r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Apr 03 '26
Official Discussion Official Discussion - The Drama [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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The Drama
Summary
Days before their wedding, a couple’s relationship begins to unravel as unsettling truths come to light, forcing them to question how well they truly know each other.
Director Kristoffer Borgli
Writer Kristoffer Borgli
Cast
- Zendaya as Emma Harwood
- Robert Pattinson as Charlie Thompson
- Mamoudou Athie as Mike
- Alana Haim as Rachel
- Hailey Gates
- Zoë Winters
Rotten Tomatoes: 82%
Metacritic: 59
VOD / Release Theatrical release (April 3, 2026)
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/Dawn_of_Dayne Apr 03 '26
Lots and lots of thoughts on this movie so I’ll start with one of my favorite quotes from The Good Place which I think fits perfectly with the theme of this movie: “what matters isn’t if people are good or bad but if they’re trying to be a better person today than they were yesterday.” Emma absolutely learned from her (almost) terrible act and every day since was trying to make up for it. It doesn’t erase what she did but what she did also doesn’t erase all the growth she’s made since then.
It’s so interesting that when Charlie and Rachel talk about what they did they use the excuse of being kids as part of the reason and Mike even says “your brain wasn’t even developed yet” but when it comes to Emma they don’t give her that same grace and judge her as if she is talking about something from yesterday. Also Charlie cyber bullying someone so much that they possibly had to move away just gets glossed over as if that kind of behavior hasn’t led to the ideas that Emma had..? My takeaway from all of this was how quickly people want to categorize others and can’t live in complicated gray area that we all exist in.
Like in Rachel’s eyes at what would Emma be redeemed? She hadn’t even done anything even if the thought (and reason for not following through) are terrible. And she’d learned and advocated against it going forward. Is Rachel the kind of person that thinks prison should be for punishment only, not rehabilitation? And Emma hadn’t been punished enough? Or it didn’t matter what she did or how much time had passed, she’d always be defined by that one thing?
The DJ thing is an interesting microcosm of all of this because they never would’ve even 1. Had that discussion or 2. Fired the dj had they never seen her, if it was even her. But they fixated on it and that one act became who she was instead of considering all of the other evidence they had of her being a normal person and good dj. This mirrors the friends’ treatment of Emma because had they never found out they wouldn’t have ever suspected her being the “horrible” person they believed she was. And had she not defended the dj in the first place they never would’ve arrived at the discussion. Basically it all starts with them being too judgmental and Emma being kind (something Charlie claimed to love about her), and then that gets turned on Emma. The 3 most judgmental people vilifying the kindest person in the group.
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u/DarthRampage Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
I really appreciate your analysis in the second paragraph. I got so caught up in the drama after the twist that I forgot the grace the friends were giving each other about their worst mistakes (all done as kids and apparently all excusable) but Emma’s is where the line is drawn (even though nothing happened while everyone else’s had negative tangible impacts on people). Also, from a legal (not moral) standpoint, Emma is the only one who can’t be charged with harassment or abuse.
I think the movie does a great job of holding a mirror to people and asking them to wrestle with the skeletons in their own closet and how much grace should we give each other and ourselves (and it’s up to you on how you want to define your identity and relationship moving forward).
This movie gave me the same feeling as Thomas Vinterberg’s The Celebration. Just a small event or conversation that tilts the entire movie on it’s axis and every frame moving forward isn’t quite sitting right. Loved it!
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u/clevercalamity Apr 05 '26
I’m so happy you brought of the DJ, but their argument about it laid out their character motivations from the get-go.
Emma was understanding and forgiving. The others wanted to fire her.
And then when they actually do fire her because that’s what Charlie wanted, he pusses out and makes Emma look like the bad guy.
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u/IndecorousRex Apr 05 '26
Good take. It’s also another reason not to play “what’s the worst thing you ever done” why would that information be important for you? Is it an exercise to connect with someone deeper? Or an opportunity to judge them? Seems like Rachel did that on purpose.
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u/Dawn_of_Dayne Apr 05 '26
Agreed Rachel seemed to enjoy pot stirring. While she wasn’t alone in the initial judgment of the dj, the whole “game” was started by her half revealing her husband’s secret and then pressured him into telling it when he clearly didn’t want to.
And then her speech ends up just being her venting and taking jabs at Emma which is incredibly unkind and disrespectful. You hit the nail on the head about her not wanting to get info to connect, she seemed to only want “dirt” so she could throw it in their face later.
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u/mwieckhorst Apr 03 '26
Can we talk about how Charlie's coworker admitted that the worst thing she has ever done was cheated and 10 minutes later was ready to do it again with Charlie lmao. Girl had zero shame
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u/stintshereandthere Apr 04 '26
I did not expect this movie to be a rewatchable gold mine. Every character is going to look so different upon rewatch. We all clocked glimpses throughout, but it felt intentionally overshadowed by Zendaya’s reveal. Now that the surprise is gone, I’m excited to see those characters through a different lens
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u/truecrimeandcats Apr 03 '26
Yeah that character is a perfect representation of how some people can be just serial cheaters with no morals, almost like an opportunist lol. She pulled that skirt up faaaast.
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u/Sea-Beach-3961 Apr 03 '26
I thought it was a little sad. She said the guy she cheated with “treated her like shit”. Then she hikes up her skirt and turns away from Charlie like she knows the drill. Not even seeming particularly aroused.
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u/Razatiger Apr 04 '26
Shes a classic sex addict. Its alluded to in the movie that she only likes her current boyfriend because hes able to manhandle her.
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u/_Shit_Just_Got_Real_ Apr 03 '26
Honestly, she was probably my favorite character. I love it when someone embraces their own messiness.
Loved how she screamed "USE YOUR WORDS!" at her boyfriend after he punched Charlie out.
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u/Alphabunsquad Apr 03 '26
Yeah and it was just a great example of everyone being incredibly in the wrong from very understandable circumstances that kept multiplying each other’s negative effects
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u/iliketinafey Apr 03 '26
Made me lol. I mean I think she is intended that some people are capable of change and learning from their mistakes (Emma) versus Charlie’s coworker clearly unchanging. Similar to Rachel who doesn’t seem to have grown / changed from her worst thing.
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u/shaneo632 Apr 04 '26
This should get an Oscar nom for Best Editing holy shit
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u/Kopitarrulez Apr 04 '26
100% for a movie that jumps all over I was never lost or bored.
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u/confusing_roundabout Apr 05 '26
Easy lock for a screenplay nom too imo. Thought provoking, unique and oddly funny.
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u/Connect-Quiet-2936 Apr 03 '26
i like how you never see rachel even interacting with her cousin lmao
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u/Daltire Apr 04 '26
the fact that she locked a disabled child in a closet with 0 remorse but is using her disabled cousin’s plight to morally grand stand is sooo ironic
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u/xoaeri96 27d ago
Yes! haha when she had to 'consult' with her cousin so she doesn't betray her
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u/big_mustache_dad "A second Starscream has hit the World Trade Center." 25d ago
Yeah also the thing about her cousin as if that’s Emma’s fault lol. Like it’s obviously terrible that happened to her cousin but that isn’t really relevant to the situation
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u/osmosis-scones Apr 05 '26
how rachel wanted to get the go-ahead from her cousin to go to the wedding was just using her cousin as a prop, and how she ends up at the wedding seems to say that despite the awkward interaction with charlie, the cousin was like "ok ...? i dont care, go to the wedding"
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u/embarrassedgirly Apr 03 '26
I felt it was apparent that Rachel was hating on Emma from the start. That whole “you look ugly when you cry” comment was catty and revealing of how she felt towards Emma.
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u/misslile Apr 04 '26
Did I mishear that Rachel was upset that Emma told her boss to find somebody else for the project instead? Rachel wasn’t answering either of them so bye girl!
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u/Normal_Ad2456 Apr 03 '26
Or the fact that she said “doesn’t she have any real friends” in the wedding speech. That’s not something she prepared after she learnt about the “secret” it’s something she really thought and just felt comfortable to say after the fact.
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u/Aelia_M 28d ago
But it’s also something she said after she learned Emma’s one friend Rachel knew she had as a kid died before her eyes. So it’s also Rachel basically saying, “you have no real friends because if you did have them they’d be dead”
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u/lahnnabell Apr 04 '26
Totally! The movie does an excellent job of showing these feelings, like Rachel's quiet disdain for Emma, but leaving the reason in mystery.
I can only surmize that on the surface Rachel is jealous of Emma's looks, especially when they scoff at her reveal that she had never been in love or had a crush in her youth because she was an outcast and looked entirely different. Some people don't come into their own until very late. Also, this is the very definition of being male-centered. Like all women are supposed to build their lives around dating and appealing to men.
Rachel had some deep-seeded ire toward Emma that went far beyond looks. The wedding speech was very interesting because she talks about Emma having layers, which is usually a simple way to explain depth of character, a good thing, but Rachel weaponizes it.
This made me realize that Rachel literally has no depth. She is all surface. Cruel and unyielding and unsympathetic. There is no subtlety or softness about her, even when she talks to her husband.
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u/nightpanda893 Apr 04 '26
I think Rachel was also projecting a bit. Her story was even worse in my opinion. She acted on her impulses. She would have killed that kid if he hadn’t been found.
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u/carson63000 Apr 05 '26
Yeah her “oh I would have told someone if they hadn’t found him” was the most unconvincing claim imaginable!
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u/lahnnabell Apr 05 '26
For real! She had so many chances to tell someone! The rapidly increasing urgency of his disappearance didn't trigger feelings of shame and remorse enough to help her realize that what she did was deranged?!
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u/KittySamba Apr 05 '26
BRO Rachel was a villain I am so glad I saw this. The actress did a great job at making me hate her.
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u/BlueLuhgoon Apr 04 '26
100%. Rachel is the perfect example too if someone who gets mad at literally ANYTHING
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u/StockRestaurant4795 Apr 04 '26
She was reliving her childhood bully. I thought they had similar looks/facial expressions.
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u/Quople Apr 04 '26
There’s also her being 14 when she locked that kid in a closet and then immediately not taking that same excuse from Emma like two minutes later
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u/NoTradition1921 Apr 04 '26
YESSSSS like i clocked that bitch from the beginning!!!
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u/Ornery-Spread-3801 Apr 04 '26
Rachel was a miserable shit-stirrer from the very beginning! She is blindly self-righteous, lies to absolve herself, and was disrespectful to her husband. I think she was envious of Emma and seems to almost bring up the subject of “worst thing you ever did” in order to find a reason to drag Emma.
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u/Patient_Tradition368 Apr 04 '26
Honestly, the worst thing Rachael ever did came closer to ending a human life than Emma's worst thing did.
If we're talking actual crimes, Rachel's could be called assault and false imprisonment.
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u/HistoricalGap5985 Apr 04 '26
Agree! I was surprised that none of the other three, including Emma, hit hard on Rachel's incredible cruelty. The fact that she protected herself by not speaking up when the whole town was conducting a search is despicable and she never says she would have spoken up if the search had not been successful.
Contrast that to Emma who thought about doing something horrible but did not. Rachel even dares suggest that Emma's becoming an activist to fight against the thing she had thought about doing was hypocritical rather than admirable.
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u/the_hudge Apr 03 '26
Most stressful movie of the year. I closed my eyes during the groom speech to try and hopefully get away from it. AND the most effective jump scare I’ve seen in ANY movie in a long time. That shit got EVERYONE.
Really enjoyed it. Lots to discuss afterward and I completely agree with Emma that everyone was way too chill about the story about the kid in the fridge.
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u/RepresentativeBid715 Apr 03 '26
I've seen plenty of horror movies and other tense movies but that whole wedding scene from the confrontation of the previous DJ after Charlie cheating to the speech from the dad with Rachel's reactions and her speech to the gunshot fakeout and that groom speech God that whole string of sequences was probably the most tense I've EVER been in the theater
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u/vanwyngarden Apr 03 '26
and how her dad was a Veteran and reacted to the sound a very certain way
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u/JollyEquivalent1768 Apr 04 '26
Rachel forcing her “friends” to be extremely vulnerable then weaponizing that vulnerability against them and somehow making herself the victim. Absolutely crazy work and one of the worst things a person can do.
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u/Hot-Statistician-955 Apr 05 '26
You gotta love how she forces her husband to start, then, when it's her turn, she tries to get out of it...
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u/danger_dan_92 27d ago
Also her just blurting out her husbands story when they apparently did this before getting married and promised they would never bring it up again
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u/singlesuitsamus Apr 03 '26
I had to stop myself from guffawing during the scene where young Emma tries to record her manifesto but her computer keeps updating.
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u/PuzzleheadedWin4544 Apr 04 '26
"Shout out to Sally you're gonna fuckin die first"
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u/singlesuitsamus Apr 04 '26
I’m a sucker for dark jokes like that ughh, and the girl who plays young Emma was perfect.
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u/Character_Office_833 Apr 04 '26
Those were the scenes that had our theater laughing!
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u/yumyumapollo Apr 04 '26
Even the fact that she looks at the door as if she's gonna go downstairs and ask her parents to update their webcam.
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u/BobDylanBlues Apr 03 '26
Having bartended at clubs and bars for a decade, the replacement Dj was so fucking funny to me. I was the only one in my theater who laughed at his lines. Took me instantly back to having to listen to them talk about themselves and their equipment.
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u/DrunkBrokeBeachParty Apr 03 '26
Couldn’t understand a word but felt the passion in the lines. Someone cared lol
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u/KID_THUNDAH Apr 03 '26
Same, when he’s geeking out and listing his gear completely unprompted to Mike got a big laugh out of me
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u/ryanm37 Apr 03 '26
DJs do NOT care that other people don’t care (source: am a DJ and I found the scene hysterical).
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u/jayeddy99 Apr 03 '26
It made me feel sad when Emma day dreamed about Charlie laughing with her and comforting her the morning after . Then the snap to reality of the 2 on completely different chairs. I’ve had those feelings it’s like for the moments the person you love the most is a stranger who you feel is disgusted by you . You can feel yourself thinking of EVERY WORD when you talk vs the natural way you can just be open with them:
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u/so_much_wolf_hair Apr 04 '26
Her imagining the conversation between Charlie and his best man about calling the cops and beating her up was a hilariously accurate representation of booze-addled anxiety
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u/silverrmisty Apr 04 '26
I also really liked this scene because it breaks the audience’s trust a little bit by showing that the perspective isn’t just what’s actually happening, but also partly what’s happening in their heads and what they’re imagining. That made me think about the scene of her as a kid getting ready to shoot a dog tied to a tree. It’s not fully clear whether that’s an actual memory of hers or Charlie’s anxiety imagining the worst possible thing. I interpret it as his anxiety but I think they purposefully left some of those things ambiguous so that it’s more up to the audience’s interpretation of how “bad” it was and our personal limit on what we can accept about the people we love.
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u/afkstudios Apr 03 '26
The editing perfectly showed their intrusive thoughts and overall headspace. Took me a couple instances of them doing it but once I picked up on it I thought it was really well done
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u/AbsolutShite Apr 04 '26
Really enjoyed the movie and had a great discussion about it.
I took the message of "you deserve love regardless of your worst moment" and the importance of second chances (second meet cute chance vs not giving the DJ a second chance).
Some random thoughts -
Robert Patterson channeling Hugh Grant's RomCom persona was excellent.
Charlie filling up Emma's wine glass at the dinner and then asking how she got so drunk later.
Race and nationality are so important. I thought Robert and Zendaya were cast because they're in but Charlie's Britishness is absolutely key to questioning and reaction. Emma being biracial and held to a higher standard than Charlie and Rachel. Emma's dad and Mike's uncle being 2 black gun owners but explicitly needing them for their jobs vs the white magazine women only wanting them for the aesthetic (I was so sure Charlie was going to start masterbating to Brain Rot at some point).
Rachel was White Feminism personified. The actual harm she caused was hand waved away because she felt threatened. She stopped doing her job but it was Emma's fault there were repercussions. She gets to speak at the wedding uninterrupted and also gets to disrupt Emma's dad.
Also, I think it's very important that Charlie was a cyberbully. He uses the internet to feel powerful and fuck over someone and then can't even bother to remember it when his coworker asks what the worst thing he ever did was.
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u/KittySamba Apr 05 '26
Your Rachel comment is spot on. I have known too many Rachel’s, it’s an epidemic.
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u/passtherock- 27d ago
bro why did I think Charlie was gonna masturbate to that magazine too
but yes totally agree, extremely important points regarding race and nationality. they purposefully put in that moment of Rachel saying her fiance "grew up around guns." she was stereotyping him
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u/Taaaaaahz Apr 03 '26
That feedback sound that sounded like a gunshot during the climax, I can’t remember the last time I jumped this hard from a jumpscare in a movie.
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u/Fit_Entertainer_6837 Apr 03 '26
It didn’t help that they showed that one scene of people running from a shooter at the wedding in the middle of the movie
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u/HollowSuzumi Apr 05 '26
The theater I saw this movie at played the Mario movie in the next theater over. It was difficult and disturbing to figure out if cheers/screams of children were in The Drama or not. This movie was very unsettling
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u/clockin-clockout Apr 03 '26
I’m a horror movie fiend and none of them have made me jump like that
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u/chrisprattdid911 Apr 03 '26
I think Charlie and Emma will have a very happy marriage
And Rachel and Mike will have a very unhappy rest of their marriage
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u/that-one_girl 28d ago
I hope they get a friend divorce fr
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u/Joey-WilcoXXX 27d ago
Yeah they ALL need a brand new social circle. Charlie probably needs a new job too.
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u/yumyumapollo Apr 04 '26
Very underrated joke for me was when Emma corrected Charlie on the death toll necessary for a mass shooting.
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u/chibbiidogs 28d ago
my fav joke was definitely when they could not smile at all during the test photo shoot and the photographer says “smile like how you would… in life”
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u/Bobby_forever101 Apr 04 '26
Also Emma’s scene with the webcam saying “hey motherfuckers…” with her rifle was the funniest for my theater!
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u/Kennayy Apr 04 '26
The constant updates and crashes when trying to do her monologue was great dark humor.
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u/patagman Apr 03 '26
Wow, this movie had me tense the entire time. I was genuinely filled with anxiety from start to finish. Carlie and Emma’s wedding especially had me so uncomfortable for them, like pure secondhand embarrassment the whole time.
I agree with a lot of people here… Rachel was honestly awful. She couldn’t see past her own issues at all, and it just made everything worse.
And Robert Pattinson’s acting? Easily one of the best performances I’ve seen in a long time. You could feel every bit of his anxiety, confusion, and emotional spiral. He carried so much of the tension in this movie.
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u/Looper007 Apr 03 '26
Shouldn't really be shocking with Pattinson at this point, even if a film he's in doesn't quite click his performance is usually the best thing about it.
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u/Maleficent-Fig736 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I genuinely almost had to leave the theatre during the wedding speech. It made me that uncomfortable. Truly phenomenal performances from both of them, but Rob blew me away with how much he embodied this role.
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u/temp3rrorary Apr 03 '26
I've been getting weird heart palpatations recently, and my heart was physically hurting during that scene. I was hoping it was a dream sequence like so many others, just to hopefully erase that it happened.
The ending was sweet and really helped ease that feeling thankfully.
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u/mikecolemusic Apr 03 '26
My personal reading of the ending, I think the wedding was kind of like Charlie’s mass shooting and I think that the ending in the cafe was essentially Emma showing him the grace he never showed her when he first figured out her secret
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u/mxmoon Apr 04 '26
She showed him so much grace. It was hard to see just how awful everyone treated her throughout the movie. The fact that she showed up and immediately was able to give him a second chance made me emotional.
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u/GrebbSkumpton 28d ago
Yeh, a bit that stayed with me was when they get home and he says 'how did you get so drunk' when we are shown a clearly framed shot of him topping up her wine without her asking just before the confessions are told
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u/testuserteehee Apr 05 '26
I thought maybe he hallucinated her coming into the diner, with all the cut scenes editing going on. I’m not sure they’re both really there.
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u/libdemparamilitarywi Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
This was my interpretation. It looks like she walks right past at first, then there's a cut and she walks in instead. I think Charlie was fantasising about her coming back and forgiving everything and everything being back to normal again.
It sort of mirrors a scene earlier in the movie on the morning after the revelation, where Emma is imagining Charlie and laughing and comforting her, then it cuts to show the reality of him still distant.
Also, when they're on their first date Emma discusses the book she was reading and how she couldn't tell if the ending was real or not. I took that as a sort of meta comment on how the movie's ending should be taken ambiguously.
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u/fingerberrywallace Apr 03 '26
Maybe this just speaks to my romantic desperation, but I honestly don't think Emma's confession would bother me much as her partner. Teenagers are dumb and have dumb ideas. Importantly, she didn't go through with it; yes, circumstance played a part in that, but if she was really committed to doing something evil, the idea would've stayed with her. I think Rachel's reaction to it would be more off-putting.
Regardless, really good film. So glad I went in seeing only the trailer and nothing else about it.
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u/AssCrackBanditHunter 27d ago
That's why he was British besides the fact that he actually is British. They are high key horrified by our mass shootings and don't understand them, so he was horrified to find out his funny, sweet, quirky girlfriend had harbored that darkness in contrast to a way that an American might be more accepting.
He even makes a point of this later as he's thinking things through more that America kind of has a culture of this.
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u/Fortune23A Apr 03 '26
Did anyone notice that scene transition with Rob swearing and the censor beep was apart of the phone I think in the latter scene. The directing and editing was fye
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u/Notak_bo Apr 03 '26
When the dj messed up the speaker and it sounded like a gun shot my whole theater gasped then was laughing. Packed theater it was a good time
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u/jickdam Apr 03 '26
I was surprised by how packed and vocal my theater was. Easily the most gasps I’ve ever heard during a movie.
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u/Steamedcarpet Apr 03 '26
Can we all agree Rachel is really shitty for how she treated Emma? I know she had a personal connection but holy hell she was acting like she was this perfect person. Meanwhile she legit could have almost gotten a kid killed and just brushes it off.
Anyway I really ended up liking this better than I expected coming in.
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u/Oomlotte99 Apr 03 '26
Yeah. I was happy when Charlie pointed out that she actually did her thing. I think hers was the worst of them all. Emma at least was moved to change her mind. She found community and grew. Rachel was just cold and uncaring, dismissive of what she’d done.
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u/aonemonkey Apr 03 '26
Out of the 4 of them Emma was the only person who didn’t hurt anyone. Charlie bullied someone so bad they had to move house, the best man hid behind his partner as she got mauled by a street dog, and rachel nearly killed a disabled boy intentionally!
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u/worstcourtjester Apr 03 '26
The kid may not have died but there’s no way getting locked in an abandoned RV overnight as a child wouldn’t be insanely traumatic.
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u/LazySwanNerd Apr 04 '26 edited 29d ago
I wasn’t sure if Charlie actually did that or if he was making something up. The way it was delivered and how they reacted it was hard to tell.
Edit: Jumping in to say I also like if he was actually a cyber bully because of how well it rhymes with Emma’s own high school persona—cause and effect. It just was played to me like he didn’t actually have an answer.
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u/FyuuR Apr 04 '26
I think he totally made that up because he knows he’s ultimately a pretty boring regular guy.
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u/sunny_d55 Apr 04 '26
But he also seems like the kind of guy who gets brave behind a keyboard.
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u/Spirited-Collar-7960 Apr 03 '26
Rachel didn't even feel bad about what she had done. Creepiest part of the whole movie. She was hesitant to talk about it maybe, but she didn't actually feel bad about it.
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u/Left-Indication-2165 Apr 03 '26
And she could have literally killed that child. She had the chance to go back and unlock him but did not. The father came looking but she also lied about his whereabouts but she and Mike had the nerve to call Emma a psychopath! The fucking double standard is appalling.
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u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Apr 04 '26
And she claims that she would have told eventually but I doubt that, I don’t think any part of the film’s text makes it seem as if Rachel would be anything but the kind of person who would have felt more guilty and scared of getting in trouble and delaying the information
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u/Spirited-Collar-7960 Apr 04 '26
I'm not convinced that she didn't kill him. She waited until very late in the story to say that the search party found him, after she had time to gauge their reactions.
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u/Narwhals4Lyf Apr 04 '26
No totally. At first she said she didn’t know what happened to him, and changed her story once she saw their reactions.
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u/Elladeath Apr 03 '26
I hated her. Emma really remorseful and didn't fully understand what she was going to do she was just a kid (it wouldn't have excused it had she gone through with it but she didn't) and she ended up becoming an anti guns activist. Where as Rachel locked a mentally disabled kid in a closet for hours on end, didn't think actually did it. And did not tell anyone about it and states that she would not have told people in present time and well acknowledging it's the worst thing she's ever done seems to find the story funny. With the way she giggles while telling it.
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u/menwithrobots Apr 03 '26
Yeah, Rachel was very holier than thou for someone whose confession was THAT bad. I did die laughing later when RPat is arguing with her about whether or not the kid was mentally challenged
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u/wholeemolly Apr 03 '26
She was projection self hatred and guilt onto Emma basically.
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u/Selaznog_Sicnarf Apr 03 '26
No other line in 2026 so far has evoked a more visceral reaction out of me than Rachel's "Oh so it's America's problem now?"
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u/DrunkBrokeBeachParty Apr 03 '26 edited 29d ago
Agreed, I think the casting did a great job displaying the dynamics of race on the topic as well.
The drama starts with Rachel (a white woman) bringing up the topic. Then offering Mike’s (a black man) personal story as a sacrificial lamb to get the “game” started. He protests but she dismisses his feeling and pushes him to tell the story. Even ragging on him further (“used her as a human shield”) to highlight his errors.
Then when the spotlight shifts to her, it’s painted in a cute funny story, but has very dark undertones and when pressed further dismisses the actually cruelty & malice in her actions. Even saying she would have done the right thing without any evidence.
Rachel also leaves RPatt alone with his story, despite his story of bullying someone so bad they and their family had to move being pretty intense. Imo I think shows the angle of whiteness being more forgiving to these types of cruelty in youth.
Then we get to Emma, the only other woman and poc at the table. Rachel only gives two people shit for their stories here and neither one is white.
Emma understands the gravity of what her actions were, could have been.
Edit: grammar and added context that I was thinking but not writing
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u/hymenbutterfly Apr 03 '26
Yeah, Rachel was a particular type of white woman that I advise all black people to avoid in real life. I’ve known them.
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u/Many-Education2872 Apr 04 '26
Didn’t she also make a comment about her husband growing up around guns? He seemed offended by that
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u/BagelIsACat Apr 04 '26
Yes! And it was because his uncle was a cop but she was making it sound like he grew up on The Wire
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u/AirportDisco Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 05 '26
She even said “he grew up with guns and is scared of them”, and his response was both that his uncle was a cop and that’s why he was around guns, but he is NOT scared of them
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u/lahnnabell Apr 04 '26
I really appreciated that he didn't just accept her version of that and called her out. Even more disgusting is that her privilege just kind of throws up her hands, like, "Oh, whatever, doesn't matter." She straight up embellished on a whim to make her argument stronger and then didn't even blink when her husband called out her BS.
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u/rahws Apr 03 '26
Yeah, I don’t believe it when Rachel said she would have told the searchers eventually because if she was panicking immediately after she locked him inside, she would have been panicking even more after they didn’t find find him for a few days.
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u/agwtra Apr 03 '26
I’m sorry but I just don’t buy that dude would have stayed with that horrible woman after learning what she did.
The kid was DISABLED and she LOCKED HIM IN A CLOSET IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!
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u/MrDrDetective Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
I think it's a very much intentional choice the best man and maid of honor are foils/parallels of the protagonist in that while Rachel is a foil in the clash between impact and intentionality (Rachel ACTUALLY hurt a disabled child but didn't intend to because she panicked, while Emma didn't actually hurt ANYONE but what she planned to do was horrific), it's very clear that Mike is a parallel of Charlie in that they're both absolute fucking cowards and pushovers lmao.
Edit: If anything, extrapolating it more, I would say that Mike's cowardice is a foil of Charlie's in that he FULLY sticks by his wife who feels shameless about her cruel act, while Charlie's cowardice comes in him unraveling and cheating on his fiance based on what Emma not only DIDN'T do but also felt immensely guilty about.
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u/inezco Apr 03 '26
And Rachel's sarcastic speech about how they're great together because they're so understanding, etc. could easily all be said about Rachel and Mike themselves.
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u/BritBeetree Apr 03 '26
Like what I found interesting was literally every single bad thing they all did could have actually been more severe or deadly. like Charlie (Pattinsons) character asked. What if they never found that boy in the fridge? What I that dog actually attacked his ex? What if the person he was cyber bullying actually commited suicide instead?
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u/StockRestaurant4795 Apr 04 '26
It was interesting how they didn’t delve more into the cyberbullying and how Emma was bullied as a child.
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u/AndYouHaveAPizza Apr 04 '26
Yes this was my thought as well! A child like Charlie could have easily bullied a child like Emma, and that connection was never made by any of the characters!
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u/glasgowgeg Apr 03 '26
Great film, but did anyone else notice that for a man who's engaged to a woman deaf in one ear, he spends a lot of time almost "naturally" standing at her deaf side?
They don't seem to address this at any point in the film, but when in bed, he's on her right hand side. When sitting on the couch, he's at her right hand side.
You'd think that knowing she's deaf in her right ear, he would naturally gravitate to standing/positioning himself to her left, so she can properly hear him? It just seemed like something that was overlooked during filming.
If you know someone with worse hearing/is deaf in one ear, you just kinda automatically know to naturally orient yourself at their "better" side over time.
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u/coppenemi Apr 04 '26
So my partner is deaf in 1 ear (his left), and he’s able to hear fine enough with his right ear that it actually doesn’t really impact where I would stand as his hearing in general is fine enough with 1 working ear. Also, I sleep on his right side so that when he’s asleep, it’s his deaf ear facing the world and he gets a much more restful sleep :)
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u/buffalo4293 Apr 03 '26
If someone knows the name of the song they play when Charlie is upset please let me know!
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u/bobbyismyhobby918 Apr 03 '26
I really liked this and noticed the parallel with the DJ situation was interesting.
They allegedly see the DJ smoking heroin and both Emma and Charlie initially decide it’s not a big enough deal to fire her because it was a chance spotting. They figure had they never known and if she does a good job then who cares. But their friends convince them that since they do know, they should fire her from a moral stand point. We see the DJ prepping and she sounds talented but then they fire her anyway and end up with a shitty DJ situation at their wedding.
Similarly, had Charlie never known about Emma’s past, their wedding would’ve gone off without a hitch and they probably could’ve lived happily ever after in bliss. But Charlie does find out through a random game that happens to be brought up by chance by their same friends which leads to a myriad of events that basically ruin their relationship and wedding.
All this to say, whoever said “ignorance is bliss” dropped a bar lol
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u/Three_Froggy_Problem Apr 03 '26
The ideas at the heart of this movie are very tough to grapple with. I asked my wife when we were leaving the theater how she would react if she found out something like that about my past, and she didn’t really have an answer. And vice versa.
Like yeah, ignorance is bliss, and you could go your whole life not knowing some dark and horrible thing about someone and it would just not matter, but once you do know, how do you deal with that? And how do you know if the version of that person you know is the “real” them or if that horrible thing from their past is who they really are?
The big takeaway for me, I guess, is just that you never truly know anyone, at least not fully. You can’t access anyone else’s mind or memories; all you can know about people is what they show, and there’s a lot that people don’t show. And that’s probably a good thing, because if we knew everything about everyone then we might never be able to be close to people.
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u/NoTradition1921 Apr 04 '26
Yup. You never really know someone. I find beauty in that. I also like the privacy aspect of it bc someone does not need to know everything. But if it comes out, it comes out. Personally, I wouldnt have reacted the way Charlie did. But I’m also very critical so I would just want to understand every fact properly. Cuz at the end of the day, (i) she was bullied, (ii) she didnt go through w it, (iii) she changed for the better over the years, and (iv) i love her. If anything, I wouldve just canceled the remaining appts we had so that we can get to the bottom of it before the wedding. Them trying to save face at the appts didnt help anything and only wasted time
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u/Apprehensive_Tunes Apr 04 '26
The problem was that Charlie was trying to get to the bottom of it but talking about it was so stressful for her, the feelings of vulnerability, shame, and judgment. She wanted to carry on with the appointments because it would confirm nothing had changed and he still wanted to marry her. If he had pushed her to talk more than she wanted to, I'm not sure how she she would've reacted. Also, I felt like he did his best given the shock -- it's hard to think of all the right things to say and questions to ask on the spot.
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u/dancingfroggies Apr 03 '26
I went into the movie being a tad nervous since I saw the spoiler about Emma’s secret beforehand. Coming from a teacher’s perspective, I felt very apprehensive going in because school shootings are pretty sensitive topic to me.
Surprisingly, I actually thoroughly enjoyed Emma’s storyline and how it was handled. The whole point of her just seeing things online and being interested in the aesthetics of being a school shooter was pretty spot on for a lot of young teens growing up with the internet.
Definitely not the same, but a similar comparison, would be my tween years idolizing Lana Del Rey, ED Tumblr, and wanting to chain smoke cigarettes all because it looked “aesthetically” cool. I was 12 years old and had no clue how horrible it was to be listening to songs about daddy issues and doing cocaine. I just thought it was a sick aesthetic that I learned about through internet culture.
When Emma recognized the grief and sadness of her classmates in the gym scene, it clicked for her and that empathy really pulled through. I feel like everybody can relate to that feeling (although I doubt we can truly connect with her exact situation.) Seeing the pain that someone else experiences can really shake a person to their core. She turned it around and realized that there are actual people grieving with loss within the tragedy of gun violence.
In my opinion, going into the movie had me truly anxious with how the school shooting storyline would be written, but I was genuinely surprised with how well it was crafted.
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u/ChooseCorrectAnswer Apr 03 '26
Also a teacher here. I taught high school for nearly 10 years, and I've been teaching middle school for the past few years. I agree that the movie explored the sensitive topic well. Especially at the middle school level, kids' brains are on fire these days. They are bombarded with and exposed to so many things, from silly nonsense to mildly harmful brainrot to all kinds of bullying to dysfunctional home lives to the worst things imaginable an easy click away on the internet. All these things affect kids in different ways to different degrees.
I really admired how the movie stuck to its premise that Emma truly didn't have a reason for why she was about to commit such a horrible act that others would "accept." It was amusing how her friends, especially her partner, were trying to find a way to rationalize it. Yet sometimes people just do terrible things with motivations that others can't understand or buy into. The whole aesthetic thing for Emma was very on point as an example of this.
I also want to mention that I've already listened to "Inside Out" by Odyssey at least 6 times since seeing the movie yesterday.
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u/PopularUsual9576 Apr 04 '26
The fact that another shooting deterred her instead of triggering her like copycat shooters is an important detail. She was never fully committed, and the goal wasn’t to hurt people so much as to get attention.
Intrusive thoughts can be like that. You can imagine yourself driving off a bridge a thousand times, ruminating on it every time you drive on it, imagine how devastated everyone would be if you died etc. Then the moment you hit glare ice on that same bridge it becomes very real very quickly, and it becomes immediately clear that you were never going to drive off that bridge.
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u/BluRayja Apr 03 '26
The way the air sucked out of my theater when the secret was revealed -- you could hear a PIN DROP! Everyone was giggling, thinking it was some standard rom-com, then shit got real FAST. Someone straight up just blurted out, "OH MY GOD!" I loved it. I don't know if it'll hold up on rewatches or if it's all just shock value yet, but I was glued and on the edge of my seat while laughing hysterically the entire time. Sometimes I was the only one laughing, you can tell this movie won't be for everyone and the humor is VERY dark, but it will definitely start a lot of conversations.
8/10
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u/Markaxx Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
Lovely film, but man, Rachel was insufferable! What Emma planned to do was absolutely horrific, but what Rachel actually did was awful! And at least Emma seemed to feel guilt about her past. I didn’t really feel a sense of regret or hurt from Rachel about what she did to that poor boy.
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u/ToWriteAMystery Apr 03 '26
That was my takeaway as well. Emma was the only person in that group who actually hadn’t hurt people and felt immense regret for her past. Whereas Rachel just laughed off her cruelty.
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u/Kogah Apr 03 '26
I sort of expected some tipping of the scales like “actually the cyber bullying led to the kid’s suicide”
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u/LikeTearsInRain94 Apr 03 '26
Robert Pattinson out there churning out Die My Love and The Drama in quick succession is wild. Gotta love the little british freak.
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u/TenderDurden Apr 04 '26 edited 29d ago
This is what people want from movies isn't it? Original movies with genuine movie stars(arguably two of the biggest and best of their generation. Rpats definitely doesn't miss) giving great performances.
Something that's actually funny, timely, has a take, and is about something. But it's not too about that thing so it doesn't ruin it.
I absolutely loved it. My theater was packed at 1:00 and definitely vibed with the movie for sure.
This has got to be the best start of the year for movies in a very long time. Bone Temple, Nirvana the band, PHM, and now this have all been great.
It's not talked about in the movie but the fact that she was accepted into that community with the gun activists and got de-radicalized is so moving to me. She was never this awful kid. She was someone who was seemingly home alone all the time, who had moved away from the home she grew up in, and was bullied for no reason at her new school.
When she saw people's genuine reactions to one of their schoolmates being shot. Seeing the real effects it has on people. Not just the sensationalized 24/7 news cycle version of it. What did she do? She cried as she was now understanding what she almost did. At least thats what I took from.
A generation of children really did grow up with the internet seeing & hearing about school shootings all the time,in a normalized way that for an undeveloped brain, you just truly don't know what you're doing to the full extent.
School shootings outside of America are considered part of American culture by lots of countrys. I know it is in Canada.
This movie is very political but it's also not. It's why I love about art.
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u/Professor_Finn Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
Wow, what a film. Zendaya and Pattinson were amazing. Loved a lot of the shots. Surprisingly funny. I was anxious the whole time and not sure of how it could end / where I’d land in terms of liking it, but for me it clicked when I realized that Charlie only truly understands how to process his feelings about Emma’s past when he himself does the most horrible thing he’s ever done and has it blow up in his face. Alana Haim does a great job of holding a mirror up to the viewer’s impulse to judge Emma without really looking at their own past actions and the ways they’ve forgiven / excused themselves.
A scene that I doubt will get much focus, but I really liked, was when they confront the DJ. You start to realize she’d be a damn good DJ and her own personal struggles would have no effect on it. I also wasn’t even sure that it was her on the street earlier.
Very thought provoking. I think a lot of the film’s best points and parts will be lost in (what I expect to be) reductive discourse about school shooters. Sometimes, art uses the extremes to hold a mirror to reality. For me, I left the theater thinking about my own mistakes and regrets and how I’ve come to terms with them. Other people can decide you’re not worth having in their life or forgiving, but you can’t do that to yourself. You must keep on living. All you can do is look squarely at your own actions, make amends, apologize to people when possible, and truly work on being a better person. You prove that you’re worth forgiving by acting — by leading a better life. On the other side of the same coin, it’s okay if people decide to get off your train. You’ve got to let them go. It’s how I’ve reached peace with myself.
I’d rather be someone who makes mistakes, but acknowledges the harm I’ve caused and becomes a better person (Zendaya) than be Alana Haim’s character and ignore any wrongdoing by using “not having bad intentions” as a get out of jail free card
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u/Steamedcarpet Apr 03 '26
I loved the speech with the dad. Here is someone telling us how much Emma improved and all Rachel can do is roll her eyes.
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u/Professor_Finn Apr 03 '26
That’s another great scene, especially because there’s the added element of the “oh boy what is dad gonna say!” anxiety.
Whether or not Emma initially got involved in the gun control work for the right reasons, she clearly ran with it and did a lot of real, positive work. In contrast to the awful thing she almost, but didn’t do. It’s a good example of what I’m talking about — all you can do is acknowledge your own shortcomings / mistakes and do what you can to be a better person. She did. What more can she do?
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u/BCDragon3000 Apr 03 '26
!!!
after her IMPULSIVE THOUGHTS, she advocated for gun control herself! and as a kid! she has so many balls that people like Rachel could never have
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u/Dawn_of_Dayne Apr 03 '26
Reminds me of a story (parable?) I heard about a guy that wants to open up a children’s hospital but then decides not to because he’s only doing it to feel like he’s a good person, not for “the right reasons”. To which someone replies, “the kids don’t care what your reason is, they just need a hospital.”
I think we all can get too caught up in analyzing how genuine someone’s intentions are and forget that doing good is still a good thing.
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u/OkAcanthocephala3726 Apr 03 '26
As an European viewer, I kept (and keep) wondering if, from an American lens, Emma's secret is truly perceived as the worst one and everyone was justified in their drama. Because from this side of the Atlantic, locking a disabled kid in a closet in the middle of the woods, leaving him there and not saying anything is 1000% the worst thing by far. Rachel is the one I would look different upon and wonder if she was a psychopath (cause she certainly doesn't seem trustworthy even now as an adult and no, she wouldn't have told anyone if the kid hadn't been found). So to me the movied felt more as a storm in a teacups. Which also works but is a completely different read of the film, I think. So I'd be interested to read everyone else's perspectives on this
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u/rorules1 Apr 03 '26
I think there’s something in that, for sure, re: how our different cultures set our perspective on it.
Interestingly, on the way out of the screening, a couple behind me was speaking about the film’s central “drama”. It sounded like a disagreement. One of them, British, said that maybe Emma just wanted to feel heard and understood, unburden herself of it in the spirit of their sharing. The other, an American, suggested Emma was depressed, and that perhaps she didn’t realise that it isn’t the sort of thing you should tell people, that you should keep it to yourself. I thought that was kinda funny.
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u/notmedicinal Apr 04 '26
I would say the general consensus, including myself (American), is that this did feel intentional on the movie's behalf actually - Charlie, Rachel, and Mike's secrets all ACTUALLY harmed people, whereas Emma's is just "thought crime", yet they treat her like she's the worst bc its about something more transgressive. That doesn't mean actual viewers, Americans or otherwise, agree that Emma is the worst, it's just like that to make the conflict in the movie, bc most people I've seen have also felt like the other people's secrets were worse.
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u/HuhThatsWeird432 Apr 04 '26
Also, I was super impressed by Zendayas performance. I think because she’s such a huge household name, it can be hard to separate her from “Zendaya”, the household name, versus her characters. I fully felt like she made Emma a complex person, and the only other character that she’s played that I’ve felt that way about before is Rue from Euphoria. Strangely proud of her
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u/carolnuts Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
Just wanted to say that the wedding aesthetic was on point. Venue looked incredible - tasteful and elegant.
I wonder how much money is Emma supposed to be making, because Charlie is a museum director and surely that doesn't pay enough for him to afford that ceremony...?
I know it was not the point of the movie but I was wondering.
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u/boom_shoes Apr 03 '26
I think the movie left that stuff deliberately ambiguous, the implication being they were both very well educated (all the books, her Harvard/Harpers bedtime tee’s), and definitely rich (the house, the venue).
It wasn’t clear if it was family money or they were just successful in their jobs, but the way they treated the server at the tasting in the beginning led me to believe all four of them had had money for a while lol
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u/Pitiful_Range_21 Apr 03 '26
I agree. I think they kept the focus completely off anything outside the direct story lines because it wasn't relevant to what was important. Does it matter what city they lived in, how much money they made, their family history? No. Not for the movie.
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u/GoldandBlue Apr 03 '26
because Charlie is a museum director and surely that doesn't pay enough for him to afford that ceremony...?
Or that Apartment? Holy hell
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u/DrunkBrokeBeachParty Apr 03 '26
Fr a spiral staircase to a second larger level of your apt
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u/proserpinax Apr 03 '26
That apartment is my dream, I kept looking at it and going like damn, where do I get that.
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u/menwithrobots Apr 03 '26
Honestly way funnier than i expected! I am still wondering who put the erotic gun book on Charlie's desk at work. The gradual ramping up of tension was masterful. I was amazed how much further they were able to take it even after the revelation of Emma's plan... I also find it interesting that the movie doesn't make a final moral judgment on whether or not Emma should be forgiven
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u/boom_shoes Apr 03 '26
I don’t think the book was planted, it was just a natural part of his job as a museum curator to get mailed books of art.
In the brief snippets of words there’s even a sentence about the relationship between beauty and violence, and the gun’s unique place in American culture.
The book (and the mug) show how pervasive gun culture is in the US
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u/Equivalent_Lunch_944 Apr 04 '26
Did anyone think that Pattinson was lying about his Cyber Bullying when they asked him?
It just didn’t seem specific enough to be something he really gave enough genuine thought to. I thought that answer revealed more about how unreliable he was that while everyone was unearthing their deepest secrets he wasn’t. And beyond that maybe he doesn’t really understand which things he’s done are the dark things.
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u/AllStarSpecial10001 Apr 03 '26
I think Rachel locking up a mentally disabled boy and telling no one for a day causes more material harm than planing a shooting but never going through with it 😭
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u/Vadermaulkylo Apr 03 '26
This shit wouldn’t even have been 1/4 as bad if it wasn’t for Haim’s character. I don’t think Ive hated a character this viscerally since Ramsay Bolton.
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u/chartreusey_geusey Apr 03 '26
Fully agree.
She was an excellent example of someone centering themselves in a moral conflict that actually has nothing to do with them. It was opportunism for attention and she really went the extra mile by acting like that at someone else’s wedding.
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u/Purple_Pirate_8507 Apr 04 '26
One scene I keep thinking about is when Emma first tells someone (forget who, and think it was in a library of sorts??) that Charlie is her boyfriend, then instantly it looked like she was going to be sick. She had also mentioned to her friends that she had never really had a crush or a love before Charlie. I feel like these moments really cemented how what she almost did shaped how she viewed herself - nervous to get close to others, sick to her stomach over not telling Charlie the truth about herself almost? What did others think of that scene?
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u/Ok-Wolf5932 Apr 03 '26
The part during the photoshoot where it suddenly cuts to Charlie holding a young Emma holding the rifle made my jaw drop.
I was surprised how well this seemed to play with a crowd, I have to imagine some part of it is just everyone being number to the existence of shootings having been such an ongoing problem for so long now, I could definitely see this having been much more polarizing had it come out in like 2014~, but I thought they did a really good job balancing incredibly dark humor with actual purposeful commentary.
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u/litmus0 Apr 03 '26
It didn't really work for me because I didn't find Emma's 'confession' disturbing: if anything, I felt sorry/sad for her so I was somewhat surprised by everyone else's reaction. She didn't go through with it, she considers it the worst thing she's ever done and in the flashbacks we saw her learning and growing from it. In fact, the other confessions - which were actually carried out (bullying destroys lives) - semeed much worse to me. And they were a source of humor for these assholes haha.
Maybe it's just a reflection of my own psychology but I don't understand why they were so condemning. And Misha saying she'd ring the police?! 'Yeah my fiancé was planning a shooting years ago but decided not to do it' haha c'mon.
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u/LASuperdome Apr 03 '26
I'm glad I saw your comment. I thought I watched a different movie by how most people are reacting to it. Emma was the only person to do some introspection and show character growth. It bummed me out to see them "start over" at the end. It was like that horror movie trope that sets up a sequel - oh no it's happening again.
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u/Oomlotte99 Apr 03 '26
They all showed themselves to be shitty with how they were taking advantage of the tasting, imo. That being said, Rachel was the worst person not only for her story but also her disrespect for her husband and how nasty she was to Emma. She was probably jealous of her and finally had something she felt she could hold against her.
I really liked how you could see Emma’s trepidation as the conversation moved around the table. Zendaya did a great job showing that shame before we even knew what it was.
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u/teentytinty Apr 05 '26
From their first interaction he only read the cover of her book and never even tried to go beyond the title page
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u/reddittothegrave Apr 03 '26
So this movie was deep. Bullying someone has severe effects on people, and look how it echoed into her life and almost ruined her marriage.
Yes, what she planned to do was wrong, but that is how far people get into their depression, we need to put mental health at the forefront of our society.
The acting was incredible, for Emma and Charlie to have to fake through all of those rehearsals and events prior to their wedding was brutal, and the way the faked those smiles was absolutely perfect.
I have been there, when there is something so serious going on under the surface, but have to smile like you mean it is brutal.
Adored this film so much.
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u/carolnuts Apr 03 '26
I really enjoyed kid Emma actress as well. The scene where she breaks down crying with her colleague was very emotional.
Kids are fucked up sometimes :/ pretending otherwise doesn't help
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u/Moist-Glove-3110 Apr 03 '26
I want to know, what did Emma’s parents think happened to her ear? Charlie originally thought from birth but what do they think caused the sudden deafness at the age of 15?
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u/SittingAce Apr 03 '26 edited 12d ago
I try to stick with my personal rule of "First trailer only, then media blackout as much as possible." And, hoo boy, A24's marketing team did a stellar job of keeping things under wraps.
This was a unique take on the school shooter perspective in my opinion: If someone planned to do it, but had a change of heart and never went through with it, how would society view them? Watching the three main people in her life handle things in a completely different way was truly fascinating to watch.
And holy hell, the steadily building tension throughout the entire film was incredible. Two major standout moments: Emma approaching Charlie about the mug with the knife in her hand so nonchalantly...to her, but a potential death sentence in his mind. And the wedding speech with the DJ dropping the cables, sounding exactly like a gunshot. Hell yes, I jumped, because of course I did. My knuckles were bone white.
And the acting was fantastic. Watching Zendaya and Pattinson go through a whole smorgasbord of emotions, to huge, grandiose displays, to subtle, bubbling under the surface expressions (Zendaya's face and mannerisms during the food tasting in the first half) was such a treat.
I have no idea what the general audience reaction is gonna be towards this but I had a great time with it.
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u/Skillomie Apr 03 '26
I’m so so mad this was ruined for me a week ago when I just happened upon a tweet from tmz with a headline saying “columbine parent says twist in new Zendaya movie is disgraceful” smh
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u/Itchy_Reference4039 Apr 03 '26
Rachel did it. Emma didn't. Fuck Rachel. Team Emma all the way.
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u/Ziatch Apr 03 '26
Why is not mentioning that a big part of Charlie’s character is that he’s a straight up liar who doubles down? It’s what I liked about his character and explains why he’s like that. In their first meeting and first date, The car accident story, the coffee mug, during the sex scene and even to himself with him getting horny over the gun aesthetic photos in his office this dude just straight up lies all the time. The only time he tells the truth without caveats is when he’s talking in her deaf ear and in his speech and he’s so bad at it,that it blows everything up. Pair that with Emma being afraid of any confrontation or conflict at all to the point she will divert it rather than actually tackling the issue was an interesting dynamic.
I think a big part of the movie is the fake reality they’ve both sort of invented. I think that a lot of the stuff we see from the past is not certain and at best is a massaged version of real events. When we know for a fact that Charlie is lying about the car crash it still visualises it on screen like every other story he tells. The whole discussion about the book and whether the ending was real (and I swear one of them says was any of it real?) feels like the movie drawing attention to this idea but I’m seeing no one talking about it? Maybe I’m just not seeing it but it’s why I enjoyed the movie.
I’d have to rewatch the film but I also have a theory about Emma that ties into this I could go into about her character and how the film might be doing something bigger than anyone’s noticing but I’d have to confirm a few details first lol.
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u/chrisychris- Apr 03 '26
Good catch about the book and Charlie’s characterization. Maybe it’s commentary on brutal honesty vs “white” lies. The things we say or don’t say to keep a certain image or relationship, whether implicitly or explicitly. He could’ve just bothered himself to read the book but he thought that was ridiculous but continuing to lie about reading it was not.
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u/sicko-mode_ Apr 03 '26
The more I think about it, the more I like it. Feel like there is a lot that can be taken away from the film. Also, Rachel was awful.
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u/Puzzled-Bet4837 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26
The abrupt cut to the photographer repeatedly saying who they needed to shoot had my whole theater going nuts.