The trailers and promos for The Drama, the new A24 movie by Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario), have all strongly suggested that the pending nuptials between young lovers Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) won’t go smoothly. Take the “35MM Camera Test,” a 30-second clip showing off the movie’s leads in a variety of clothing options, including a solemn Zendaya in her wedding dress and Pattinson with his face bloodied.
The image of a beat-up Pattinson, in combination with reviews that hinted at a major plot twist, all led up to a film surrounded by more intrigue than it actually deserves. There is a big secret at the heart of The Drama, but it occurs far earlier in the movie than you’d expect. Basically, it’s the whole premise. So let’s break down what it is, and why it doesn’t really work.
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for The Drama.]
The Drama teaches us an important life lesson: The worst possible time to play the game “What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” is a few days before you marry the love of your life. During a wine-soaked hang with their best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and maid of honor Rachel (Alana Haim), the two couples reveal some dark, embarrassing secrets, including Rachel confessing that she once trapped another kid in a closet in the middle of the forest.
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But it’s Emma’s secret that proves the most disturbing, as she reveals that when she was a lonely and depressed 15-year-old, she came close to committing a mass shooting, going so far as to bring her father’s rifle with her to school. The admission horrifies Rachel and leaves Charlie wondering who, exactly, he’s planning to marry — now seeing Emma’s potential for violence in her smallest actions.
In the remaining days before the wedding, Charlie starts to emotionally spiral in a big way, at one point going so far as to kiss his co-worker Misha (Hailey Gates) after trying to get her perspective on the whole “what if you were in a relationship with someone who once planned a school shooting?” thing. (The kiss is relatively consensual, but still an awkward moment for both of them.) Despite Charlie’s increased nerves, though, they still go through with the ceremony, and during the reception Mike tries to keep the peace even while Rachel delivers a passive-aggressive maid of honor speech for the ages.
Still, things are going relatively smoothly until Charlie, who’s been working on his reception speech over the course of the entire movie, stands up to speak, and ends up fully melting down. In his rambling, he confesses to the whole kissing-his-coworker thing — which Emma had learned about just moments before — and Misha boyfriend head-butts Pattinson. (The only serious act of violence committed over the course of the entire film.)
Emma slips away in the ensuing chaos, and a bloody and bruised Charlie heads to his and Emma’s favorite local diner for the late-night meal they’d previously discussed having at the end of their perfect wedding day. Happily, though, Emma shows up at the diner, joining him at his table and role-playing like they’re strangers, offering him a second chance. And that’s where things end.
The above description doesn’t quite capture the level of tension imbued in the film by Borgli, who uses fantasy sequences and flashbacks so frequently that what’s real often feels suspect. The most glaring example of this is a haunting glimpse of Charlie and Emma’s reception hall in the aftermath of a shooting — a moment eventually revealed to just be a fantasy, but only confirmed as such as the credits roll. Borgli wants us to believe that the potential for danger is very real here, whether due to Emma’s violent tendencies resurfacing or Charlie losing his mind entirely, but at the end of the day The Drama remains a character dramedy with only a few hints of real darkness.
Exacerbating the situation is that the Oslo-born Borgli approaches the national epidemic of school shootings from an outsider perspective that really doesn’t ring true in comparison with the lived American experience. It’s especially problematic because it doesn’t really grapple with the character in question being a young Black woman, beyond referencing “I Don’t Like Mondays” as evidence that female mass shooters exist.
The extreme reaction of Rachel (whose cousin, she points out more than once, is a wheelchair user due to a mass shooting) also feels too over-the-top, especially since Emma actually became an anti-gun violence activist after deciding not to go through with her own attack. The initial reason she didn’t go through with it was that another mass shooting took place in her community on that day, but in the aftermath of that tragedy, she found herself making friends, connecting with people, and committing to a cause. This backstory is actually a touching journey in concept, but because the movie is so focused on Charlie’s point-of-view, it fails to connect the way it could with the audience.
There are some fascinating moral questions here — plenty to debate with your partner after watching. But those hoping for a M. Night Shyamalan-level twist are out of luck, because the movie’s biggest surprise is how little ends up being surprising, once Emma’s secret is out. The end result is not a bang, but a headbutt and a whimper.
The Drama is in theaters now.
