From “Dream Scenario” filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli, “The Drama” arrives as another uneasy, genre-bending exploration of modern anxiety, this time wrapped in the deceptive packaging of a romantic comedy. Released by A24 and running 106 minutes, the film stars Robert Pattinson and Zendaya as a seemingly perfect couple whose wedding week begins to unravel after a single destabilizing confession.
Set primarily in Cambridge, the story follows Charlie (Pattinson), a British museum curator, and Emma (Zendaya), a literary editor, whose whirlwind romance has led them to the brink of marriage. Borgli, whose previous work like “Sick of Myself” and “Dream Scenario” often skewers social performance and identity, returns to that same uncomfortable tonal space where humor and dread coexist. This time, he shifts his focus toward intimacy itself, examining what we choose to share, what we hide, and whether love can withstand the full weight of the truth.
It is worth acknowledging how difficult a film like this is to pull off. Cringe comedies in this vein ask the audience to sit with discomfort rather than release it. They rely on a delicate balance between tension and absurdity, and while Borgli clearly understands that balance, “The Drama” does not always maintain it.
At first glance, the setup feels familiar. A couple prepares for their wedding while navigating the usual pressures of relationships and expectations. But early signals suggest something more unsettling beneath the surface. The editing has a restless, almost anxious rhythm, and the score by Daniel Pemberton quietly disrupts what might otherwise play as light or romantic moments. There is a persistent sense that something is off, that the tone is intentionally slipping just out of reach.
Spoiler Warning
Rather than functioning as a traditional narrative, the film becomes a psychological exercise that places the audience inside Charlie’s perspective in near real time. It asks a simple but unnerving question. What would you need to hear or see to walk away from the person you are about to marry?
The turning point arrives during a drunken game among friends, where each person shares the worst thing they have ever done. Several disturbing confessions surface and are dismissed with surprising ease. That choice feels deliberate, pointing to how casually people can rationalize cruelty or distance themselves from past behavior. The tone shifts completely when Emma reveals that, as a teenager, she once seriously considered committing a mass shooting. She explains that she did not go through with it not because of a moral reckoning, but because a similar tragedy elsewhere had already consumed the news cycle.
The line lands with a quiet, almost offhand delivery. Zendaya avoids any sense of performance in the moment, which makes it more unsettling. There is a tension between what the audience expects from her and what the character reveals. Zendaya often carries an on-screen presence that feels composed and grounded, almost idealized. That perception becomes part of the film’s design. Emma feels normal. That is what makes the revelation so disturbing.
From that point forward, the film narrows its focus to Charlie’s internal unraveling. Pattinson becomes the audience’s proxy as he attempts to process what he has heard and determine whether it is something he can live with. The film does not offer easy answers, and it resists framing Emma as either villain or victim. Instead, it sits in the discomfort of ambiguity.
What stands out most is the way the film pushes toward a broader, more unsettling idea. It suggests that not all violence or the potential for it fits into familiar categories of radicalization or diagnosable illness. There is an implication that ordinary people, under certain conditions, can drift toward something unthinkable. In that sense, “The Drama” is not only about a relationship under strain. It becomes a reflection on what happens when acts of violence become so embedded in the cultural landscape that they begin to feel almost normalized. The question is not only whether Charlie can accept Emma, but what it means for a society where such a confession can even exist.
Pattinson delivers a performance that is often compelling and occasionally uneven. During the comedic scenes, he channels a nervous charm that recalls a more anxious, modern version of Hugh Grant. There are moments where he communicates everything through subtle shifts in expression, particularly in a standout scene during a photo session the day after the revelation. In those moments, the film feels fully in control of its tone. At other times, his performance leans too heavily into mannerism, which can pull the audience out of the moment.
Zendaya’s performance is more restrained by design. She plays Emma with a quiet confidence and an almost unreadable calm. While the role does not stretch her in the same way as some of her recent work, including “Challengers,” her stillness becomes an important part of the film’s tension. The character’s composure forces the audience to sit with uncertainty rather than clarity.
Where the film struggles is in its consistency. The same tonal instability that creates tension can also undercut the comedy. There are moments that feel as though they should land as sharp or even absurd, but instead drift past without impact. That unevenness is part of the risk of blending genres so aggressively, and it occasionally keeps the film from reaching its full potential.
Even so, “The Drama” is difficult to dismiss. It lingers in a way that more polished films often do not. It invites conversation and debate, and it leaves the viewer turning over its central questions long after the credits roll. It may take multiple viewings to fully understand how effective its storytelling is, or whether its ambitions ultimately outweigh its execution.
At this moment, it is hard to say that it is a film to love. It is, however, a film that stays with you, and that alone makes it worth engaging with.
Grade: B-