"The Drama" begins as any rom-com would, amidst the jitters of wedding planning and the recounting of adorable first impressions and embarrassing dates, but director Kristoffer Borgli’s 2026 film, starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, is anything but an ordinary rom-com.
After drawing the viewer into an admittedly hilarious yet unoriginal setting, Borgli disorients the viewers with a twist so unexpected that it offsets any previous expectations. A week before the wedding, Zendaya’s character, Emma, reveals the worst thing she has ever done: upending the relational dynamics between her fiancé, coworkers and friends.
Borgli excels at communicating the character’s complex emotions throughout. The film will make you laugh, cover your face or shake with anxiety when it wants to. This is in part due to the wonderful Pattinson and Zendaya, who deliver unquestionably witty and thoughtful performances. Their emotions are complicated and profound, and the viewer sees it in every facial expression. As Emma and Charlie, the fiancés, return home after the confession, the viewer feels Emma’s shame and fear alongside Charlie’s love and confusion. Up until the final scene, the tension of their internal battles is palpable, and their relationship is fully realized.
What the characters feel, you feel, also in part to Borgli’s wonderful direction. An immense amount of attention is spent showing the audience what the characters see, to show them what they feel, through intense closeups, shots of details otherwise unnoticed, or occasionally showing a metaphor of emotion and thought. It is a thin rope to walk while letting performances shine, and keeping the audience engaged, but it is done well.
While the film is hilarious, it is also deeply uncomfortable and the subject of Emma’s admission dilutes the film’s central question: Are we better than our worst moments?
Without spoiling anything, the material is difficult to process and is potentially trivialized. Intentionally horrifying images, while treated seriously by the characters, are surrounded by physical and cringe comedy. The nature of Emma’s confession unintentionally widens the scope of the film past what the audience and the script can process. The result is a set of questions outside the primary argument of "The Drama" that are never fully addressed.
While Borgli’s ambition outpaces the script, "The Drama" is thoroughly entertaining while asking thought-provoking questions. While not a masterpiece, I would like to see more films like it, and would highly recomend it to viewers that enjoy well-made, yet challenging, films.
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