TICKETS
(614) 792-3135
LIVE PUBLIC
AUTO AUCTION
50+ VEHICLES WILL SELL 02/11/23
30+ WILL SELL WITH NO RESERVE!
Preview the inventory online
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1250 COLLINS ROAD NW
LANCASTER, OHIO 43130
740-935-1180
with ELVIS
In Entertainment
www.columbusmessenger.com
“e Drop” is a biting and clever dramedy
Has a person you have dated ever said
or done something that makes you completely
re-examine your feelings toward
them? It didn’t have to be an act of betrayal
or something beyond the pale either — it
was just an innocuous comment or a careless
accident but it made such an impact
that it made you want to step back from
the relationship in order to reflect on what
their role would be in your life moving forward.
Whether you have or have not found
yourself in that situation before, the awkwardness
of that moment and the soulsearching
that takes place immediately
thereafter is explored to a hilarious degree
in “The Drop,” a Hulu original that is as
side-splitting funny as it is cringe-inducing.
If you have a limited tolerance for secondhand
embarrassment be forewarned —
this movie will probably make you want to
curl into a ball of discomfort from time to
time.
At the center of this dramedy are Lex
and Mani (Anna Konkle and Jermaine
Fowler), a happily married couple who are
enthusiastically trying to expand their
family of two into a family of three. To
Mani, Lex would make the perfect mother
as she is creative, warm, and caring. To
Lex, Mani would make the perfect father
as he is level-headed, steadfast, and dedicated.
They are so sweet together and have
such an easy rapport that one can’t help
but root for all of their dreams to come
true. But then comes a destination wedding
where an accident rocks their faith in
one another and has them contemplating
ending their partnership once this short
trip ends.
Although the trip itself does not appear
to have anything nefarious afoot — longtime
friends are celebrating the wedding of
Mia and Peggy (Aparna Nancherla and
Jennifer Lafleur) and getting to meet their
infant daughter Ani (Alma Partridge) for
the first time — awkwardness abounds
from the jump when the couples sit together
in first class and catch up on their lives.
Shauna (Robin Thede), a D-list actress who
is funding the excursion, wants everyone to
watch her truly terrible television show;
her husband Robbie (Utkarsh Ambudkar),
is a television producer who thinks everyone
needs to hear his terrible pitches for
upcoming shows and restaurants; their
teenage son Levi (Elisha Henig) loudly listens
to porn without earbuds; and the
soon-to-be-married couple are bickering
about Mia’s newfound obsession with
weapons to protect her family.
It is a tense flight to Mexico and it is
made all the more stressful when they go
to the “natural hotel” operated by fellow
pals Lindsey and Josh (Jillian Bell and
Joshua Leonard) who immediately try to
get them to timeshare their expansive
property that seems to be bleeding money.
With everyone on edge and not having the
time to properly breathe, Lex accidentally
drops their friend’s baby girl she was holding
in her arms. The lead-up to that
moment — where Mani is looking at his
wife adoringly and imagining the near
The Reel Deal
Dedra Cordle
future where this could be happening with
their child — is brilliantly shot as is the
immediate frenzy that takes place when
awareness of the incident rolls over everyone.
Even if you have seen the trailer that
spoils the moment, the act is gasp-inducing
and it sets the stage for everyone to question
everything and judge, judge, judge.
Fortunately, Ani is unharmed during
the accidental drop (she does have to wear
a helmet for the next four months), but no
one knows how to assure Lex that these
things happen, even Mani. Although he
seems supportive at first, he calls his
mother during a moment alone to ask
whether it is common for an adult to drop
an infant by accident.
The morning after has them trying to
move past the incident — Shauna and
Robbie wonder quietly whether it would be
insensitive to include it in an upcoming
episode of their terrible television show —
but some things tend to have an avalanche
effect where it all goes downhill from there.
That is what happens to Lex and Mani as
little comments and little decisions (some
made in the past) start to bubble under
their skin, like little doubts they have had
simmering below start coming to the surface.
Had the film decided to feature more
of their point of view as their marriage
begins to unravel, it would have worked
much better than the finished product.
The unfortunate problem with “The
Drop” is that there’s a really great movie in
here that could have bloomed in the wake
of the accident if executed with dark wit
and more of a focus on Lex and Mani, but
that gets obscured by the side stories that
are far less interesting and eat up way too
much time of the script. Although the
ensemble cast is terrifically funny, the
scenes tend to play as a collection of
vignettes rather than a cohesive story
within a film. All of which is too bad
because Konkle and Fowler are great
together and if their implosion was treated
with a bit more care alongside the wickedly
unruly ensemble of characters, the outcome
of the whole film would have been so
much better.
That is not to say that “The Drop” is not
a great watch regardless — it totally is. The
script, co-written by Joshua Leonard and
director Sarah Adina Smith, is biting and
cleverly and deftly handled by a great cast.
But it can grate a bit when the focus is off
the main characters and onto the idiosyncrasies
of the supporting cast, no matter
how entertaining they are to witness during
the bizarre events that lead up to Lex
and Mani questioning the very foundation
of their love for each other.
Grade: B
Dedra Cordle is a Messenger staff
writer and columnist.