Where I Watched It: hulu

English Audio Description?: Yes

This was my first viewing of a 2023 title. I watched so many shitty movies in 2022 that I made a pledge to myself that I would watch films i wanted to actually see, not just films to help my total reach some insane level. As of this writing, it is entirely likely that before the Oscars, I will have seen 300 titles from 2022. I don’t plan on that this year. I really did read the concept for The Drop, and saw some familiar names in the cast, and I was optimistic.

I need to be more discerning.

As an elevator pitch, it’s magic. I understand how it got greenlit. If you corner an executive in an elevator, this movie will sound amazing. But the actual execution, and drawing the film out over a feature length didn’t work for me. It never felt like it expected itself to be good. The film actually opens with a sex scene, just setting the tone right off the bat. But as the film moves toward the titular moment, it’s also building up an ensemble of characters that are hard to relate to and jokes that just didn’t land.

Not that I expected wonders from Hulu’s first original of 2023, but damn. This one really started my list of 2023 films off on a dour note.

The audio description is fine, as it attempts to find the humor in the moments, even if there isn’t any. It does a lot with capturing the essence of the performance of the baby, an otherwise non-verbal character. There are moments where a joke is attempted by having the baby stare intensely at someone, and those moments would be missed without audio description. Although, it’s really hard to say that you’re missing anything with this.

Instead of watching The Drop, let’s pray for 2023, and hope it gets better than this. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t actually like writing bad reviews. But, sometimes, I watch bad movies.

Final Grade: D