'Some will be appalled': The Drama's horrifying twist is set to divide audiences

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's new film about a soon-to-be married couple is a romcom with a disturbing difference. The result is 2026's "first great cinematic conversation-starter".

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson haven't shied away from contentious material in the past, from Zendaya's breakthrough role in Euphoria to Pattinson's role in… well, pretty much everything he's done since the Twilight franchise. But their new film, The Drama, is sure to be the most divisive project to feature either of them. Some viewers will love it, and some will be appalled, despite it being, on one level, a romantic comedy about pre-wedding jitters.

Warning: this article contains major spoilers for The Drama and references to violence which some readers may find distressing

The best way to appreciate The Drama is not to know the details in advance, so don't read on if you want to see it as the film-makers intended. All that the trailers have given away is that Zendaya and Pattinson play a gorgeous young couple, Emma and Charlie, who are a week away from their wedding in Boston when Emma makes an alcohol-fuelled confession. After a few too many wines with their friends Rachel (Alana Haim) and Mike (Mamoudou Athie), Rachel talks them into revealing the worst things they've ever done. This article will reveal it, too, and while the scene is near the beginning of the film, it might be better not to know it at all – so be warned.

Here it is: Emma says that when she was 15, she planned to take a rifle into her Louisiana high school and murder her classmates. She changed her mind, and no one ever guessed how close she came. But she knows what she wanted to do, and now Charlie knows it, too. Can he go ahead with the wedding? Can he take comfort in the fact that Emma committed no actual crime? Or should he run away from someone who may have lingering homicidal urges while he still can?

The Drama isn't the first film to engage with high-school massacres: notable examples are Gus Van Sant's Elephant (2003) and Lynne Ramsay's We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011). The difference here is that Kristoffer Borgli, a Norwegian writer-director, puts the subject in a film which is fundamentally a comedy, the title notwithstanding. The Drama has a taboo-busting Scandinavian sensibility that recalls the provocative social satires of Ruben Östlund (Triangle of Sadness), Lukas Moodysson (Together), and Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round). But as that Scandi gallows humour has been applied to a film with a US setting and two glamorous blockbuster superstars, it's no surprise that there have already been media reports of a backlash against The Drama, even before its release. The father of one of the victims of the Columbine High School massacre told TMZ that the plot point was "awful".

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Viewers will decide for themselves whether the backlash is justified, but the film's risk-taking is a thrill, and it's beautifully made. Some scenes in isolation – especially those before the opening credits – are the stuff of a sparkling, aspirational romcom: Pattinson's character shares his first name, his messy fringe and his taste in eyewear with the hero of Four Weddings and a Funeral, and Pattinson himself has all the diffident English charm of a young Hugh Grant.

Other scenes are the stuff of searing black comedy, and in these it's Haim who stands out, with her furious sarcasm and industrial-strength eye-rolls. Meanwhile, there are sensitive flashbacks that explore why the teenage Emma was drawn to murder, and these are reminiscent of Netflix's award-winning drama on a similar subject, Adolescence.

The question is whether Borgli finds the perfect balance between these different tones. And the answer is: almost, but not quite. The Drama devotes more of its energies to awkward cringe comedy than to the reality of the characters and their feelings. It's ultimately a series of toe-curling, albeit hilarious sketches rather than a wholly convincing narrative, so it's more superficial than its traumatic scenario deserves. For one thing, it's hard to believe that Emma and Charlie would confine themselves to a few faltering chats about her confession, instead of having a proper conversation about it. Still, most people who see The Drama will end up having in-depth debates, even if the characters themselves don't manage it. The first great cinematic conversation-starter of 2026 is here.

The Drama is released in US and UK cinemas on 3 April.

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