The Drama Review
There’s something about The Drama that just sits with you in a way that’s hard to shake. It’s uncomfortable pretty much from the start, but not in a loud or obvious way. It’s more this constant feeling that something isn’t quite right, and instead of easing off, the film just keeps you there. It doesn’t try to guide you through it either; it just lets everything play out and leaves you to figure out how you feel about it.
On the surface, it’s about Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) in the lead-up to their wedding, and the moment everything shifts after Emma reveals something from her past. Spoiler Alert: She planned a mass school shooting when she was 15. But the more it goes on, the less it feels like it’s about the reveal itself, and more about what happens after. How people react. How quickly things change. How easily someone can be reduced to one version of themselves. I think many audience members may also feel that it is extremely serious what she was planning to do, which it absolutely is, and that people should be disgusted at Emma’s character, as I do think the film lets you read her more darkly. However, it also shows that she carries guilt, she’s physically shaken, and even throws up talking about this part of her life, clearly living with that guilt. So it sits in that space between capacity for harm and choosing not to act.
What really stayed with me is how real it all felt. The situation itself is extreme, but the way people respond to it doesn’t feel exaggerated at all. If anything, it feels a bit too believable. The Drama leans into that, especially in the way it frames the conversation around violence and accountability, and it makes everything sit just a bit heavier. But the most interesting part, for me, is that Emma didn’t actually do it.
That detail feels so important, and yet it’s the first thing everyone around her seems to ignore. Instead, she becomes defined by something she almost did, while others are given space, context, and even forgiveness for things they actually went through with. Rachel (Alana Haim), the maid of honour, though not really a close friend of Emma’s, is the clearest example of that.
Rachel has done something objectively awful: locking a small child in a closet and running away. There’s no ambiguity there, and yet she still positions herself as morally superior to Emma. The way she speaks, the way she judges, the way she frames everything, is very hypocritical, but also very intentional. It feels like a perfect portrayal of how people weaponise morality. It’s not about what is actually right or wrong; it’s about who gets to control the narrative.
And the more I think about it, the more The Drama feels like it’s really about that. Who gets the benefit of the doubt? Who is allowed complexity? Who gets reduced to their worst moment, and who still gets to act like they’re above it all. It also shifts in an interesting way towards Charlie. At first, it feels like Emma’s story, but as things unravel, it becomes more about how he processes everything. His reaction, his confusion, and then his own contradictions. His cheating after finding out her secret just adds another layer to it all. It kind of flips the moral question again. What matters more, something someone almost did but didn’t, or something someone actually chose to do?
Zendaya delivers one of her strongest big-screen performances here as Emma. It’s a complex role, and she handles it with a mix of vulnerability, guilt, and quiet intensity that makes you understand her, even when you’re not sure you should. Opposite her, Pattinson really leans into the mess of it all. You feel every shift with him. He can be funny, then frustrating, then suddenly quite heartbreaking. His reactions carry a lot of the film, especially in those quieter moments.
Their scenes together are easily the strongest parts. There’s this constant tension that never really settles. The diner scene towards the end just lingers. It’s quiet, heartbreakingly beautiful, but you feel everything in it. Same with the wedding speech, which could have gone very over the top, but instead just lands in a way that feels awkward and painful to watch.
The Drama never tries to resolve anything neatly. It’s messy, it’s uncomfortable, and at times it leans into that awkwardness almost too much. But it commits to it completely. And that’s what makes it work. It doesn’t tell you how to feel. It just leaves you sitting in it, questioning your own reactions, and where you draw the line.
★★★★ 1/2
In cinemas now/ Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim / Dir: Kristoffer Borgli / EFD Films / A24 / 15
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