The Drama

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

Young couple Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) are getting ready to get married, with their wedding just a few days away. Ahead of the wedding, they find themselves discussing, with  friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie), the worst things they have ever done. But when one of them reveals a secret that no one expected, it threatens to not only derail the wedding, but to damage friendships and relationships along the way.

This is a darkly comic story that looks at the way we judge the actions of others, what we feel is right and wrong and whether any mitigation can justify actions and thoughts in the eyes of others. There is also explorations of the impact of loneliness and gun violence. A smart premise, packaged up in a sometimes funny, sometimes farcical, sometimes sad story, which while not wholly successful, is still interesting and engaging enough.

At the heart of what works with The Drama is its two likeable leads in Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, both believable and layered in the portrayals of two people coming to terms with uncomfortable truths. They are well supported by Alana Haim,  and Mamoudou Athie.

The story is for the most part entertainingly told although it does feel a little stodgy in its middle act, ahead of a final act that dips into entertaining farce.

It’s a film that does ask some interesting questions of its audience, especially in its central premise of what we feel is acceptable as a “terrible act” and how we, as individuals , judge the “terrible” scale. And what happens when we don’t deal honestly with the past at how it impacts our today.