The Drama

 It’s been a few weeks now since The Drama came out, which is probably enough time for its “big twist” to become public knowledge. I guess it’s about as good as time to check it out, so let’s do it.

Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario) introduces us to Charlie (Robert Pattinson) and Emma (Zendaya) as they “meet cute” at a Boston Coffee Shop. A few years later, it’s T-Minus one week before their wedding. Charlie has writers block over his big speech, but that pales in comparison to its big twist. That comes during a night out with fellow couple Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie), the maid of honor and best man respectively. Rachel proposes that they all share their worst deeds. 

Mike’s ex provoked a stray dog, so he used her as a human shield. Charlie “might’ve” cyberbullied a classmate out of town. Rachel locked a “slow” neighbor in an abandoned RV for days. Emma planed a school shooting, but ultimately backed out for …

Wait, what?!

The big twist touches a raw nerve for Rachel, whose cousin Sam (Anna Baryshnikov) was paralyzed in an actual attack. Charlie crumbles under the weight of Emma’s potential dark side. Mike is just there, though he's a good guy. Anyway, everyone’s just going to have to get through the week, somehow. But will Charlie and Emma even have a happily wedded life afterwards? Yeah, that twist is a lot to take in, isn't it?

Besides the twist, we also have Borgli & Joshua Raymond Lee’s disorienting editing style to consider. It likes to jump back and forth between time in short bursts. It also likes to make us question if we’re watching reality or proverbial imagination. It’s definitely the latter, for instance, when Charlie imagines the younger Emma (Jordyn Curet) in the present one’s place (I don’t know why). They and the audience are haunted by disturbing hallucinations, including a wedding day shooting. It’s such a chronological frenzy that, when the big day happens, I was briefly unsure if it was for real. Its narrative unease is accentuated by a stellar technical crew, especially composer Daniel Pemberton, cinematographer Arseni Khachaturan and the sound designers.

Amongst the main four, I found Emma to be the most sympathetic. While Rachel was very justified in being upset, Emma was the only one at the table who was remotely remorseful for her actions (everyone else, including Rachel, brushed theirs off with essentially "we were young and stupid."). She ultimately backed out of her plot for a somewhat selfish reason, though a little more narrative tissue could've easily strengthened it. Still, there are some great laughs when an uncooperative computer disrupts her filming her manifesto. She and Charlie also have some great chemistry together, especially during the bittersweet, yet hopeful ending.

What else do we have here? There's a wedding photographer who frames a session with a very unfortunate choice of words. Sam, in her only real scene, shares it with Charlie, and they're pretty good together. Misha (Hailey Gates), Charlie's co-worker, is quite sympathetic when she gets roped into this mess. Her boyfriend, Blake (Michael Abbott Jr.), factors into the wedding's disastrous conclusion. Charlie, by himself, gets his best scene when he atones for another misdeed and defends Emma during his big speech. Yeah, I think that's it.

So, do you want to RSVP to The Drama? It's not an easy film to like, especially with its big twist, but its hopeful finale might make it worth it. Sure, you probably might have other ways to spend 106-minutes, and I'll let you RSVP to those. As for me, I have to get through more reviews. The month is almost done, and this is my second?! Let's get going!