Apr 3

Apr 3 'The Drama' film review: Wedding jitters taken to the brutally uncomfortable extreme

Something old becomes a jarring something new that leaves a happy relationship black and blue in the dark relationship comedy 'The Drama' (in theaters nationwide starting April 3).

In short: Engaged couple Emma and Charlie (Zendaya and Robert Pattinson) happily head into the final days before their wedding - before an unexpected turn sends everything off the rails.

First off - go into 'The Drama' knowing as little about this story as possible. This is a spoiler-free review of the film that will tap dance around the specifics. This film is best experienced by an audience left to deal with the unexpected turn and its fallout just likes the characters.

At this core, 'The Drama' ratchets pre-wedding jitters to an excruciating level. Waves of uncertainty and anxiety are totally normal leading up to any wedding. Although the 'unexpected turn' (as it were) in this film is itself quite jarring, it forces Emma and Charlie to go through the final preparations for their wedding with an undercurrent of ever-growing tension. This simmering apprehension is the psychological engine of 'The Drama,' as increasing stress starts to overwhelm any facade of normalcy for their relationship.

Writer-director Kristoffer Borgli essentially pulls the pin on a grenade and throws it between Emma and Charlie - with the film chronicling their very different reactions to a singular event. All credit to Zendaya and Pattinson's performances as a once blissfully happy couple completely thrown for a loop. This film revels in letting Emma and Charlie marinate in the "unexpected turn," letting it preoccupy their thoughts in their private moments and belie their conversations, as their attempts at normalcy betray their ever-increasing paranoias, insecurities and fears.

Composer Daniel Pemberton's methodic score imbues 'The Drama' with a slow, methodic cadance - like a consistent dripping of water, slowing but invasively eroding everything under it ... one drop at a time. The score elegantly and brilliantly leans on singular instruments, playing individual notes and allowing negative space of silence between notes paralleling the negativity gnawing at their thoughts. These singular instruments also mirroring the isolation Emma and Charlie increasingly feel - isolation which is fundamentally at odds with the entire concept of married couple.

'The Drama' shares a lot of thematic DNA with 'Force Majeure,' wherein one character's instinctive decision to save themself rather than protect their family, leaving a dark cloud of cowardice over the rest of the film. 'The Drama' also effectively works as a hyperbolic conversation starter or moment of self-reflection, wherein in a committed relationship can ask themselves "If A happened, how would I respond to A?"

Borgli's script is sharply hilarious and wrought with coiled tension. Out of context, the scene with the wedding photographer is mundane and unextraordinary - but with Emma and Charlie pre-occupied, the scene takes a sinister and hilarious turn. The editing masterfully allows Emma and Charlie to reconsider past events in the wake of knowing things they wished they never knew or revealed.

Final verdict: ‘The Drama’ is an essential film of 2026 - a pressure cooker relationship drama powered by internal character conflict, deliberate editing, great performances and sharp dialogue.