Film Review: 'Turkey Drop'

With Thanksgiving break upon her, college freshman Lucy Jacobs (Olivia Holt) is eager to return home to her loving family as well as her high school sweetheart Jordan (Tyler Perez). But her mood takes a turn when Lucy learns that Jordan's recently distant attitude indicates he intends to dump her--or "turkey drop" her--over the Thanksgiving break. Not wanting to lose Jordan, Lucy makes plans to get her beau to see her in a new light.

Upon returning home, however, Lucy finds that her predicament with Jordan only constitutes part of the chaos this holiday will bring. Marital drama is stirring between Lucy's parents Nancy (Cheryl Hines) and Ron (David Hewlett), and Lucy must contend with her brother's obnoxious best friend Dean (Ben Levin) staying with them for Thanksgiving. But as Lucy works to keep Jordan from leaving her, she begins to learn more than a few things about herself and those around her that have her questioning what she really wants....

To describe Turkey Drop in a nutshell, imagine a "Wacky Thanksgiving Antics" episode of a sitcom stretched out into movie form. While Lucy's "Avoiding the Turkey Drop" arc is given center focus, a good deal of time is spent in the middle acts on the other strange subplots that emerge around the Jacobs family--particularly concerning the drama between Nancy and Ron. While this may be disappointing to those going into Turkey Drop expecting a Hallmark-esque holiday romance, the film remains a harmlessly fluffy film to enjoy after Thanksgiving dinner.

Much of Turkey Drop's charm comes from the wacky antics regarding the Jacobs family, with the admittedly simplistic comedy being made enjoyable thanks to a charismatic cast that makes it work. The basic premise of a girl desperately trying to keep a boyfriend she's certain wants to break up by any means necessary also carries the risk of becoming irritating, but thanks to Olivia Holt's performance, you never lose sympathy for Lucy. In addition to her methods of winning Jordan over never getting too extreme or degrading, they also play into Lucy's overall character arc of learning to take chances and get out of her comfort zone--a struggle many college students can relate to.

The rest of the cast is just as charming as Holt, with Darren Eisnor standing out the strongest in this regard as Lucy's adorkable brother Leo. Cheryl Hines is effective as Lucy's eccentric but well-intentioned mother Nancy, and David Hewlett brings surprising emotion to Ron--a character I was fully expecting to go down the all-too-common "Bumbling Dad" route. Lee Marshall and Genelle Williams bring a groundedness to the craziness surrounding Lucy's sister Lydia and her girlfriend Anna and are responsible for the film's most heartwarming moment, in addition to bringing Turkey Drop a rare touch of LGBT representation to the realm of made-for-TV holiday films.

(With this and a later revelation regarding Leo, Turkey Drop is surprisingly sex-positive and achieves this by wisely not overplaying these relationship dynamics for cheap sentiment points. Even the heartwarming moment delivered by Lydia and Anna is treated with the same attention that would be shown if the moment were between a heterosexual couple.)

Tyler Perez and Joelle Farrow also do their best as the plot inciting Jordan and Lucy's not-so-secret rival Katie, though both are given too little screen time to make much of an impact. Jordan is additionally given some uneven characterization in regards to how the audience is supposed to feel about him and his relationship with Lucy, and Katie's implied history with Lucy is left frustratingly undeveloped to the point where her presence in the film is borderline superfluous. On a brighter note, entertaining side characters emerge in Carlos Gonzalez's Jerry, Mary Pitt's brief but hilarious performance as the Jacobs grandmother, and Karen Cliche as a character whose role will remain unspoiled here.

WARNING: Spoilers (sort of) Below

The weakest element of Turkey Drop, however, would definitely be the central romance of the film, with the entertaining subplots making its routine nature all the more noticeable. From the minute one sees the snipping dynamic between Lucy and Dean, you will know exactly how their relationship will play out over the course of the film--and there's hardly any deviation from the Slap-Slap-Kiss playbook. The extreme familiarity of the relationship arc is alleviated somewhat by Holt and Ben Levin's strong chemistry, which allows for emotional depth to emerge from the scenes where Lucy and Dean have to confront their changing feelings for each other, which end up playing a significant role in Lucy's overall character growth arc. But in terms of being a romantic comedy, Turkey Drop brings little to the table that hasn't been done countless times over.

(On a more nitpicky note, it felt odd that the film would introduce Leo as being disapproving of the idea of Dean and Lucy dating, only for this to be dropped without even a line of dialogue to confirm it was given resolution at some point.)

Sorta Spoilers Over

Turkey Drop may be a simplistic movie with humor and a romance plot to match, but for those looking for the kind of fluffy and heartwarming charm that only a good made-for-TV film can bring, it'll be the ideal thing to unwind to after a long day of gorging yourself on Thanksgiving dinner. Add to that a strong cast that do what they can to add depth to the admittedly lightweight proceedings, and this is a surprisingly solid film to be named after an Urban Dictionary term.

Score: 8 out of 10 kale smoothies.