A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Drama”. (2026, 4*, 15).
The trailer for this is really great! There! You haven’t heard me say that for a very, very long time have you? I’m normally complaining about them being too spoilerish. But the marketing team behind the trailer for “The Drama” really need to be congratulated for dropping such a devilishly intriguing hook. What does Zendaya’s character say is the worst thing she has ever done?
(By the way, unlike many critic reviews, you won’t find the answer in the main part of this review… this will be Spoiler Free in the main body of the review, with a separate well-signposted ‘spoiler section’.)
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) are due to be married in a few days time. But they get horribly drunk with their friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and play a foolish game of declaring what “the worst thing they have ever done” is. Emma’s answer truly shocks them, throwing all of their well-laid plans into chaos.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Very strong language, strong sex, bloody images, drug misuse”.)
Talent:
Starring: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie, Hailey Gates, Sydney Lemmon,
Jordyn Curet.
Directed by: Kristoffer Borgli.
Written by: Kristoffer Borgli.
Running Time: 1h 45m.
Review:
Positives:
- This is a terrific story that really hooks you in and holds you there until the end. The narrative is conveyed with panache by Kristoffer Borgli (who did the Nicolas Cage vehicle “Dream Scenario” that I also greatly enjoyed (3.5*)).
- The intro cleverly uses the device of Charlie (Pattinson) writing his wedding speech to flash us back to the meet-cute with the partially deaf Emma (Zendaya) and their developing relationship, giving us a good insight into the characters.
- When in the ‘present day’ we are also wrong-footed by occasional snippets of ‘imaginings’ of alternate realities.
- When a lie is spun by Charlie, we get to see a visual realisation of that lie.
- The ‘reveal’ of Emma’s backstory, including how she became deaf, is nicely done and the macabre nature of the ‘change of plan’ is exquisite.
- The wedding scene nicely unwinds as a memorable movie ‘wedding from hell’.
- The time must surely come when Zendaya gets her first Oscar nomination. She really does deliver some excellent dramatic performances, and this is surely one of them. The nuanced looks she has are just terrific. Robert Pattinson is also good in this. A scene of the pair trying to take wedding photographs is a cringingly clever piece of acting prowess.
- The supporting performances from Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie are also strong. Musician Haim, who’s first film was PTA’s “Licorice Pizza” just 5 years ago, has gone from strength to strength through such varied films as “The Mastermind” and “One Battle After Another“, and this is her strongest performance yet. Hailey Benton Gates also turns in a memorable turn as Charlie’s work colleague Misha (leading to the biggest squirm-inducing cringe moment of the whole film!) Credit should also go to young Jordyn Curet for turning in a really convincing performance as ‘young Emma’, managing to sneak in some nice Zendaya-isms.
Negatives:
- I was thinking that the film was running near to 5* status for most of the running time. But then we got to the finale scene and whereas I wanted Borgli to go for the jugular he wimped out and the film ended on a bit of a whimper. Disappointing. See the “Spoiler Section” below the trailer for more discussion.
- Some of the other confessions of the four leads seem less than trivial, but are largely dismissed as “Oh, that’s OK”. I can’t say more for reasons of spoilers, but again see the “Spoiler Section” for more discussion.
Summary Thoughts:
With this being an A24 film and with Ari Aster (“Beau is Afraid“) as one of the producers, I was expecting something perhaps a bit more ‘out there’ and uncomfortable. Although I didn’t get that, this is far from your typical rom-com! It’s a really entertaining black-comedy/drama that had its share of cringy moments but which was really stylishly delivered.
The only let-down for me was the rather weak ending. But this is still a “recommended” watch. Try to see it before some prat spoils it for you with an internet comment!
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zmKcUa4Xxk.
Spoiler Section:
Don’t read past this point if you’ve not seen the movie.
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NO, SERIOUSLY!
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I REALLY WILL BE REVEALING ZENDAYA’s “THING” IN HERE!
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The confessions.
So, the confessions are of varying levels of disturbing.
- As you probably already know, if you are reading to here, Zendaya’s confession is that she once planned, but never enacted, a school shooting when she was 15 years old. The plan is derailed almost at the point of execution by the news on the TV of another mass shooting in the same town, directly affecting one of her school-mates. But the revelation that she was even considering it derails her relationship with Charlie who is, not unreasonably, worried that he is actually marrying a psychopath;
- Mike’s confession (about using a girlfriend as a human shield against an angry dog) is cowardly but fairly minor league;
- Charlie’s cyber bullying confession is rather laughed away but, particularly in the light of the incidents driving the UK’s Online Safety Act laws, could have resulted in extremely serious consequences;
- But Rachel’s confession, about locking a ‘slow’ young child in the closet of an abandoned motorhome in the woods and leaving him there overnight (until a police search finds him), feels utterly appalling! And the level of shock that the other three have about this confession feels significantly undercooked.
The finale.
The finale – a ‘reset’ cute-meet of the mentally and (in Charlie’s case) physically battered couple in a post-wedding diner – feels lightweight and too cutesy for the material that went before.
As my daughter Jenn (she of the brilliant Movie Bread Club podcast) commented, she would have preferred it if the film had ended with Charlie back in their apartment, perhaps with a knock at the door leaving us wondered how events would unwind.
I even wondered if the diner, with Charlie in it, was about to be shot up in a gang-shooting and he himself would, ironically, be the victim of a “mass shooting”!
I wanted something…. anything… darker and grittier than what we got.
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