The Drama
- Apr 3
- 3 min read
If you love dark, dark comedy wedded to smart drama, accept your invitation today to THE DRAMA.
An acting showcase for Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, the film is unlike anything I've seen on screen in some time. Writer/Director Kristoffer Borgoli is an original voice, serving up the type of comedic/dramatic meld I haven't seen since Woody Allen's brilliant 1989 film, "Crimes and Misdemeanors". Since that's nearly 40 years ago, it's safe to say the Borgoli is treading very new ground for a couple generations.
His actors are up to the task.
Pattinson (The Batman, Inception) is Charlie, a successful Museum curator who falls in love at first sight at a Manhattan coffee shop. His meet-cute with Emma (Zendaya, showing incredible range) is the only traditional part of the story, but even details of that meeting will echo strongly later in the film.
The film's structure is intriguing as hell, popping back and forth in time, a little at first, then more dramatically. Charlie and Emma's courtship and dating is a whirlwind and they set a date to get married. The film focuses in on the week of the wedding. There are menus to be finalized, last minute flower picks and a DJ situation that never seems quite settled.
The couple sit down to finalize their menu with Charlie's best friends Rachel (Alana Haim from PTA's "Licorice Pizza") and her husband Mike (Mamoudou Athie from Jurassic World: Dominion). The four taste the final wedding menu choices, drink wine, laugh a lot, drink some more wine and then play a spur-of-the-moment game.
It's basically a challenge to share the worst thing you've ever done in your life.
Mike goes first, with Rachel goading him on and saying she's going to spill his secret if he doesn't. His secret is awkward but kind of funny. Rachel goes next, hers is a bit more twisted. Charlie agonizes to come up with much of anything.
Then a very drunken Emma spills hers.
NO SPOILERS here about her secret or any details of what happens next.
But what a fascinating thing Borgoli does with Emma's reveal.
It turns perception of who Emma is on its head. For Charlie, for Rachel and for you as the viewer. What would you do if you were Charlie?
Borgoli threads a needle for the rest of the film, delivering BIG laughs at the most unexpected and awkward moments. His dialogue is tailored to every character. He plays loose with time and weaves in fantasy sequences and real memories.
Pattinson is brilliant at playing a man whose world is suddenly turned inside out and upside down. Haim is stellar, stealing every scene she's in. Her Rachel is loud, transparent and has no poker face. Between this film, "Licorice Pizza"and "One Battle After Another", Haim is carving out a very respectable acting niche. She's never predictable and always fascinating to watch on the big screen.
Athie is our solid, more relatable core of the story, caught in-between his wife and his best friend, trying to find some middle ground that's safe.
Borgoli offers no safe quarter for the viewer.
I loved the ride and had NO idea where it was going.
I really vibed with the story structure, with Borgoli's screenplay and the editing by Borgoli and Joshua Raymond Lee serving up a very unconventional take on a modern rom-com.
I have to call out Zoe Winters (The Materialists) as Frances the wedding photographer. Her photo session with Charlie and Emma a couple days after Emma reveals her secret, with the couple struggling, is laugh-out-loud funny. Winters facial expressions are a thing of legend.
THE DRAMA lives somewhere closer to a horror film than a comedy, but that doesn't mean it isn't very funny in shotgun like bursts.
This is a wild ride, a romance that goes off the rails and then some. Will they survive to the wedding? How well do you really know your spouse? Is there anyway to take back powerful words you wish had not been spoken?
Questions abound, but many I would ask might give something away, and I refuse to do that. The less you know going in, the better.
After the wild ride is about to pull into the station, Borgoli managed to truly surprise me with an ending that's somehow flawless. That's not easy to do when you are carving out a modern take as wild as this. He's one to watch.
Zendaya has laughed that audiences are going to get sick of her by the end of 2026 with all the films she has coming out. No we won't Zendaya, not when you are turning in performances like this. Talk about complicated.
Pattinson matches her stride for stride, offering up a hell of a starring pair.
RSVP for THE DRAMA asap. It gets an A from this entertained and surprised table in the back corner of the reception.
R-Rated trailer below.
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