As it stands, good romance films in modern cinema are few and far between. However, that’s just the opinion of one lowly film critic. Executive producer Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama is one such film. A strange cross between rom-com and rom-adey, The Drama only works due to Robert Pattinson (The Devil All the Time, The Boy and the Heron, Die My Love, Mickey 17) and Zendaya’s (Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man franchise, Euphoria) electric chemistry and the unbelievable twist that encompasses the film’s entire plot.
Borgli’s film is a great example of tone management in the best ways. It bounces between the absurd and reasonable with ease. It’s extremely hard to discuss the film without the twist—which comes almost immediately as the film begins. Moreover, the entire cast does great work with the filmmaker’s always wild material. Everyone plays their role perfectly and doesn’t miss a beat. More than anything, The Drama is a great meta commentary on American culture at large and the ever-growing fear of guns and gun control in our society — and modern-day relationships.
Spoilers, and their antics, will follow.
How Much Do You Really Know Your Partner?
What if you married a killer? Or possibly a psychopath? This is the entire premise of The Drama, which shows audiences the week leading up to, and the night of, Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma’s (Zendaya) wedding. It brilliantly opens with their first meeting, with even the film’s very first frame foreshadowing the twist. During a dinner to decide their food at the wedding, Charlie, Emma, and their best man, Mike (Mamoudou Athie), and maid of honor, Rachel (Alana Haim), Rachel turns the conversation deeper, with alcohol in the mix. She tells everyone to share the worst thing that they have ever done. When the conversation reaches Emma, the worst thing that she’s ever done is allegedly plan a school shooting when she was fifteen. The film only gets more ludicrous from here. Rachel lashes out, and Emma ends the night by puking all over the table. Pretty outlandish, isn’t it?
However, this is something someone like Borgli is known for. His prior film, Dream Scenario, featured Nicolas Cage appearing in random dreams in a Freddy Krueger-like fashion. This film begs the question: how well do we really know the person with whom we are supposed to share everything? In this case, not quite that well after all.
Meta is as Meta Does
At its absolute best, The Drama is a perfect meta commentary on American society at large in 2026. The film has much to say about the status of gun control and mass shootings at large. Even Charlie has several lines to Rachel and Mike about how mass shootings are “a problem in this country,” as Pattinson plays the character as he is, i.e., British. Let’s face it, they are a problem here more than anywhere in the world. However, the film does a fine enough job at telling its true story—a twisted story of accepting your partner as they are—flaws and all.
A Good Cast Makes a Romance Film
The entire cast plays the script extremely well, almost too well. A romance film is nothing without the chemistry of its two leads, and Pattinson and Zendaya are surprisingly fun to watch. It will be interesting to see if, and how, they share any scenes in December’s upcoming Dune: Part Three. Meanwhile, Haim plays a nasty character like Rachel almost entirely too well, better than she maybe should. She makes the audience abhor Rachel, even if it is slightly justifiable; at times, it feels like almost too much. The flashbacks to Emma’s childhood are also a great beat. The audience can truly feel young Emma’s (Jordyn Curet) pain.
Borgli’s films seem to feature characters with little to no lines yet are necessary for grounding the film in reality. Through his father of the bride speech, Emma’s father, Roger (Damon Gupton), is revealed to be a veteran, hence Emma’s constant moving as a child, as well as easy access to a rifle she almost used in the school shooting. This is only worthwhile because it also subtly leads to her as a child and her longing to relate. The ultimate thing that leads Emma not to commit the heinous act is two-fold.
A shooting occurs at the local mall mere days before she goes through with her plan, and she finally finds a community in activism. She is approached by a student to join a gun violence advocacy group, thus pointing her in a new direction. Sometimes, maybe all we need is a community to relate to and something to find that is bigger than ourselves. After all, she does feel the pain of such an event, as a fellow student was killed in the mall shooting.
Final Thoughts on The Drama
This time around, Borgli’s direction feels more precise. The blocking of each scene is interesting. Borgli and Joshua Raymond Lee’s (We Own This City) editing plays into this as well, with the most enticing conversations constantly crosscut between each other. The flashbacks are expertly placed and are not overused to prove the film’s point. Daniel Pemberton’s (Ocean’s Eight, Marvel and Sony Pictures’ Spider-Verse franchise, Eddington, Materialists) score is quite subtle compared to what audiences are used to. Even then, it’s excellently used during the film’s climax at the wedding of Charlie and Emma. Meanwhile, Borgli’s script is a great conversation piece and commentary on today’s society.
The Drama is such a unique film, one that hits you like a truck and never lets off the gas. After witnessing their deejay smoking heroin on a street corner, everything goes from bad to worse when the four main characters have the conversation. Sometimes, a simple conversation turns everything upside down. Still, is love ever enough? Sometimes. After their chaotic wedding, Charlie and Emma regroup at their favorite diner, and in an extremely poignant scene, seem to begin again. The Drama ending on a slightly high note is welcoming after witnessing everything seemingly falling apart right at the seams. Maybe love can be enough, even if it shouldn’t be.
Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama is now playing in theatres!
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