Film Review – The Drama (2026)

Title – The Drama (2026)

Director – Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself)

Cast – Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie

Plot – In love and engaged couple Charlie (Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) find their wedding week upended by unexpected twists and turns that threaten the very fabric of their relationship.  

“What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?”

Review by Eddie on 21/04/2026

Absolutely the type of film best experienced with as little prior knowledge as possible, Kristoffer Borglie’s breakout A24 effort The Drama is an impressively designed and acted dark comedy that isn’t afraid to tackle some extremely taboo topics as it explores a wedding event you’ll be glad you weren’t attending in person.

Quietly bubbling away over the past few years with some notable if not exactly world defining works that includes Sick of Myself and the curious Nicolas Cage starring Dream Scenario, Borgli is set to move well and truly into the big time on the back of this Zendaya and Robert Pattinson starring affair, one that feels like a unique and memorable exploration of relationships and the human condition.

Bringing us along for the ride that is the wedding week of Pattinson’s Charlie and Zendaya’s Emma, The Drama starts out in familiar fashion as the cutesy couple go about their business, but when an unexpected revelation comes forth from one of the couple, the nervous energy of the wedding week turns into a whole different beast as Charlie and Emma come to terms with what has all of a sudden come to their attention.

Saying much more would be a disservice to the film, one that will bring about a huge amount of tension for a lot of viewers, suffice to say that Borgli’s razor sharp script and support of co-editor Joshua Raymond Lee makes The Drama tick along at a rapid pace, even creating one of the year’s biggest jump scares, ensuring that Borgli’s film is an engaging and unpredictable watch for all.

Amongst all of this growing unease are some notable turns from Pattinson and Zendaya who both work wonderfully off one another and individually here, continuing on their consistent work that has been transpiring over the past few years.

Their layered and complex turns makes for some interesting moral conundrums and Borgli and his leads do fine work in creating characters that aren’t easily identifiable in the right and wrong stakes, with their life issues sure to inspire much debate amongst film fans as The Drama refuses to shy away from the intense subject matter at the core of its being, creating content that is worthy of being pondered upon.

Overcoming some missteps that appear throughout, The Drama is a surprisingly funny film that has some shockingly raw subject matters and happenings, formally announcing Borgli as a huge talent to watch while further enhancing the reputations of its two main stars.

Final Say –

The Drama may not hit for everyone and may be too much for some but for those that willingly accept this invitation, Borgli’s wedding/relationship themed film with a difference is one of the year’s most impressive unique offerings.

4 computer updates out of 5

5 responses to “Film Review – The Drama (2026)

  1. Great review. I did seek out spoilers and was even more motivated to watch it after finding them. As I mentioned in my blog post about the film, young Emma wears a HIM shirt in a couple of the scenes. HIM as in His Infernal Majesty, the Finnish “love metal” band fronted by Ville Valo that came to much popularity in the US in the early/mid-2000s thanks to Hot Topic and Bam Margera’s TV appearances.

    My hypothesis is that whoever was responsible for sourcing young Emma’s clothes went thrifting, saw the red Heartagram with wings (and didn’t know its significance), thought it was cool, and went with it. Or, they knew the reference and wanted to see how many viewers would spot it.

    Robert Pattinson and Zendaya’s chemistry was quite convincing.

    • That’s really interesting, I actually wonder if the director might be a fan of the band? Being from Norway he might have grown up listening to them!

      I honestly knew nothing about this one other than seeing some posters, I had deliberately avoided trailers so I had no idea what was going to go down to set the trainwreck in motion.
      E

  2. Was really surprised how much I enjoyed this one. Lots of big questions but also super funny and mostly quite tasteful

    • I was shocked how funny a lot of it was, even if the subject matter was far from it. That whole last act at the ceremony was an all timer.
      E

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