The Drama Movie Review (2026)

A romantic dramedy about a couple confronting the anxieties threatening to reshape their relationship, The Drama favors symbolism over realism, creating an ambitious and stylistically fascinating experience that’s more visually absorbing than emotionally engaging.

I have to admit – when this was released, I was not interested. I like both Zendaya and Robert Pattinson enough, but they’ve been everywhere recently. The idea of watching a romance that revolves around them was just not it for me. It was a movie that I added to my watchlist, but I hadn’t planned to watch anytime soon. And that’s where my son came in. He had watched the movie and wanted to discuss it, so I hit play.

The Drama is about Emma and Charlie, a couple who have met, fallen in love, and are planning their wedding. While at dinner with their best friends one night, each person makes a confession about their past, and one confession leads to the questioning of their upcoming marriage.

This movie is not at all what I thought it would be, and for that reason, it’s going to be hard for me to discuss it with you. Not because there isn’t lots to discuss, but because saying anything that is deeper than surface level will be a disservice to anyone who hasn’t watched it yet. But I’ll do my best within those protections for anyone reading.

The Drama is a unique blend of drama, comedy, and psychological thriller. With a very quick cadence of visual and musical beats that move you from one moment to the next, it almost feels as if someone is composing in the background. That is what a director does, but Kristoffer Borgli (who also directed Dream Scenario) makes it feel different. Other. Not good, not bad, but dreamlike and expressionistic as opposed to something more straightforward.

This is an emotionally complex film that will have you feeling all of the feels, but primarily discomfort. With the haunting flute notes and lots of symbolic imagery that both you and another character see in their imagination, it’s a cinematic feat. It does the job that it sets out to do.

Both Robert Pattinson and Zendaya do excellent work in this movie, and it does ask a lot of them. The subject matter is mature, and I’ve never seen it addressed quite this way, so they work outside the box, and they both rise to the occasion.

For the record, I highly recommend not reading much about this movie before watching it. The Drama is stylistically inventive and quite the ride from beginning to end. It also keeps you detached from most emotions about and for the characters, but this feels like the filmmakers’ choice. To make the movie they were looking for, your feelings had to be more global than specific. You’ll see what I mean.

Runtime: 105 minutes

Motion Picture Rating: R

Languages Spoken In The Film: English

Should You Watch It? Yes

Did I Cry? Nope

My Rating: 3.25/5 Stars

Available: Free on Hulu and Max, to rent on Prime Video, or may be available for free on other streaming platforms