‘The Drama’ review: Zendaya and Robert Pattinson steer provocative dark comedy

Dir/scr: Kristoffer Borgli. US. 2026. 106mins

Should we judge people based on the worst thing they’ve done? The dark comedy The Drama stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as a blissful couple whose forthcoming wedding becomes imperiled after a shocking revelation regarding one of their pasts. Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) raises age-old questions about just how well any of us can truly know our purported soulmate and, while the film’s balance of thorny laughs and thought-provoking themes is not always smoothly executed, Borgli’s provocation succeeds thanks to the grounded performances of his stars.

Zendaya and Pattinson’s chemistry keeps the picture’s compelling ideas afloat

The Drama rolls out worldwide from April 1, opening in the UK and US on April 3, and will cater to hip viewers who will say ’I do’ to this unconventional wedding picture. A24 has worked hard to keep the film’s twist a mystery, which will only add intrigue to a story featuring two bankable leads. Expect favourable reviews and buzzy word-of-mouth.

About a week before their nuptials, cultured Boston couple Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Pattinson) hang out with their married friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie). After having too many drinks, they start confessing their darkest secrets. The demure Emma goes last, shocking everyone with a high-school story that leaves them all viewing Emma in a less favourable light. Charlie insists that Emma’s vulnerable revelation does not change his feelings for her but, as the wedding draws closer, his inability to process her disturbing confession threatens their relationship.

Like with his previous features, Sick Of Myself and Dream Scenario, Borgli crafts an outrageous scenario in order to examine the anxieties of modern life. Without revealing Emma’s confession, let it be said that Rachel is instantly repelled by what she hears, while Mike tries to be more understanding. Charlie, a sensitive museum curator, struggles to square this new information with the woman he thought he knew. The more he presses Emma for additional details, the clearer it becomes that she still feels great shame about the incident, and wishes she had said nothing. But now that the information has been shared, Charlie and Emma must decide how to move forward.

Daniel Pemberton’s anxious, minimalist score seems to be hardwired directly into Charlie’s psyche as the character slowly unravels. Conveying similar shades that he brought to last year’s Die My Love, in which he also played a man who realises how little he understands his partner, Pattinson adroitly depicts Charlie’s growing doubt and confusion. The Drama eventually fills in some of the blanks concerning Emma’s revelation, sometimes with flashbacks to her teen years, but Borgli refuses to fully justify her actions, forcing both the audience and Charlie to question our initial impression of her. In typical male fashion, Charlie tries to come up with a tidy explanation, essentially mansplaining to his fiancee why she did what she did. But the inexplicability of Emma’s behaviour is the point, and soon Charlie is having twisted visions tied to her high-school deed.

Zendaya superbly plays both the regretful Emma, who doesn’t want her past held against her, and the distorted image of her that forms in Charlie’s head. Because Borgli is more interested in indicting Charlie, who cannot accept his fiancee, flaws and all, the screenplay favours Charlie’s story over hers. While Borgli means to leave Emma something of a riddle, his strategy nonetheless leaves Zendaya portraying a bit of a cipher.

Athie is a welcome presence as the one member of this friend group attempting to keep everything civil, even as his wife is ready to declare war on Emma. As upsetting as Emma’s confession is, The Drama quickly turns the tables, suggesting how slippery the moral high ground can be. In due course, some of the film’s other characters will find themselves behaving unconscionably – which only underlines the hypocrisy in judging others when everyone is susceptible to making terrible mistakes.

Smartly, Borgli populates The Drama with a collection of educated, upper-class individuals who are scandalised by Emma’s confession precisely because they don’t consider themselves the sort of people who would fraternise with someone who did such a thing. But Haim’s extreme, one-note performance as the aghast Rachel underlines Borgli’s occasional difficulty at maintaining his comedy of manners’ acidic tone.

Borgli aims to skewer the characters’ sanctimonious tendencies, forcing them to confront messy everyday realities they normally avoid. Unfortunately, The Drama can get a bit broad in its humour, or throw one extra twist too many into the narrative. But even as the film veers toward farce near the conclusion, the storytelling growing wobbly, Zendaya and Pattinson’s chemistry keeps the picture’s compelling ideas afloat — along with, just maybe, Emma and Charlie’s relationship.