The Drama, directed by Kristoffer Borgli, was recently released in theaters worldwide on April 3, 2026. The movie has garnered a lot of attention through it’s nuanced topics of second chances and morality.
The story begins with Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson) completely in love and a week away from their wedding in the midst of writing their wedding speeches. Charlie writes of Emma’s empathy and recalls funny stories from their first meetings while Emma speaks of his intelligence and other anecdotes of the happy couple. The Drama begins however when they are at dinner with their friends, Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim), and the question, “what is the worst thing of you have ever done?” is asked. Mike used an ex-girlfriend as a human shield, Rachel locked a kid in a closet, Charlie cyber-bullied someone, but Emma planned a school shooting when she was in high school, but never executed it. From here, the film follows Charlie and Emma as they grapple with this new information in light of their approaching wedding.
Following the confession, Charlie struggles to cope with what he has learned about Emma’s past. He interrogates her and attempts to rationalize her confession, but when she didn’t have any major reason to plan an atrocity like this, he spirals. Charlie tries to convince himself and Emma that everything is fine and that the wedding could still go on, but when the pressure builds up, he ends up cheating on Emma with a coworker and commits his actual worst action.
The film does an amazing job at proposing the hard questions of “do our worst actions define us?” and “can we give always second chances?” Emma was the only character to not fulfill her worst action, but faces the most extreme reaction from her friends, especially Rachel, who actually locked a mentally disabled child in a closet and left him there overnight, seemingly with no remorse for her actions either. While Emma’s plan to bring a weapon to her high school shouldn’t be diminished, she is depicted as an empathetic person who has grown from the depressed and disturbed girl she was at 15 years old, which leads the audience to question whether she can be forgiven or not.
The movie ends with Emma and Charlie starting over after their gigantic mess of a wedding. Charlie finally forgives her for planning the shooting, and Emma forgives him for cheating on her.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. It was deeply uncomfortable to watch at times, but impossible to look away from. I thought the editing was great and really emphasized the humor in the film, while also adding to tension as it cut from the future, past, and false realities. While it may not appeal to all, the performances and complexity make it an incredible movie. I rate this move 4.2/5 shields.
