Movie Review | The Drama

The Drama (Photo – A24)

Early in The Drama, a couple “meet cute” in a Manhattan coffee shop over a book called The Damage, which serves no further purpose in the plot except to signpost what is to come.

The Drama
Directed by Kristoffer Borgli – 2026
Reviewed by Garrett Rowlan

Damage is the undercurrent of this hybrid comedy-melodrama, unlike anything playing in theaters now.

The movie is about the run-up to a wedding, the mishaps and stresses that lead to the big day, something difficult enough on its own, but further complicated by a revelation from one of the characters that threatens to derail the ceremony.

As the plot walks a line between comedy and something darker, reflecting the stresses of modern life, I found the funny moments sometimes shading into cringe. The observations of writer, director, and co-editor Kristoffer Borgli struck a range of reactions.

What I found most effective was the way the movie taps into current concerns—mental health, social media, and violence—and how these forces touch the characters in unexpected ways.

I thought about Robert Altman’s A Wedding, an edgy drama from 1971, though one less shaped by the stresses of modern life than The Drama. I also found echoes of 2004’s Sideways, about a bachelor fling before a wedding that threatens the nuptials.

“A wedding is performative in nature,” a dance instructor tells the couple when they bristle at the formal steps she wants them to learn. Increasingly, the film becomes about just that: performance, or pretense, as seen in the forced smiles of a difficult photo session, a DJ fired for smoking heroin, and the falling-out among friends after the plot-twist revelation.

Movies like this may be a hard sell in our current escapist environment, but Robert Pattinson (unshaven, confused, and a little seedy) and Zendaya (not the kickass warrior from Dune 2, but a woman struggling with a difficult, damaged past) bring star power to the leading roles. I did notice the producers hedging their bets a bit with product placement—Coke, a Patagonia shirt, Nikes—slipped into the film.

As I left the theater, I found myself thinking that a movie like this, made years ago, might have been more farcical, more gentle, less bruised by the culture it depicts. Still, I was grateful for this film and the hard squint it brings to a tiny corner of our world.

> Playing at Landmark Pasadena Playhouse, Regal Paseo, Regency Academy Cinemas, IPIC Theaters, Regal Edwards Alhambra Renaissance, AMC Atlantic Times Square 14, AMC Santa Anita 16, Regal UA La Canada, and AMC The Americana at Brand 18.