‘The Drama’ REVIEW: An Uncomfortable, Tense, and Sharply-Written Dramedy
‘The Drama’ REVIEW: An Uncomfortable, Tense, and Sharply-Written Dramedy
WARNING! This review contains spoilers for The Drama (2026)
I’ve never tried so hard to avoid spoilers since I was deeply embedded in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but by god, I was dodging spoilers left and right for Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Like other A24 films, people who saw the film immediately posted poorly concealed spoilers on the Twitter (or X) timeline. Thankfully, I was able to go into this film blind, and I immediately understood the fervent conversations that were happening on the social media platform.
If I were to summarize The Drama in a sentence, it would be: tense. Tense in a different way than watching a high-action film, but instead like you’ve accidentally walked into a room where a couple is mid-argument. Which happens quite a few times in the film, actually.
The Drama is a tightly-woven dramedy which is completely anchored by both Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s performances as Emma and Charlie. They play a couple preparing to get married, who are both rocked by a sudden revelation that has both of them re-evaluating their relationship and where they want to go moving forward. I actually think these are two career-best performances from Zendaya and Pattinson. They play that anxiety and stress so well that I was tensed up and holding my breath in the movie theater.
Robert Pattinson as Charlie Thompson and Zendaya as Emma Harwood | Still courtesy of A24
At the center of the film is the question “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” which gets drunkenly asked at the last food tasting for Charlie and Emma’s wedding. While the table gives some pretty horrible answers, it is Emma’s that completely upturns their view of her. Emma’s secret is violent, and culturally taboo — and leaves both Charlie and the audience scrambling for a way to react to it: when Emma was a teenager, she planned a school shooting. I saw this film on the second day of its release, and when this moment happened, I heard audible gasps and mutterings from the audience I was in, followed by immediate, tense silence.
The film then spirals into the fallout, and Charlie and Emma’s reactions to said secret. Charlie is horrified, and trying to find a way to reconcile the kind, loving Emma he knows and is planning to marry, and the girl who once had plans to cause mass harm. Emma is deeply worried and apologetic, someone who has none of the appetite for that violent act.
Gun violence is still a deeply relevant topic, especially in the United States. I remember seeing videos online of drills being run in high schools about how to survive in case of a school shooting. School supply shopping involving metal sheets or bulletproof backpacks. Weekly hashtags because another school shooting had happened. It’s a sensitive and tragic subject, and I do not take it lightly at all.
As I sat in my seat, uncomfortable with what was revealed, I kept thinking about what I would do if a good friend or partner of mine had revealed such a disturbing secret. How far would my forgiveness reach, and could I stomach what my friend had planned to do?
Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as Charlie and Emma, respectively | Still courtesy of A24
Emma is incredibly distressed. She revealed a secret under duress, and it seems to have cost her everything. There are scenes in this film that cut back to a younger Emma planning and practicing, and they are incredibly dark. She just seems so young in them. Emma later reveals that it was the aesthetic and online exposure that convinced her to think it was a “cool” act to do. This is something I understood. I grew up with unfettered access to the internet in the 2000s, and had my fair share of run-ins with violent, explicit material and people who glorified it.
When you’re young and looking for morals to emulate, it can become easy to fall into the wrong rabbit hole. Emma doesn’t actually go through with it, thankfully. When she sees the aftermath of another school shooting and the grief such a violent act causes, she is immediately stricken by how close she came and becomes an advocate against gun violence.
It’s this last detail that makes Emma’s secret easier to stomach for me. She didn’t go through with it, learned, and became an activist instead. Some people in the film label it hypocritical, but I would call it genuine growth. But I do wonder if my opinion of it is shaped by the fact that I don’t live in the United States, where such horrors are commonplace. I wonder if my distance makes it easier for me to say it isn’t that serious. And maybe the fact that Emma is being played by Zendaya is another factor.
Mamoudou Athie as Mike and Alana Haim as Rachel | Still courtesy of A24
In fact, I would even go so far as to say that the secret that Rachel (Alana Haim) reveals is much more horrible, as she actually goes through with it. She is the one the most horrified about Zendaya’s secret, as her cousin was personally affected by gun violence. On one hand, I completely understand. On the other hand, I felt like she could’ve stayed true to pulling out of the wedding if she really felt that strongly about it.
Despite the dark subject matter, there is still romance and comedy to be had in this film. In particular, the scene with their wedding photographer after their argument is a release of tension after several scenes of it.
In a way, I see Charlie also going through a similar journey as the viewer watching the film — in disbelief, looking for justification and validation from others, but ultimately deciding he still loves Emma — he just has to get to know her again.
The discussion revolving around The Drama has been one of the most interesting ones I’ve seen online in a long while. The situation, after all, is not black and white. And there are also the misconduct issues involving Borgli to contend with in the context of certain scenes of the film. I left the movie theater thinking that I was going to be thinking about this film for a long time — and I still am.
‘The Drama’ is now showing in Philippine cinemas.
