Movie Review: ‘The Drama’

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are top-notch in ‘The Drama,’ which turns the standard rom-com into something darker, more thoughtful, and still funny.

(L to R) Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

Opening in theaters on April 3 is ‘The Drama,’ written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli and starring Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim, Hailey Benton Gates, Sydney Lemmon, Anna Baryshnikov and Zoë Winters.

The Drama

"Witness the wedding of the year."

RDrama Comedy Romance

Review
Score

Release Date: Apr 3, 2026

Run Time: 1 hr 45 min

Budget: $28,000,000

Watch The Drama Online

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

Does true love conquer all? Should you fire your wedding DJ days before the nuptials if you see them doing something illegal on the street? Do we really know the people in our lives? These are just three of the very disparate questions posed by ‘The Drama,’ the new, mostly uncategorizable film from Kristoffer Borgli, whose last movie, ‘Dream Scenario,’ put Nicolas Cage into everyone’s dreams to surreal, often hilarious effect.

‘The Drama’ is a little surreal too: it starts off as a kind of dry-humor rom-com before turning into something else. But it’s fascinating, funny, and unpredictable throughout, and there’s a deep level of disquiet running through much of it that keeps the viewer on their toes. Featuring sterling work from Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Alana Haim, ‘The Drama’ is also a critique of modern morality and an early 2026 cinematic winner.

Story and Direction

(L to R) Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) seem like the perfect couple: their meet-cute becomes the stuff of personal legend, they’re both intelligent, cultured, and attractive, plus they have great jobs (he’s a museum curator, she’s a literary editor) and share a stylish apartment in Boston. As the film opens, they’re writing their wedding vows with the help of best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and maid of honor – and Mike’s wife -- Rachel (Alana Haim), with the nuptials a week away.

Then while the quartet are having dinner just a few nights before the wedding, they play a drunken game of ‘What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?’ Charlie, Rachel, and Mike each confess something that makes them and the others relatively uncomfortable – and then Emma confesses something that changes everything, including her relationship to Charlie and their friends, the immediate future, and ‘The Drama’ itself.

We won’t share here what Emma admits, but it takes ‘The Drama’ into a darker psychological and sociological realm – while still allowing for humor and still operating within the basic structure of a rom-com, albeit with very different complications and stakes. There are a number of laugh-out-loud moments of cringe comedy in ‘The Drama,’ and writer-director Borgli somehow manages to make them fit alongside other moments of emotional and psychological trauma, in addition to some standard wedding-movie tropes which somehow become queasier in this scenario.

(L to R) Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

Each of the main characters is subjected to new revelations about themselves and their inner makeup as a result, which brings the film’s major questions into laser-like focus: what do we really know about the people in our lives, and how much do we want to know? Can people change for the better? And if they do, are they even allowed to find acceptance and love?

Not all of these questions are answered in a way that’s facile or definitive, which may leave some viewers a bit unsatisfied. And although Borgli successfully lands the plane here (a flaw in the otherwise ambitious ‘Dream Scenario’), the very end of the film may seem a bit abrupt. But these are small nitpicks in what is otherwise an original, highly compelling – and entertaining -- tale that is practically tailor-made for discussion and debate.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson give top-notch performances here – possibly, in fact, the best of their careers to date. Neither Emma nor Charlie are native to Boston, and while the British expat Charlie finds himself a group of friends and is charming enough to build a professional and personal life, he is nevertheless privy to deep insecurity that manifests itself in devastating ways as the film unfolds. Pattinson brings this forward both in his physicality and emotional range, inviting us to feel just how uncomfortable in his own Charlie becomes.

The more reserved, cerebral Emma, on the other hand, keeps a bit of distance from people as a result of her upbringing – in fact her friend circle largely consists of Charlie’s pals. But underneath she is a person full of passion and turmoil, leading to a question of whether she’ll direct her emotions in positive directions or something else. Zendaya channels Emma’s self-doubt, grief, terror, and love into one heady stew of a performance, letting us fully empathize with her even as we discover the shocking truth of her past.

The third and fourth wheels on this vehicle are Alana Haim and Mamoudou Athie. The former (‘Licorice Pizza’) is searing as Rachel, whose relationship with Emma turns antagonistic and bitter in an instant, while Athie brings an increasingly frazzled calm to Mike, who finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. And a shout-out as well to Zoë Winters (‘Succession’), whose brief, hilarious work here is a scene-stealer on par with her more painful scenes in ‘Materialists.’

Final Thoughts

(L to R) Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

‘The Drama’ is bound to ignite discussion and controversy with everything from its tricky marketing (which positions the film in more familiar rom-com territory) to the central revelation at the heart of the story to the way the film wraps its darker, more tragic concerns in a finely-crafted comedic shell (there are already accusations of it triggering certain people who almost surely have not seen the movie yet).

Those aspects of the film are certainly engineered to provide plenty of material for these kinds of debates, but at the same time, that is often what the best movies do. And make no mistake: ‘The Drama’ might end up being one of the best movies of 2026, for its willingness to take risks, flip a well-worn genre on its head, and create something new out of it.

‘The Drama’ receives a score of 90 out of 100.

(L to R) Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in 'The Drama'. Photo: A24.

What is the plot of ‘The Drama’?

A happily engaged couple is put to the test when one of the pair confesses to something from their past, an unexpected turn that sends their wedding week and all their plans off the rails.