{"id":14259,"date":"2026-04-04T15:56:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T19:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=14259"},"modified":"2026-05-09T21:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T01:15:51","slug":"the-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/04\/04\/the-drama\/","title":{"rendered":"The Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Drama<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 106 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, sexual content, some disturbing thematic material)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Kristoffer Borgli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kristoffer Borgli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 3, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim, Hailey Gates, Zoe Winters, Anna Baryshnikov.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is going to be a tricky review to write. No doubt, you\u2019ve all seen the trailer for The Drama<\/strong> and know that the plot hinges on a secret revealed by one of the main characters. It sets in motion everything that happens from that point on. I\u2019m sure you\u2019re all very curious what it could be. There might even be some that want me to reveal it. NOT GONNA DO IT! I don\u2019t do spoilers. This presents something of a challenge as I\u2019m going to have to talk around it. Fine, challenge accepted.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019ll say only this about the secret. It\u2019s something that touches many a nerve in this day and age of horrific incidents involving teens and violence. It certainly raises the ire of at least one character. You see, The Drama<\/strong> isn\u2019t about the specific secret; it\u2019s about how others react to it, how it changes their perception of the individual involved. Writer-director Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) takes it to absurd lengths in this darkly funny and frequently uncomfortable film that is sure to divide audiences. Would you expect anything less from A24?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Drama<\/strong> centers on a young couple about to be married. We start off with the groom Charlie (Pattinson, Die My Love) writing his wedding speech. He talks about the day he first met his bride-to-be Emma (Zendaya, Dune) in a coffee shop. She\u2019s reading a book. He Googles it so he has a reason to approach her. He awkwardly tries to engage her without realizing she can\u2019t actually hear him. She\u2019s deaf in one ear and has a bud in the other. Once that\u2019s cleared up, they go on their first date. Two years later, they\u2019re about to be husband and wife. That\u2019s when their relationship changes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The happy couple is having dinner with best friends Rachel (Haim, Licorice Pizza) and Mike (Athie, Black Box) when Rachel dares everybody to admit the worst thing they\u2019ve ever done. They all go along with it, but Emma hesitates when it\u2019s her turn. Her worst thing is pretty bad. When she finally says it out loud, the temperature in the room immediately changes. Rachel is furious with her. Charlie is too shocked to say much of anything. It certainly causes him to rethink their future together. Should there even be one?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Most of The Drama<\/strong> deals with Charlie and Emma trying to navigate their way through the fallout resulting from her confession. Both parties make bad choices going forward. Their attempts to have a dialogue about it never go well. Charlie tries to smooth things over with Rachel but only ends up making things worse. By the time the big day arrives, the feeling of inevitable disaster is palpable.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have mixed feelings about The Drama<\/strong>. It held my interest despite my dislike of the characters. POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT! <\/strong>At the very least, I should have felt sympathy for Emma who didn\u2019t actually DO anything. She was a troubled teen. All teens have awful thoughts. A person\u2019s brain isn\u2019t fully developed until they\u2019re about 25. I get all that. Sadly, I cannot feel sorry for Emma because she\u2019s a liar and a hypocrite, the latter stemming from a situation involving the wedding DJ. Emma wants forgiveness and understanding for her transgression yet she\u2019s incapable of showing it towards someone else. How are we expected to root for this character? Maybe we\u2019re not. I\u2019m still unclear.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I get that Borgli is making a statement about society\u2019s tendency to vilify somebody for their thoughts. Emma admits to thinking something terrible and immediately she\u2019s a bad person undeserving of forgiveness. The filmmaker\u2019s point comes across loud and clear. The problem is it\u2019s only half-realized. There\u2019s more to consider. Specifically, I\u2019m talking about race. As a woman of color who grew up in the South, Emma\u2019s situation should be more complicated. It\u2019s never brought up, not even once. I\u2019m kind of surprised. For a movie clearly designed to push buttons, it\u2019s astonishing that it ignores this hot button issue.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I already told you I don\u2019t like any of the characters in The Drama<\/strong>. I get the impression this is the intent of the director. If it is, mission accomplished. The cast, individually and as a whole, does a fine job. Pattinson is quite good as Charlie, a passive sort referred to by one character as a pussy. He really is. He can\u2019t even stand up for himself much less the woman he claims to love. He quietly falls apart and loudly implodes. His is a very precise performance. Zendaya is always good. She always has an air of mystery about her, a quality she brings to all the characters she plays (e.g. Challengers). She definitely does that here. You never know what she\u2019s thinking when you look at her. Given her big revelation, it\u2019s scary. The two leads have great chemistry. Haim also delivers a great performance as the friend who does a complete 180 with Emma. The passive-aggressive toast she offers up at the wedding is really something.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The editing in The Drama<\/strong> is controlled but loopy. Scenes abruptly end before the characters finish reciting their lines. Past and present blend together in scenes that play out like bad dreams. One cringey moment has adult Charlie caressing teenage Emma. It\u2019s weird, but I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s precisely the point. There is nothing conventional about The Drama<\/strong>. That\u2019s a good thing even if it doesn\u2019t always work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m not saying The Drama<\/strong> is a bad movie, but it\u2019s not a good one either. It\u2019s not a triumph but it\u2019s not a failure. It\u2019s interesting is what it is. Parts of it work and parts of it don\u2019t. I can\u2019t say that I enjoyed watching it, but I don\u2019t regret seeing it either. The only thing I can suggest is too see it for yourself and make your own judgment.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Drama (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 A24\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 106 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language, sexual content, some disturbing thematic material)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Kristoffer Borgli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Kristoffer Borgli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Daniel Pemberton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Arseni Khachaturan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: April 3, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim, Hailey Gates, Zoe Winters, Anna Baryshnikov. Rating: ** \u00bd \u00a0This is going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-Drama-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14262,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14259\/revisions\/14262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}