[FILM REVIEW] THE DRAMA Review (2026)

April 30, 2026 Dave

Summary: A happily-engaged couple is put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails.

Year: 2026

Cinema Release Dates: 2nd April 2026 (Australia), 23rd April 2026 (Thailand), 3rd April 2026 (UK), 3rd April 2026 (USA)

VOD Release Dates: TBA

Country: USA

Director: Kristoffer Borgli

Screenwriter: Kristoffer Borgli

Cast: Michael Abbott Jr. (Blake), Mamoudou Athie (Mike), Anna Baryshnikov (Sam), Doria Bramante (Imogene), Ken Cheeseman (Alan), Greer Cohen (Grace), Jordyn Curet (Young Emma), Willa Darian (Mrs. Murphy), Hailey Gates (Misha), Hannah Gross (Alice), Damon Gupton (Roger), Alana Haim (Rachel), Sydney Lemmon (Pauline), Jeremy Levick (Ivan), Dee Nelson (Jill), Robert Pattinson (Charlie), Michele Proude (Sarah), Jordan Raf (Carson), Zoe Winters (Frances), Zendaya (Emma)

Running Time: 120 mins

Classification: MA15+ (Australia), 15+ (Thailand), 15 (UK), R (USA)

OUR THE DRAMA REVIEWS

David Griffiths and Kyle McGrath’s The Drama Review

David Griffiths’s written The Drama review can be found in Subculture Magazine.

The weeks leading up to a couple’s wedding can be stressful for sure. There’s so much to organise, there can be family tensions and fights. But for the couple themselves they should be united together more than at any other point. I mean the golden “Honeymoon period” hasn’t even started yet!

Well for fiancés Emma (Zendaya) & Charlie (Robert Pattinson) the big day is quickly approaching. They’ve got plans to finalise and check lists to tick off. All while writing their speeches to be read out in front of all their friends and families at the reception. Charlie plans to talk about how loving, caring, empathetic his bride is and how their first meeting was like something from a romantic comedy. But things take a turn when a simple game of truth reveals a dark secret from Emma’s past.

The shock of the revelation doesn’t wear off. The best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie) is rattled but the maid of honour, Rachel (Alana Haim) is infuriated. Charlie doesn’t know what to think and struggles to reconcile this person he loves with this new reality of who she always was. But is she still that person? Meanwhile Emma at the centre of it is horrified that she potentially has let her past completely derail her future and there may be no way to “un-do” this before the “I Do’s”.

Out there writer-director Kristoffer Borgli follows up his bizarre, nightmarish yet hilarious film ‘Dream Scenario’. Last time he tackled cancel culture in a way looking at someone being held to task for something they had no control over. With The Drama he explores the subject again but with a much more personal twist, asking the question can we look past someone’s….well, “past”!

The Drama is a tricky film to explore in review for how much of a conversation piece it actually is. Revealing the central dilemma of the film’s plot overall feels like kind of a spoiler despite how early on the details of Emma’s past are revealed in the film. So the best way I can describe this film’s “Big Chill” moment is imagine if your loved one or best friend revealed something which completely changed your opinion of them as a person.

In a politically charged time let’s imagine your loved one voted for Trump or Harris or whatever the opposite of what you believe. Or your pro-choice partner was involved in an abortion in the past or they voted “No” in Australia’s latest referendum. None of these things scrape the surface of ‘The Drama’s heel turn. So imagine those disagreements and multiply several times and you get the position those closest to Emma find themselves in!

Yet that’s what makes the film so interesting because Emma IS a different person now. Your opinion of her might also change based on your own personal leanings and beliefs. Emma’s friends all believe themselves to be upstanding, empathetic people and yet where is this empathy when they actually find themselves in discomfort?

The cast are great, even when in at least Pattinson’s case he may feel miscast. Just off the bat(man) Robert Pattinson & Zendaya make a gorgeous couple. Both extremely photogenic and full of personality when times are good. But oh how quickly a photoshoot can turn into a painfully cringe inducing experience when they don’t have something to smile about. Zendaya’s character of Emma, her past and her transformation to the blushing bride is well explored.

Yet despite much of the film actually being Charlie’s story Pattinson’s past feels a little underdeveloped. He’s just so damn handsome that it’s hard to see him as the sheepish pussy he’s portrayed as. Pattinson plays the part wonderfully but I wish Borgli’s script went more into why he is the way he is. The film dives wholeheartedly into the minds eye of the love bird’s. With flashbacks and imagined realities or reactions playing out visually for the audience. This can be messy sometimes with no real difference between the two, but more it’s a missed opportunity to provide some background for Charlie.

There is a lot of dark comedy to The Drama as well. It’s one of those films where the awkwardness of the entire scenario is what carries most of the laughs as Borgli takes us into some uncomfortable territory. Interestingly you may find character’s reactions to Emma’s backstory more egregiously scummy than what Emma is accused of herself. Alana Haim in particular really deserves credit here for the character of Rachel being….just such a bitch!

I can’t lie however, I didn’t find The Drama anywhere near as amusing a black comedy as Dream Scenario. The gag plays itself out by the film’s end but the wedding plans going up in smoke is still a car wreck you can’t look away from! The movie raises some fascinating questions as well about just how much do you love the love of your life and whether you could see yourself turning tail and running the other way in the right (or wrong) circumstances. Whether Emma’s sins are really that bad or whether it’s an overreaction. Just be sure however that if you’re going to play a game of “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done” with anybody that you’re OK with hearing the answer, and them hearing the same!

David’s rating Out Of 5