Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers for the movie The Drama and may contain sensitive topics discussed throughout.

★★★★☆

A24 have been marketing The Drama as the wedding of the year, plastering Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s faces all over our social media feeds. With everything that’s been publicised, including the trailers, promos that look like wedding invitations, and even creating an activation where people can opt in to get married at The Drama Wedding Chapel, the movie looks like the perfect romcom to see with your girlfriends. 

But the film takes a turn that may shock viewers. 

Who Are Emma and Charlie?

Directed and written by Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself and Dream Scenario), The Drama tells the story of a happily engaged couple named Emma Harwood (Zendaya) and Charlie Thompson (Robert Pattinson). They are both successful in their careers; Emma being a clerk at a book store, and Charlie working as Director of the Cambridge Art Museum. They live in a beautiful cosy home together in Boston, and have a good group of friends around them, including Charlie’s best friend Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and his wife and Emma’s maid of honour, Rachel (Alana Haim). Everything in their life is picture perfect to say the least.

In the lead up to the big day, Emma, Charlie, Mike, and Rachel attend a final tasting for the meals to be served at their reception, using the opportunity to also nab a free meal. Amongst wine fuelled chatter, Rachel brings up the fact that before she and Mike got married, they shared with each other the worst thing they had ever done, as a way to really know what they were getting into before committing to one another. Encouraging Emma and Charlie to do the same, Charlie shared a story about how he had cyberbullied someone when he was a kid. When it’s Emma’s turn to share, she unexpectedly reveals a dark secret that may change the trajectory of their relationship. 

The Twist?

The spoiler for the movie has somehow made its way around the internet way before the release date of this film. So audiences may or may not have already been made aware of the big twist in the movie.

Revealing the worst thing she’s ever done, Emma mentions that she had planned a school shooting at her own school when she was a teenager. After relentless bullying by her peers, she was drawn to the radical ideologies of shootings, and researched, planned, and almost went through with the brazen attack. That is, until news of a shooting at a local mall nearby stopped her in her tracks, one that she finds out took the life of one of her classmates. 

Conversations and educational talks about gun violence began to occur at her school. Finding community and support with her group of peers for the first time, she eventually became an activist for gun reform and left the idea of a school shooting far behind her.

A Dark Romantic Comedy for the Ages

The film was stressful, jarring, and incredibly funny. Once the twist gets revealed, and the initial shock of what Emma had just said wears off, the movie dives right into an anxiety inducing spectacle. 

Emma and Charlie spiral into absolute madness. We watch Charlie desperately try to understand and obsessively unpack everything he learnt about the woman he is about to marry, while Emma miserably tries to move forward, incessantly reminding him that she is not that person anymore. All on top of the stress of planning a wedding. 

Though, The Drama is much more than its big twist. The film plays into human empathy and makes us question where this invisible line truly stands. Humans are more than a perception or a label, they’re full of complex emotions that allow for nuanced opinions, thoughts, and feelings. And as Charlie tries to make sense of this newly learnt information, the audience are also forced to try and understand the morally right and wrong way to feel (if any). 

The movie begs for us to question how much the perception of an idea can affect someone you’ve gotten to know and love, and how much of that can be forgiven.

Zendaya and Pattinson’s chemistry is off the charts, they’re effortlessly at ease with one another, and quickly become awkwardly unfamiliar once the secret is out. The tension boils at the surface between the two through the movie, until it erupts in a scene that’ll have audiences watching it unfold from behind their fingers. The writing is sharp and witty, and will keep viewers anticipating every minute until the very end.

The Inevitable Backlash

The discourse that will follow The Drama is unavoidable, with Haim stating that the “hard conversations” are already starting to circulate; with a father of a child who was murdered in the 1999 Columbine shootings already expressing his ill thoughts on the film. The director himself is also facing backlash for comments he made back in 2012 about a romance he had in his 20s.

Everything viewers have seen about this movie so far has been reliant on the romantic element and the chemistry between Zendaya and Pattinson. Understandably this can be shocking for viewers coming in to see what they expected to be a romantic film, and coming out of something completely left field. 

Is the secret in poor taste? Is it glorifying the issue? Is it exploitative? Should you forgive her? From the very beginning, inclusive of the marketing, this movie was made to elicit these types of discussions and force audiences to question their own morals. If anything, this will no doubt continue to be a big topic of conversation in the next coming weeks.

• Director: Kristoffer Borgli
• Cast: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie
• Writer: Kristoffer Borgli
• Producers: Ari Aster, Kristoffer Borgli, Tyler Campellone, Amy Greene, Lars Knudsen, Tommy Le, Chris Stinson, John Sylva
• Cinematographer: Arseni Khachaturan
• Editors: Kristoffer Borgli, Joshua Raymond Lee
• Composer: Daniel Pemberton

The Drama is in cinemas on Friday, April 3 2026.

Header Image Credit: VVS Films / A24