R | 1h 45m | Comedy, Drama | 2026
“The Drama,” starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, is the story of a pending marriage that’s shaken to the core when one partner, during a parlor game of “Tell everyone your worst secret,” reveals something extremely disturbing about her past.
Since the secret has to do with a uniquely American societal disease, Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli commits a bit of a cultural gaffe by heavy-handedly presenting us Americans with this particular explosive issue. It’s especially jarring for a romcom-y story that begins with a coffeeshop meet-cute. Then again, maybe that was his intention.
Museum Curator Falls for Literary Editor
Charlie (Pattinson), an exceptionally geeky young man, works up the nerve to chat up model-y looking Emma (Zendaya) in a coffeeshop. He rushes over while she’s on a bathroom break, photographs and googles the book she’s reading, and then later saunters over and pretends he’s read it. They quickly appear to be headed for the proverbial happily-ever-after.
The devastating reveal occurs when Emma and Charlie meet with a couple they’ve become friends with: Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim of the pop-rock band HAIM).
After collective inebriation, Rachel suggests the truth-or-dare-like game where each of them must say what the worst thing they’ve ever done is. Emma’s revelation shocks everyone, turns Rachel vehemently hostile, and none of them can unsee the visuals conjured in their minds. They all wax increasingly judgmental.
Doesn’t Achieve Whatever It Was the Director Intended
We flashback to Emma’s bullied teenage years (played by Jordyn Curet). We get why that character started thinking the way she did, but there’s a huge, real-world disconnect between that awkward, unpopular girl, and the charismatic, willowy, and hilarious megastar that is Zendaya—who she’s supposed to have grown up into. Is it bad acting or bad casting? It’s bad casting. One’s subconscious automatically rejects the whole premise, which causes a breakdown in the suspension of disbelief.
The other casting faux pas is square-jawed Pattinson delivering a disheveled, stammering, halting performance—Charlie’s an annoying, wishy-washy, emotional basket case of a beta-male. To be fair, Pattinson plays against type fairly well. But again, one’s subconscious isn’t buying that his beautifully model-esque girlfriend would put up with two minutes of this ineffectual nervous wreck.
The main problem is that we understand that, while Emma contemplated and flirted with a very heinous deed, it was ultimately, as she pointed out, a trying on of trends—the type of thing teens do in those formative years—to figure out who they are. No harm came of it, and she moved on to become a successful, sensitive, and kind individual. So what’s Charlie’s problem? Charlie’s an idiot, is the problem. His overreaction just serves to make the film’s central premise ring rather hollow. The annoyingly hyperactive and dissonant flute-heavy soundtrack doesn’t help matters.
Just Not Funny
The whole business moves toward a big wedding scene that features a smorgasbord of excruciating conflict that’s intended to be comedic, but which ends up being mostly wince-worthily discordant.
Some directors display phenomenal talent for telling American stories better than Americans themselves. The Chinese Ang Lee (“The Hulk”) and the British Steve McQueen (“Twelve Years a Slave”) come to mind. “The Drama” is an example of a foreigner trying to tell an American tale but being largely tone-deaf to the culture.
‘The Drama’
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Starring: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie
MPAA Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Release Date: April 3, 2026
Rating: 2 1/2 stars out of 5
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