“The Drama,” A24 studio’s latest project, hit theaters April 3, 2026. The highly anticipated psychological dark drama was full of twists, anxiety-inducing scenes and A24’s classic cinematography. This review will contain spoilers for the movie, so if you find yourself as someone who hasn’t seen the film but wants to, come back after watching.
The film stars two of Hollywood’s most-talked-about actors, with Zendaya (Emma) and Robert Pattinson (Charlie) as the leading couple. The supporting couple, played by Alana Haim (Rachel) from the musical group HAIM, and Mamoudou Athie (Mike), are also essential to the story and don’t disappoint in the embodiment of their characters.
The film is definitely not for the faint of heart; I found myself on the edge of my seat most times, with my heart rate feeling like I had just run a mile. Additionally, I think the movie should come up with warnings about the topics; I watched maybe one trailer and was extremely shocked at some of the topics covered. If you find yourself someone who cringes or experiences second-hand embarrassment easily, like myself, this movie might be extremely painful for you.
The movie opens with a meet-cute between Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson). Charlie is extremely struck by Emma in a coffee shop, so much so that he looks up a book review on what Emma is reading in an attempt to have something to talk to her about. He approaches, a couple of times, she is seemingly ignoring his attempts (which was the first instance of cringe I experienced) and he feels as though everyone in the cafe is judging him. Come to find out, she was deaf in one ear and had an earbud in the other, causing her to literally not hear him. They talk, she gives him a do-over, and we jump to the present.
Something I think the film does well is the time jumps –– when the movie starts, you see the meet-cute, then hop to Charlie writing his wedding speech to Emma.
Between wedding preparations and the building of their relationship, we get to witness Emma and Charlie’s relationship dynamic. Nothing is inherently wrong or weird, but something just feels off to the audience. And Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie) have a similar weird vibe –– not in the same way as Emma and Charlie, but their interactions often leave the audience feeling uncomfortable. The couple, however, are close friends of Emma and Charlie’s, and Rachel and Mike are the maid of honor and best man.
The movie is kind of just like “okay, why am I stressed out over this kind of weird but not super insane or interesting couple getting married,” for a good chunk of the first half of the movie. I mean, yeah, Emma and Charlie have a cute love story and are simultaneously both not particularly charismatic and charming, so why does this movie revolve around them?
This all comes to fruition when the couple and their supporting couple are at a wine tasting for the wedding, just one week ahead of it. The question, “What is the worst thing you have ever done?” comes up, and each person tells their story. Each story is pretty bad, but not outrageous, until Emma is faced with the question.
Emma’s worst thing she has ever done is an extremely bad thing — I won’t say what it is for spoiler purposes, but it is an extremely heavy thing to have said aloud and completely changes everyone’s view of her. The issue is, though, the thing she has done is not something she actually did, but something she planned. So, it begs the question — is she a terrible person? Can we grow from extreme mistakes, or do they define us forever, even if we have done work to bury them?
Rachel definitely thinks so. She lashes out and forces Mike to leave with her. This leaves Emma in shambles, as Rachel is her maid of honor, and leaves Charlie with much to think about.
The rest of the film follows Charlie through what I would call a sort of descent into madness over the moral implications of following through with his upcoming marriage. As for the audience, you can really see him go through something like the stages of grief over whether he can continue with Emma. He questions, researches, talks to Mike and Rachel, and even asks his coworker what the worst thing she had done — and proceeds to do that with her.
All of Charlie’s mental battle happens between flashbacks of Emma’s almost-terrible thing that she did, which keeps the audience in both shock and on the edge of their seat.
As for the wedding, it is only what I can call a disaster, and the second-hand embarrassment and feeling of discomfort is extremely prevalent.
The movie ends with a somewhat up-for-interpretation ending, and I don’t know if I could say what I think happened after it ends. But maybe that’s for the best.
In all, “The Drama” is extremely anxiety-inducing, but it’s the kind of train wreck you can’t really look away from. I don’t know that I exactly enjoyed it, but I thought it was an extremely well-executed film.
As with many A24 films, the cinematography and coloration of the film are beautiful. The craftsmanship that comes with the time jumps, situational timing and pacing of the film is something that is very well done, and the music is perfectly placed. This is often something that A24 achieves — extremely shocking or otherwise taboo issues, topics or situations that are combatted with top-notch filming. The writing is well-done — there are a lot of callbacks to things that you would have paid no attention to that are actually essential to the storyline.
Overall, I don’t know if I can recommend “The Drama.” The topics covered are extreme and almost feel like they shouldn’t have been a topic of conversation for A24 to jump into. Zendaya and Robert Pattinson acted well, and the film itself –– aside from the topic/content of it –– was executed well. If you are a cinephile or want to deeply analyze a film for meaning, this could be the film for you, but otherwise, it’s definitely not a “I’m bored with my friends. Let’s go see ‘The Drama,’” type of movie.