The Drama review

THE DRAMA: 

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO, THIS MOVIE’S GONNA START A HUGE DRAMA! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

A24

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in The Drama

 

            Breaking news, you guys, a huge Drama just came out, oh my god, this is so scary. This is The Drama, the newest film from A24 and starring Zendaya (Spider-Man franchise, Dune trilogy, Challengers) and Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga, The Lighthouse, The Batman) and directed by Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself, Dream Scenario). It’s probably a no-brainer that I’d go see this considering the leads, Post-Twilight Robert Pattinson teaming up with Zendaya on a movie, and under one of the most ambitious film studios of all time, instant sell! 

            I was also a huge fan of Borgli’s previous directing effort, 2023’s Dream Scenario which was one of the craziest Nicolas Cage movies I had ever seen (Which is saying a lot, I’m realizing!) so, I was very much onboard to see what he’d do next and The Drama…was definitely not what I was expecting when I saw the trailer. If you’re going into this expecting a lovey-dovey romance, then you might want to go next door and watch You, Me & Tuscany instead because holy fuck, this movie is dark…and oh so funny too! 

            Where Materialists felt like a rom-com that just happened to be distributed by A24, The Drama IS an A24 rom-com that completely subverts audiences’ expectations and delivers just as many shocks as it does laughs. I guess it’s apparently been pretty divisive amongst moviegoers, and after seeing it for myself, I can kind of understand why, but fuck it, my eyes were glued to the screen throughout, laughing and gasping along.

            The film follows Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya), a happy, soon-to-be married couple preparing for their wedding. However, after a revelation about one of them is revealed (Specifically during a game with the best man and maid of honor, where each person admits to the worst thing they’ve ever done) during the week before the wedding, Charlie and Emma’s relationship is put to the ultimate test. 

            The film also stars Alana Haim (Licorice Pizza, The Mastermind, One Battle After Another) as Rachel, Mamoudou Athie (Jurassic World: Dominion, Elemental, The Burial) as Mike, Hailey Gates (States of Undress, Marty Supreme, The Moment) as Misha, Zoë Winters (Succession, Jules, Materialists) as Frances, Hannah Gross (Mindhunter, Joker, Infinite Summer) as Alice, Sydney Lemmon (Fear the Walking Dead, Succession, Tár) as Pauline, Anna Baryshinikov (Wiener-Dog, Manchester by the Sea, Love Lies Bleeding) as Sam, and Damon Gupton (Prime Suspect, Whiplash, Black Lightning) as Roger. 

            Overall, The Drama does what Dream Scenario did for dreams for the engaged life, resulting in an absolutely chaotic but consistently entertaining ride of tension, laughs, and surprises. I feel as though this is the Anti-Wuthering Heights, where you can have leads that do shady and sometimes messed-up things, but still make them interesting and endearing because that’s what was missing in Wuthering Heights, despite Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi trying their hardest to make that movie work. 

            Robert Pattinson and Zendaya are both great and have solid chemistry with each other. I bought them as a couple, and even after the revelation, neither one of them is painted as the antagonist. I gave a shit about both of them, and even when the latter is trying to come to terms with the former’s past, for the most part, it’s pretty relatable and makes you ask yourself what you would do if you were in the same situation as them. 

            The humor is very funny, with much of it coming from everyone else’s reactions to the revelation about the person being married and the editing of certain scenes. This really did give me Dream Scenario vibes before I realized it was from the same director, people giving these intense, over-the-top reactions towards this particular person constantly because of something they did (or thought about doing) in the past because it reminded me a lot of how characters reacted to Nicolas Cage randomly appearing in their dreams like Freddy Krueger in that movie, Borgli cracked the formula for how to make people going to extreme lengths over something outside the main characters’ control hilarious. 

            The funniest scene for me was an awkward scene involving the wedding photographer explaining her plan to Pattinson and Zendaya for the wedding photos. It got the biggest laugh out of me and the entire audience I was with; it’s funny with just the right amount of uncomfortableness. 

            Amongst all the chaos and dark hilarity, the film does ask a bold question to its audience: how well do you truly know your significant other, and if something about them is revealed, can you work past it and still be in love with each other? There’s no easy answer to that, and the movie illustrates that beautifully in the wildest, most A24 way possible, but still. 

            The Drama is one of the most entertaining films I saw this year and one I’m gonna remember the experience of for a long time, it’s a bizarre yet effective blend of dark humor, romance, and heavy subject matter with two very endearing leads and constant tension and laughs throughout. If you know what you’re getting into, you’re in for quite a night at the movies…however, the fact they didn’t show the Dune: Part Three trailer alongside Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey before the movie started a huge Drama between me and whoever puts the trailers in front of the films and makes me want to chuck a film hard drive at their head for such a heinous act!