The Drama Movie Review: Zendaya and Robert Pattinson Deliver a Shocking Pre-Wedding Psychological Spiral

Comedy, Drama, Romance – Rated – 1h 46min

4 stars out of 5

What happens when the “worse” in “for better or worse” strikes before the wedding? Your patience, your view of your chosen partner, and your boundless love are tested with the force of someone smacking you upside the head—and off your feet.

That’s exactly what happens in The Drama, and I’m not giving away spoilers here. Kristoffer Borgli’s new movie, starring Zendaya as Emma and Robert Pattinson as Charlie, deserves for its audience to be surprised. The film asks viewers to keep its central revelation secret so future audiences can experience the shock as fully as possible.

Art curator, Charlie meets editor Emma in a café where she’s reading The Damage, a novel by Harper Ellison—a book that doesn’t exist in real life. The title alone is the first hint that something might go wrong in this seemingly rom-com-style encounter.

Emma is deaf in her right ear, so she doesn’t hear Charlie’s pickup attempts because her only functioning ear is occupied by music, while her eyes remain glued to the book.

What follows is the classic courtship and getting-to-know-you sequences, fast-forwarded into wedding planning. One evening, they are with their friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) at the pre-wedding food tasting.

The friends begin reminiscing about the worst things they’ve ever done. All four—mostly reluctantly—share their stories, but Emma’s admission of a potentially gruesome crime is so shocking that it becomes the true starting point of the movie, like a bus plunging off a cliff. Charlie, Mike, and Rachel are stunned, and Emma’s relationships with all three change instantly.

In this film, Mr. Borgli (whose directorial and writing talents were impressive in 2002’s Sick of Myself and 2023’s Dream Scenario) skillfully balances a delicate, quintessentially American issue with sharp bursts of comedy. He never diminishes its gravity or horror, while subtly planting the dreadful thought of “what if it were me?” in the minds of the audience.

The film portrays the unforgiving nature and programmed anxieties of today’s society, where past sins are not easily forgiven, the idea that people mature with time is fiction, and the hypocrisy of some sins being considered “benign” contrasts sharply with others deemed deadly.

Emma’s character as a young high schooler is played by Jordyn Curet, and she gives wonderful Heather Matarazzo vibes for XXI-century teenage angst. I do wish Zendaya had taken on this version of Emma too—I can’t understand why she wouldn’t. It’s not like anyone forgot Euphoria.

At the heart of the drama is Charlie’s struggle to make sense of his situation and his love. Pattinson is riveting in his character’s meltdown. He scrutinizes Emma’s every move in the context of her past, unrealized sin. Her smallest gestures of mild aggression are magnified, studied, and judged; she is diagnosed, evaluated, and ostracized.