When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of food and football, not cheesy romantic/family movies. And yet, after watching Freeform’s Turkey Drop, strangely enough the first fully Thanksgiving movie I’ve ever watched, I’m ready to admit that perhaps, my narrow view of the holiday needs a little bit of updating.
Maybe there’s a something to be said for some cheese on Thanksgiving, too. After the football, of course, but I can make some time.
The movie centers around the dreaded turkey drop which, for those of you unfamiliar with the term, as Lucy was at the beginning of the movie, refers to a high school couple coming home from Thanksgiving after their first year of college only for one of them to unceremoniously drop the other, aka, turkey drop.
CHERYL HINES, TYLER PEREZ, OLIVIA HOLT, NABIL KHATIB, KATE HURMAN, KAREN CLICHE, DARREN EISNOR, BEN LEVIN
Lucy (Olivita Holt, better known from Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger, which was unceremoniously cancelled not that long ago), returns to her small town for Thanksgiving and becomes convinced her high school sweetheart is about to dump her. So, of course, it’s up to Lucy to prove to him that she isn’t the same person he thought she was, and that she can be exactly what he wants – and needs – for the future.
If I didn’t write one more word, you’d still be iffy about Lucy’s boyfriend and rooting for her to realize you don’t have to change for a guy, right? Well, thankfully, that’s what the movie is all about! Insert some fun parental shenanigans, actually entertaining siblings and the brother’s best-friend turned love interest, and you’re absolutely set with all the clichés.
And yes, that includes Lucy finding herself, or discovering herself, or maybe even accepting herself, which hey, is the kind of journey we all go through, one way or another, when we first start college and leave home.
OLIVIA HOLT, BEN LEVIN
But clichés and some cheese isn’t all that we want (or need) from holiday movies. Above all things, we want these movies to have heart, and to remind us of the good parts of the holidays: family, and finding a way, despite all the mishaps, to have a good time.
Plus, a little bit of romance. We want that, too.
If, on top of those things you can add a relatable and delightful lead like Olivia Holt, then you’ve got the kind of holiday movie you absolutely should be checking out.
Consider this: my favorite scene in the entire movie has nothing to do with romance, or with Thanksgiving meal – instead it involves Lucy and her siblings getting into the kind of shenanigans siblings sometimes get to in real life, amplified by a thousand, cause TV.
GENELLE WILLIAMS, LEE MARSHALL
A special nod also goes Freeform just now casually doing this thing where they sneak diversity in everywhere and just act like that’s normal, which is exactly the way it should be. Of course, we want more movies that focus on diverse characters, but we could also do with more movies like this one, where someone being a lesbian, for example, is just …normal.
Where bringing your new girlfriend to Thanksgiving with your parents is treated as something that happens every day.
So, I’m not saying ignore the football or much less the food to watch this movie, but I am saying, if you find some free time, you probably won’t regret the 90 minutes spent watching Olivia Holt try to become someone she isn’t, only to discover the people that really matter, those love you for who you are.
Turkey drop that guy. You’re better than settling.
I promise.
Turkey Drop airs tonight at 9/8c on Freeform.
