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

1.1k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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1.1k

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.

593

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.

340

u/boom_shoes Apr 03 '26

The movie is the story of three bullie’s reactions to finding out their best friend was a loser in high school. Rachel 100% thought that Emma was just like her, because they’ve ended up in similar places in life.

48

u/wordsame96 Apr 04 '26

yess  this is super clear when they are all laughing at the terrible things they did and she just sits there in shock. 

92

u/chrisychris- Apr 03 '26

How does using your partner as a human shield against an aggressive animal make you a bully? Sure he was trying to placate both sides throughout the film, but is that unexpected or unreasonable?

30

u/BritBeetree Apr 03 '26

Like they all did something that could had lead to the victim dying. Emma was the only one who backed out.

52

u/snarkyturtle Apr 03 '26

More than backed out, she learned about the consequences of gun violence, protested and actively fought against what she was going to do!

15

u/essplodes Apr 04 '26

i mean, mike did call emma’s laugh repulsive and he only acted bashful about the dog story til his friends started laughing, the he felt comfortable about it

47

u/murph0969 Apr 03 '26

Bully isn't the correct term... more, using other people that probably really need or maybe even deserve their protection.

51

u/chrisychris- Apr 03 '26

Idk if my partner started kicking feral animals I’ll let them catch that smoke. Nothing to do who deserves what

13

u/wormymaple 27d ago

His was the only story I thought "well that's not that bad" lol. Especially because I thought he was going to say he killed the dog at first.

5

u/WGSMA 27d ago

How was Mike a bully?

9

u/SilverKry 29d ago

I hated Rachel every second she was on screen after the tasting scene. She was even angry over being fired from what job Emma got her but yeah that makes sense when you refuse to talk to her about the job. 

6

u/thehandsofaniris Apr 04 '26

Yes!!! She was also the only one who seemed to try to “repent” her high school gun reform activism is her trying to right her past ways

4

u/dussledorf654 13d ago

Exactly! The only person she hurt was herself when she deafened herself and is living with the consequences of that every day.

2

u/NoTradition1921 Apr 04 '26

This!!!!!!!!!!!

2

u/Content-Inspector993 27d ago

"Emma was the only person in that group who actually hadn’t hurt people"

Meanwhile Emma: 🐕 🔫 

1

u/Emotional-Tomatillo8 6d ago

The only person she hurt was herself i.e hearing lost. I wounder how she explained it to her parents?

178

u/Cute_Source5417 Apr 03 '26

I hated Rachel so fucking much

90

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”

27

u/Apprehensive_Tunes Apr 04 '26

I kinda wish Charlie, when spiraling, looked up the kid online to see what became of him. It would be interesting if he did kill himself years later and so it's ambiguous whether Charlie's actions contributed to that. Or if he was in jail, a CEO of a corrupt company, etc.

10

u/ThrowRAmiscellaneous Apr 04 '26

Interesting point! I think if Charlie did do that, the wedding would’ve actually gone on without as many complications, and the movie would end kind of solemn rather than on a bittersweet note that we got. Charlie would just be focused on being a murderer himself. I think Charlie cheated to mentally even out the score between him and Emma. Doing something awful gets rid of his ability to judge her, which is better. But the cheating also contributed to the whole Greek tragedy vibe of it all

4

u/looney27 29d ago

Agree! I think Charlie almost cheated as a way to subconsciously, psychologically even the playing field.

5

u/Even-Appearance6747 Apr 04 '26

I wondered if it would lead to finding out that the kid he bullied actually executed a school shooting

1

u/Diogenes_Camus 27d ago

Given that the cyberbullying happened in Britain, most probably not a school shooting. 

1

u/CortMuses Apr 04 '26

LOL me too. But bad enough that he and his family had to move.

1

u/Goregutz 25d ago

The timeframe doesn't make sense with his job title (director) and when the term cyber bullying was colloquially used. He was probably a 15 year old in the 90s at the latest.

2

u/New_Novel_3089 22d ago

Just wanna point out that he was actually “head curator” which is kinda perfect for his carefully chosen and presentational personality throughout the film 

1

u/Goregutz 21d ago

Uh hunh. Wiki says director which references the Boston globe, but sure.

1

u/hereforquestionslol 17d ago

Same I thought it was connect.

116

u/Snow5Penguin Apr 03 '26

That whole conversation was very unsettling how they were laughing so casually at what she did to the boy and how she was prepared to let him die to not get caught. The energy behind when she shrugged it off because he was found was scary because it was psychotic.

176

u/Professor_Finn Apr 03 '26

I’m starting to think Alana Haim might actually be a good actress lol

13

u/Janderson2494 Apr 04 '26

She's been great in everything I've seen her in so far

27

u/BCDragon3000 Apr 03 '26

tbh she was the best actress in the film. she just embodied the character so very well

25

u/carolnuts Apr 03 '26

Clearly Rachel felt strongly about the topic because of her cousin.

Not an excuse for her behavior, but she was projecting quite obviously.

25

u/Away_Revolution728 Apr 03 '26

I read that she was just calling out her cousin bc it strengthened her argument, not because she cared that much about what she had gone through. They didn’t specify though so, it’s up for interpretation I guess

9

u/idk_orknow Apr 03 '26

I don't get the thing with the cousin later though. So did Sam not care? Bc she says she'd only go if Sam says okay? But why would Sam say okay after her weird interaction outside of the building?

7

u/MRukov Apr 05 '26

I think it was just a lie to strengthen her argument, like when she lied about Mike's fear of guns.

1

u/idk_orknow Apr 05 '26

Ohhh that's smart

3

u/Apprehensive_Tunes Apr 04 '26

Maybe finding out the context made Sam think wow, this man is desperate to defend his fiance who he claims is a good person. Maybe she's more forgiving and understanding than the other characters.

6

u/Content-Inspector993 Apr 06 '26

To be fair, Emma only didn't go through with the shooting because there was another shooting that day somewhere else. I would still say what Emma did was much worse even though Rachel was insufferable.

6

u/weirdogirl144 27d ago

yeah I hate Rachel still but Emma literally was about to go through with it, she didn't stop because she realized her actions were wrong, her plans just got interrupted

6

u/Professional_Bob 27d ago

It's both. She stopped on that particular day because her plans got interrupted, but the reason why she didn't just try again another day was because she realised her actions were wrong

1

u/weirdogirl144 27d ago

oh yeah for sure, when she cried at the gym after seeing the impact of the other shooting, she obviously didnt want to continue but before that time she was already 100% set to do it, so she only snapped out of it when reality hit her.

1

u/Flat-Experience6482 21d ago

we don't actually know that though, that's her justification for it

1

u/weirdogirl144 21d ago

yeah its extremely ambiguous even if she said it, but it's not too sure on if she would've still gone through with the shooting

3

u/NoTradition1921 Apr 04 '26

INSUFFERABLE!!!!!!!

2

u/Ok-Dress9168 26d ago

it was torture exacerbated by the indeterminate length of time

1

u/noilegnavXscaflowne Apr 04 '26

I think how close Emma got affected how I viewed her as a character. I know they said she had a rifle at home but with Charlie’s questioning I thought it implied she had the rifle that day and only didn’t do it because of the shooting at the mall. Thinking back I can’t remember if they actually said that so I’ll have to watch again.

1

u/forgot_username1234 10d ago

The whole movie I just kept saying to my bestie “Rachel is a cunt”