The Drama has been a controversial movie from the very start. When the first trailer dropped, people responded by saying that the “twist” of the movie was already out there online. I’ve been wanting to know as little as possible about a movie before seeing it these days, so I was determined to avoid having it spoiled for me. That became even harder when I couldn’t see the movie until two weeks after it was released and everybody on the internet was talking about it. I was semi-successful at staying in the dark about it and I’m so glad I was. Because when the reveal happens in the movie, the best way to experience it is in real time in a theater full of other people reacting to it. The plot of The Drama is predicated on reactions to this reveal, but so is the existence of the movie. It is deliberately provocative, intended to spark conversation. That’s Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli’s (writer/director of this film) bread and butter: uneasy, dark comedies. And this movie is definitely succeeding at making people uneasy. But I kind of loved it. Everything about it just really worked for me from the humor to the editing style to the performances. And while I usually hate internet discourse around a movie, The Drama begs to be not only talked about but also dissected. 

So far 2026 is shaping up to be the year of the wedding from hell. At the time of writing this, we’ve already gotten Something Very Bad is Going to Happen, Ready or Not 2, Cassie and Nate’s wedding on Euphoria, and The Drama. It was actually funny to see a movie about a wedding literally three days after being in one myself. Luckily the experiences were not even close to comparable. The Drama follows Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) in the days leading up to their wedding. One night at dinner with friends Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim), the group decides to play a game, each revealing the worst thing they’ve ever done. It’s all laughs and slight dismay until Emma’s final confession sends everyone reeling. Normally I’d try not to reveal it here so people can watch and find out for themselves, but the only way I can talk about the movie is to say it so, if you don’t want to know, stop reading now!!! Emma tells the group that when she was in high school, she planned a school shooting, even going so far as to bring a gun to school. But she never ended up going through with it. She thinks her confession is in line with the rest of them, but it instantly changes the entire tenor of the scene. Of the film, even. Rachel is utterly outraged, Mike is trying to calm her down, and Charlie is in disbelief. Can he, in just a few short days, marry this person who has such a dark and disturbing past? Particularly one that he had no idea existed. The rest of the film traces the fallout of this bombshell admission as the wedding draws closer and closer. 

The movie wants us to come away asking questions. But it doesn’t necessarily want to tell us the answers. It’s a conversation starter. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done? What would you do if you were Charlie? Would you be able to get past it? (For the record, my answer is probably not…) But it does make us question the way Charlie does, how well do you really know the people closest to you? And how well should you know them? I often think about the now infamous New York Times opinion piece from 2021 titled “We Should All Know Less About Each Other”. Do you need to know every single thing about a person to have a loving relationship with them? Do you need to know not only everything they’ve ever done but also every thought they’ve ever had? Charlie would probably have been better off not knowing about this at all. Because Emma didn’t actually do anything, she just thought about it. But that ideation still holds a considerable amount of weight. The movie also asks us to ponder if people can really change. Emma seems to have come a long way from her dark and depressed teenage self. But is that troubled part of her psyche still in there? And could it resurface? Will Charlie ever be able to fully feel at peace with her? Some have called the film’s premise an edgy allegory for cold feet or pre-wedding jitters. Admission of a violent past or not, many people are likely asking themselves similar questions right before walking down the aisle: who is this person I’m about to commit the rest of my life to? And while, on the surface, the movie is distinctly about guns and the American pathology of gun culture, it’s not really trying to be a commentary on that. There’s no larger idea or message on that front. But, rather, guns are a provocative stand-in for any secret in a relationship. The catalyst that makes you question everything.  

For such a dark subject matter, the movie is way funnier than I expected it to be. I walked out thinking, “how did they make a comedy about a school shooting that doesn’t feel offensive?” It shouldn’t work and yet it does. I think part of the comedy comes from the audacity of it. I’m also usually averse to cringe comedy but I really enjoyed it here. Tensions are already high and the awkwardness often feels more natural in those moments. The editing and sound design only add to the mounting anxiety and tension. There are tons of harsh cuts and flashes and scenes where you don’t know what’s real or not. Even a rare sweet scene, one that comes at the very beginning of the film (pre-confession), shows Charlie practicing his wedding speech. The movie flashes back to different early moments in their relationship as he mentions them. It’s cute and romantic but the sharp cutting style still injects a little edge, telling you off the bat what kind of movie this is going to be. It pulled me in immediately. The sound also cuts out at times, like a ringing in your ears, and has muffled voices. Likely meant to reflect Emma’s deafness in one ear, a result of her fooling around with guns as a teen. The sound design also features the second score of the year from Daniel Pemberton after Project Hail Mary. The production design deserves its due as well for Emma and Charlie’s absolutely gorgeous Boston apartment, maybe the third star of the film.

Zendaya is always great but she’s actually not really the lead in the movie even though it all revolves around her. We don’t get as much of her internal life as we do with Robert Pattinson’s Charlie. He’s the one we see stewing in the pressure cooker for most of the film. And his character is somewhat of a stand-in for the audience as we’re right there with him debating what we would do in this situation. Robert Pattinson loves to play a little freak and this performance is no exception. He gets progressively more awkward and squirrely and unwound as the film goes on, playing every note to perfection. Alana Haim did a great job of being the worst. She said her performance was inspired by watching Real Housewives and that totally tracks with the way she was overly and dramatically outraged and stubborn and fake. Mamoudou Athie was good and charming and Hailey Benton Gates and Zoë Winters both come in and do a lot with little screen time.

The Independent called The Drama the “most uncomfortable film of the year.” The review then went on to say, “The Drama asks questions I’m not sure I have the answer to. And that makes me uncomfortable. It makes me feel exposed and challenged. It also makes me want to talk about it with every person I meet. And if that’s not the point of art, then what is?” Similarly, Owen Gleiberman wrote in Variety, “Many people love The Drama, some hate it, and some, like me, lean positive with qualifications. But what everyone seemed to agree on was that The Drama is a movie that begs to be talked about, and what a lot of people have been saying is, ‘Wow, how amazing is it to have a movie you actually want to talk about.’” Talking about movies is literally all I ever want to do, so it’s been so fun to get to discuss a movie like The Drama with people I know and listen to other people discuss it on podcasts. Seeing it in theaters with an audience that was super into it, laughing but also gasping at the right moments, elevated the experience even more. The style and the subject matter won’t be for everybody, but I really, really enjoyed this movie. It’s darkly funny and thought-provoking and one of the most interesting, unique movies I’ve seen in a while.

2026 Count: 29 movies, 14 seasons of television, 1 special