Can This Relationship Survive 'The Drama'?
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Can This Relationship Survive 'The Drama'?
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By Ben Elliott
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At the start of The Drama, Emma says a terrible thing.
It’s said in a safe space — a wedding tasting with her fiancée Charlie and their best friends, where they’ve committed to sharing the worst things they’ve ever done. It feels like a silly parlor game because they’ve chosen not to let their bad choices define them, mostly because they’ve never had to face the consequences. But when Emma says her thing, the assured world these young adults have built for themselves is instantly destabilized.
The Drama, 2026The nature of that thing is the carefully guarded secret at the center of this new dark romantic comedy, opening at The Triplex this week. Emma’s (Zendaya) revelation is decidedly not great, but writer director Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) manages to make her the most likable character on screen as everyone else freaks out. We can see the thoughts rattling around Charlie’s (Robert Pattinson) head as he struggles to summon the empathy needed to meet Emma’s admission, quickly sending their wedding prep completely off the rails.
It’s a Preston Sturges-style screwball flailing that brings the movie its laughs while Zendaya’s Emma provides the emotional core. Borgli flips back and forth through Emma’s life by pulling a young Emma (Jordyn Curet) into the present and having Zendaya relive the past, showing that the pain that led to Emma’s very bad thing has been with her the whole time — Charlie is simply too content with his image of her to see the cracks in her carefully constructed façade.
The Drama, 2026It all makes for a bittersweet love story where even the most romantic moments feel acerbic. Borgli is mining dark parts of the American malaise for some very hard laughs, finding his best results when he hones in on the hypocrisy of demanding perfection from others when you’re the product of privilege.
When Charlie is asked about his worst thing, he struggles to answer. His life has been so comfortable that he’s never had to make a bad choice. The drama in The Drama ensues when Charlie realizes that committing to someone means living with their darkness, too — and that all the advantages of his life have left him without the tools to do so.
Showtimes
Showtimes Project Hail Mary | 4:15PM, 7:45PM The Drama | 4:30PM, 8:00PM Super Mario Galaxy | 5:00PM, 7:30PM
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