Warning: This review contains spoilers for The Drama.
To say The Drama, the new film starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson and written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, is a dark comedy would be correct. However, with the way the film was talked about before its release, you would think it’s a perverse monstrosity meant to offend.
Perhaps it’s a result of mainstream American audiences preferring films that don’t make them uncomfortable. Perhaps it was a mismatch of expectations when fans heard two beloved actors were doing a romantic comedy about a wedding.
Whatever it was, The Drama deserves your attention because it’s a great film, but not your ire.
The story starts in traditional rom-com mode as two young Bostonites, Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya), prepare for their wedding happening in just a few days. They are nervous and in love, but everything seems normal.
A seemingly innocent question over dinner with their friends Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim), “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” sends everything into chaos. Emma’s drunken admission that she once planned to do a school shooting, which she never followed through with, kicks off the “drama” of the film.
It’s easy to get blindsided by the shock of Emma’s admission, especially when it’s such a serious and sensitive topic, and Charlie does. With the wedding only a week away, their biggest problem is no longer whether to replace their DJ or which menu to pick; it’s whether Charlie is willing to believe Emma is the person he thought she was.
Do you judge someone on what they planned to do, even if they didn’t actually do it? Does being capable of evil make you evil?
The reactions of Charlie and everyone around Emma are a litmus test for our capacity for forgiveness, our cultural expectations around gun violence, and whether we believe people are actually capable of change. The film isn’t judging Emma, it’s judging you.
Some viewers may want more of Emma’s perspective to make their own judgments, but Borgli refuses to pander to audience expectations. She is not trying to justify herself to you or Charlie.
Although we do get a decent amount of flashbacks and some explanation for what happened to make her change, we also see a lot of Emma’s younger self through Charlie’s imagination. The person Emma and the character he creates start to blur.
The reality is that once she makes her admission, Emma becomes a cipher for everyone around her.
The shift from rom-com to dark psychological comedy brings out stellar performances from Zendaya and Pattinson as they awkwardly dance through the days leading up to the wedding. Emma’s reluctance to talk about what happened, and her genuine pained emotions, provide the quieter but more moving performance.
Charlie’s increasingly frenetic and unhinged behavior is a more grounded but equally entertaining version of the larger-than-life characters Pattinson has pursued in his past work. He’s a man on the verge of a mental breakdown, until he finally breaks down.
Complementing the performances are the immersive sound design and Daniel Pemberton’s anxiety-inducing staccato score, making innocuous moments seem sinister, mirroring the characters’ own paranoia.
The most surprising and satisfying thing about The Drama is that, after all it puts you through, you end the film where you started – with a love story. The final scene is a reminder that love is ugly and messy and uncomfortable, but ultimately worth it when you’ve found the right person.
It doesn’t get much more romantic than that.
The Drama is in theaters now.