The Pop Culture Pundit

^{A24 via YouTube}

The following review contains spoilers. Proceed with caution.

2026 has been the year of doomed weddings on the screen with Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights and now The Drama, the film directed by Kristoffer Borgli that took the internet by storm with its glitzy press tour and truly insane plot twist. While there’s a lot of style to be had with this film–Zendaya and Robert Pattinson star, after all–there’s not a lot of substance, which goes to show you that if you’re going to have a big reveal in a film, you need to figure out what to do with it after. 

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson star as Emma and Charlie, a seemingly happy engaged couple who are about to get married in a couple days. One night, with their best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and maid of honor Rachel (Alana Haim), they all spill their guts on the worst things they’ve ever done. Mike let his ex get attacked by a dog. Rachel locked a kid in a closet. Charlie can’t think of anything. 

And Emma…almost committed a school shooting. 

The plot twist genuinely is shocking and brings the drama the movie is named after–I thought this was going to be a film about a wedding! But it’s not really about that. The plot twist is such an American concept, but it’s also an incredibly serious cultural issue that should be handled with more care than it is here. 

Naturally, everyone freaks out when Emma reveals this. Rachel is the most upset, and she has a valid reason–her cousin was paralyzed in a shooting. But not once does anyone in the film ask Emma if she’s gone to therapy or worked through her very concerning issues. Emma’s psyche is interrogated, vaguely, throughout the film–she was bullied as a child and liked the “aesthetic” of guns–but maybe the film should ask why this is. Borgli’s The Drama is primarily concerned with its appearance and nothing beyond the surface. 

This can be affirmed by the fact that the press tour was primarily focused around Zendaya’s beauty looks connected to the wedding (something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue)–and she’s rightfully a style icon working with Law Roach. The Drama almost feels like it was designed for deceptive advertising with its focus on fashion and festivities. But maybe that’s what the movie was concerned with all along and nothing deeper. 

The Drama is certainly one of the most provocative films of the year. The film is dotted with great performances–Alana Haim filled Rachel with a seething, simmering rage that was unfortunately never fully resolved in the plot and Zoë Winters’ Frances proved to be a secret comedic weapon as the wedding photographer with her camera every time the flash went off, getting the couple in uncomfortable candids to showcase their true feelings. But while Zendaya gave a great performance, as always, her lack of chemistry with Robert Pattinson made the film almost unbelievable–this couple is REALLY tying the knot??–but maybe that was intentional. 

While The Drama certainly lives up to its name, it does nothing to interrogate the issue behind the actual drama. It may advertise itself to have a truly bonkers plot twist but does nothing with it. By valuing style over substance, The Drama offers little to say about an important issue that deserves more conversation.