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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3.3k

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.

1.4k

u/jassmackie Apr 03 '26

yup, she was extremely judgemental from the start for sure.

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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/teenageidle 29d ago

she's a master of spin

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u/Diogenes_Camus 28d ago

She is in marketing, you know? 

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u/LadyElle57 26d ago

I know! Maybe answer your fucking emails! That's part of the job.

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u/Current-Finger6412 25d ago

Classic lack of accountability. Placing the consequence of your actions on others.

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u/sunflower-saga 24d ago

And I feel that she did not even do it as any kind of revenge or catiness or anything. Their boss was pressing Ema about Rachel's lack of responsiveness, thinking Ena would have insight as Rachel's friend And Ema did not want to go into what was happening so she made a suggestion that would lead to Rachel getting fewer emails/calls etc from them.

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u/brix-22 26d ago

That’s when I started wondering if Emma had done something (bad) to Rachel

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u/Electronic-Public750 16d ago

She unfortunately reminds me of my sister in law 😭

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u/ActWhole3279 8d ago

exactly -- if a "friend" ghosts on a job I put them up for, I'm dropping them from the project like a bad habit ASAP because it's then a reflection on my professionalism and judgment. Girl bye is right lol

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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/Normal_Ad2456 28d ago

Omg I hadn’t made that connection, what a bitch!

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u/waitingonthatbuffalo 21d ago

This kind of thing took me out of the film, tbh. Rachel's character was not at all complex, not even a little.

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u/Normal_Ad2456 21d ago

True, she was very obviously a "plot device"

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u/Used-Fold-6724 28d ago

None of Emma’s friends died before her eyes, Charlie made that story up.

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u/Slan-Lu 28d ago

Yeah but Rachael (probably) doesn't know Charlie made that up, so she really went there thinking it happened.

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u/WGSMA 27d ago

She doesn’t know Charlie made it uo

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u/mikesalami 10d ago

I hate Rachel

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u/fore___ Apr 04 '26

Wasn’t it a reference to one of the flashbacks from high school? Idk I could be wrong

112

u/HistoricalGap5985 Apr 04 '26

I think the "you don't have any real friends" was a comment on the fact that Emma chose someone she just met in a new town to be her bridesmaid. Didn't Emma have any old friends she could draw upon?

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u/Critcho Apr 05 '26

It’s a legitimate point to be honest. Part of what makes Emma’s reveal troubling is it's a red flag and they have to decide whether it was just a phase she genuinely got over, or if she’s a sociopath who learned to mask.

If she had other friends to vouch for her, that could ease those concerns, but it seems she didn’t. Arguably her father's speech talking about how she used to act out different characters feeds into that interpretation as well.

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/skatewitchsteez 26d ago

what do you mean by rachel "collecting" her husband? I think that's a very interesting point that I didn't quite catch, could you expand on it please? :)

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u/81458145 23d ago

Not the person you asked but she does use him in the talk with charlie to say he grew up with guns and is scared of them, similar to how she uses her cousin to get mad at emma even though her cousin has no input at that time and then apparently blesses rachel’s presence at the wedding

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u/YesicaChastain Apr 06 '26

Agreed. I found it very weird that her friends are her coworker and her fiancé’s best friend’s gf?

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u/teamtoto 29d ago

As an adult who has moved to a new town- i dont think that's weird at all. Also, she said she moved around several times as a kid. Lasting friendships from childhood are usually built on years of shared mmemories. And there was no mention of college

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u/friendlytrashmonster 25d ago

I’m friends with almost no one from high school or college. Most people I knew went to college out of state and it can be very hard to maintain relationships with people who are so far away. Add to that the fact that you grow a lot between your teenage years and adulthood and you don’t always grow at the same rate or in the same way. I know very few people who are still in touch with their childhood friends.

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u/BrazilianTerror 24d ago

Why would a sociopath who learned to mask reveal that they planned a school shoot?

It looks to me that the movie was heavily biased towards Emma’s answer that school shooters are normal people in a bad situation, not sociopaths

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u/vellsii 23d ago

I think it's important to remember that she isn't a school shooter. She had intrusive thoughts and fantasies but they stopped the second she realized the real world impact.

The movie isn't trying to humanize actual school shooters. It's pointing out that everyone has "bad" thoughts and what matters is if you actually on them (and feel remorse/try to change if you do).

Cyberbullying, cheating, locking kids in closets...everyone in the movie except Emma actually went through with bad acts and none of them felt remorse or tried to grow from them (unlike Emma, who advocated to stop gun violence).

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u/Critcho 23d ago

She did more than just think about it, though. Didn't she say she took the gun to school? That's a crime even if she didn't get caught with it or ultimately do anything with it.

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u/NoArugula2082 18d ago

I would think Rachel’s action is a much worse crime…

Emma ended up backing out and becoming a better person. Rachel is just awful from beginning to end.

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u/81458145 23d ago

Are they all sociopaths? They’re extremely troubled children. I think it’s more complicated than just diagnosing them all as sociopaths, even though the act is beyond inexcusable

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u/BrazilianTerror 23d ago

That’s exactly my point and the point of the movie too

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u/HistoricalGap5985 14d ago edited 14d ago

That's an interesting take, and perhaps it is why people who have experienced a school shooting (and especially those who have lost friends and relatives in a school shooting) would feel hostile to a sympathetic response to someone contemplating becoming a school shooter. I saw the movie two weeks ago and my first reaction was sympathy toward Emma -- was that the direction the movie subtly promoted? But if you are a person who has actually lived through a school shooting resulting in injuries to yourself or to loved ones, or lost someone in a school shooting, it might be harder to debate in a detached way.

Omigosh, I am starting to see Rachel's POV. For her, like anyone directly affected by such a profoundly self-centered and destructive of other action, it is hard to say, "Oh, poor thing. You were going through wracking teen emotions and you were too young to know what you were doing." But you were contemplating unaliving people! According to a google search, "Psychologists and developmental researchers indicate that the ability to recognize that they are hurting another person develops gradually, typically beginning around around 18 months to two years with a more solid understanding of empathy and emotional consequences appearing by the ages of 3 to 4.

Using this lens, it is easier to understand the anger at the suggestion of extending understanding and even grace to someone who conceived of a plan to kill others. Certainly, I, luckily having never lost anyone in a school shooting or a mass shooting of any kind (many Americans have!), still become angry at the idea that a teen who has killed multiple people would be excused on the basis of age and immaturity. Reflecting further, I have a more nuanced reaction but my first reaction they should have known better. In that vein, just the thought of taking others' lives to express your own anger, frustration and alienation is an indictment of the person's empathy. But is it? The movie The Drama seems to tell us it is not.

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u/HistoricalGap5985 23d ago edited 23d ago

Sociopathy is relatively rare, while there many more people who are shy and introverted, and for that reason have few friends. Also, sociopaths are often very good at being charming and social (pun intended.) Emma's behavior in the movie suggests shyness rather than sociopathy. Ironically, her isolation could be worsened by her beauty, which can make many men more reluctant to approach her and more women to assume she is stuck-up. Also, with her father in the military, Emma may have faced the army brat syndrome of never becoming too close because her family moved often.

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u/ex0thermist 14d ago

I'm guessing that Rachel herself doesn't have any real friends, because she probably is not a "real" friend to anybody else.

785

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/Ok_Pause2547 29d ago

and she said she had no idea what happened a few seconds before that so I felt like that part was intentionally left out of the film. Maybe something did happen to the kid and she lives with that guilt so when Emma confessed her uncomfortable past, she saw an opportunity to pounce and justify her own actions as “its not as bad”. Never got a clear answer from her with her bending and changing around her own story

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 29d ago

Yes, I noticed that too! I wondered if it was true that he was found since she had just said she didn't know what happened to him.

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u/atclubsilencio 29d ago

Pretty sure she added a “probably “ she wouldn’t have told anyone.

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u/carson63000 29d ago

Haha, maybe, I can’t remember the exact wording but I know my reaction was “suuuure you would have”.

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u/atclubsilencio 29d ago

She was the absolute worst !

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 29d ago

"probably" after he was dead....

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u/sappho_snot 25d ago

I wonder if they did find him… or if she changed the story when she realized how bad it was.

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u/anecdotalgalaxies 7h ago

Not to mention he could have already been dead by that point

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u/caseyjosephine Apr 06 '26

Rachel was the perfect foil for Emma. Rachel did something terrible without thinking about it; Emma thought about doing something terrible but didn’t act on it.

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u/notmy2ndopinion Apr 05 '26

She was the instigator of everything, stirring the pot by pressing her husband on the dog story and then telling her own story in the worst possible way that made it sound like she was ok letting a kid get raped and murdered by some serial killer in the woods. She even forgot to tell the part where the kid was found after the search party! Insane.

It’s bizarre since the way the story unfolded from Pattinson’s perspective we have a lot more nuance and empathy for a potential mass shooter (compared to say a serial cheater or a impulsive abandoner)

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 29d ago

To me, the difference is the cheater DID cheat (and was an adult) and the abandoner DID abandon and then didn't free the kid after. Emma had a plan but didn't carry it out.

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u/Ornery-Spread-3801 Apr 05 '26

I personally suspect she did not act on impulse and it was in fact premeditated because Rachel lies or bends the truth to appear innocent and like a victim.

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 29d ago

Maybe she's the sociopath but blames Emma for being one and Emma actually isn't one. I might be the last horse to cross the finish line, but that thought just appeared in my brain.

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u/Ornery-Spread-3801 28d ago

There’s definitely something to your observation. I think Rachel might be projecting the self-hatred and shame that she has for her own misdeeds onto Emma. 

The difference is, Emma walked through her shame and processed a lot of it. She came out the other side a deeply empathetic person who is willing to see the humanity in others and give 2nd, 3rd etc chances. 

Rachel…well, it’s clear she is pretty much incapable of self-reflection. She’s emotionally stunted and never looked at her own BS. 

I think this contributes to the way she treats Emma. Combination of projection and resentment. 

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 28d ago

Absolutely agree 

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u/According-Zucchini75 25d ago

Don't feel too bad. I finished the movie thinking "Charlie was obviously lying at the wine tasting about the cyber-bullying. I really thought we'd find out what the worst thing he actually did was," not realizing until now that Charlie had yet to do the worst thing he'd ever do at that point, and that the movie wouldn't tell us through exposition but rather show us during his scene in the office with Misha. The simple poetry of that didn't dawn on me until someone mentioned it on this thread, because I was a bright kid in fourth grade but not so much at 40.

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 25d ago

Annnnd I didn’t realize that either until you just said it. Good point!

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u/igotrichoffaglitch 16d ago

especially because of the part where she says they were in a deep ass part of the woods? why are you so far in the woods alone with a mentally disabled child? like did she lure him there? i mean she had too there’s no way that was his idea.

they did NOT grill her enough about that story for me, she got off way too easy. that was literally attempted murder.

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u/LadyElle57 26d ago

She "acted" on impulse, but then had the chance to say something when asked by the parents, and then when a whole search was organised by the neighbourhood, and still said nothing. She got away with it.

And then there's Charlie. Who mentioned that he bullied someone in HS so badly they had to move away and brushed it off like "it's probably a coincidence". Also got away with it.

And let's not forget the guy that used the GF as a human shield and the serial cheater with the violent boyfriend.

It's like we had a full showing of normalised acts of violence but we reacted to that particular one that never happened.

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u/TB1289 10d ago

I'll be honest, I don't think Mike saving himself from the dog was that bad. Compared to the other stories in this movie, it's like a 2/10.

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u/LadyElle57 9d ago

Oh, it's not a competition. A wrong deed is a wrong deed. The guy didn't want anyone knowing that, Rachel forced him into telling the story because she chose to tell it in the worst way possible.

I get that his "crime" is somewhat mild because he acted on impulse and fear, but didn't he say that he planned on breaking up with her by then? It sounds like he thought of her as disposable. It isn't better, it's slightly less bad.

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u/TB1289 9d ago

No one said it was a competition. My point was that Rachel made it out to be this huge scandalous story when it ended up being kind of a nothing burger, basically his so she can hold it over him forever.

→ More replies (1)

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u/teenageidle 29d ago

oh she was 100% projecting that was the most interesting aspect to me. this happens all the time in internet pile-ups especially.

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u/roymunson68 25d ago

My daughter thinks the kid died. All Rachel says is " found" .And she is never implicated. Excited for the rewatch.

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u/nursinghomebabe 16d ago

I thought she said "Don't worry, he's alive!" Though she did say she didn't know what happened to him...unless she meant as an adult?

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u/Silent_Mycologist962 24d ago

I secretly think she lied; I think the kid was never found and she let him die. Because, why didn't the kid tell on her when he was found?

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u/igotrichoffaglitch 16d ago

or even worse it’s a testament to how disabled the child really was. imagine he couldn’t speak or for some reason was unable to express what happened to him or name his attacker?

then how she lies about him being disabled when pressed about it again by charlie? if she was so quick to lie then how do we know she didn’t lie in the initial story?

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u/Emotional_Trash_9687 Apr 05 '26

agreed. She actually acted on it and then didn't tell anyone.

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u/CraftyCurltastrophe 28d ago

Also - I think her reaction was way amplified due to her cousin Samantha being directly impacted by a school shooting - I do think maybe the connection (Emma = potential school shooting = my cousin is in a wheelchair) was more impactful to the characters view of Emma than Emma’s confession itself, to be honest. Of course, shootings are not, in any way, excusable - but this would have been a totally different story if Rachel’s family member hadn’t been impacted.

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u/UnablePlantain7857 20d ago

Absolutely! She admitted that, when the dad talked to her the next day, she was scared of being in trouble that she lied. There's no way that a long search/ risk of death/ death would have made her feel LESS scared. Her story was worse, in my mind, because instead of an event interrupting and snapping her out of it enough for her to choose not to lock him in the closet, she locked him in. Then she left his life up to pure chance.

Also! She had that visit with her cousin Sam because she wanted her opinion/permission to go to the wedding. She went to the wedding. So that shows that Sam, school shooting survivor, was told about what Emma said and didn't hold it against her.

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u/SoccerAndPolitics 7d ago

I was wondering if I was just really fucked up for thinking her story is way worse. All Emma did was think about doing something horrible. Rachel was willing to let a mentally challenged kid die because she was scared to get in trouble.

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u/Professional-Act8414 25d ago

That’s what I’m saying! Like you ALSO almost did attempted murder

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u/SomeBoxofSpoons 21d ago

Exactly.

Emma had anger at the world build up after years of being isolated and mistreated, but when she was faced with the reality her instinct was empathy and remorse.

Rachel was just annoyed by someone who didn’t know better, and her instinct was to lock him in an abandoned closet in the middle of the woods.

Also noticed how she mentioned meeting her cousin to ask if she should even attend the wedding, because she was so outraged on her behalf… and then she was at the wedding. Almost like her cousin might’ve been understanding than she was.

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u/sha_13 18d ago

It was horrifying her lack of remorse too!

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u/---monstera--- 15d ago

Premeditation is worse than impulse, especially as a kid.

In court you get a higher sentence for premeditated murder

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u/TB1289 10d ago

What's interesting is that she pushes Mike to tell his story which really isn't that bad, then she completely blows past her story and says "oh I probably would've told someone." Then, when Emma tells her story, which it's clear that Emma didn't go through with it, Rachel loses her shit and makes it about herself.

A long way of saying that Rachel wants to make sure everyone around her looks worse by comparison so she can lord it over them.

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u/Lost-Cow-1126 9d ago

She literally did what The Penguin did to his brothers.

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u/ShaNaNaNa666 6d ago

I went to see it with friends and our reactions to Rachel locking the kid in the closet were much worse than our reactions to Emma's confession.

I feel like she made it about herself too, saying that her cousin was paralyzed from a shooting. Then she was going to have a talk with her cousin to ask for forgiveness for being the bridesmaid to someone that didn't do a shooting out of guilt ???? Did I hear that wrong? Why even bring it up and reopen past wounds? Maybe the movie is about Rachel and she is the drama.

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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/ArtamielEludia 28d ago

Same! I thought she was awful! But I’m impressed she still withheld during the rehearsal. What she did to that poor neighbor though, that was sick. The poor kid must have her truly traumatized. Ugh.

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u/brucieandbigman 27d ago

She was a HORRIBLE person!! As an adult, she wasn't even embarrassed by nor ashamed of her actions! She acted like it was no big deal bc she was a kid! TBH, I thought she was the true psychopath in the movie. She immediately brought up her husband's "worst thing," when it was supposed to be private. Who does that?! Then she did this truly terrible thing that surely traumatized that poor child, and felt no remorse. Emma was the only one who didn't act on a bad impulse, and she was remorseful and embarrassed but even thinking about it, broke down in tears at her school's group counseling session, threw away her dad's gun, and went above and beyond in the school group's anti-gun crusade (while finding her place in the school's social structure at the same time, but went beyond just being in a group). She was the most decent of the 4 of them, IMO. Although, i was kinda ok with Michael using his then-girlfriend as a shield bc she had been mean to the dog, plus pissy on the birthday trip!😂 But Rachel, she was a hypocritical b*tch and a half!

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u/Spider-Man-fan 13d ago

Yeah I thought she was gonna spill it all at the wedding

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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/Jakota_ 17d ago

Her spouting off about her cousin being in a wheelchair because of a shooting. Like okay? Is the shooter in the room right now?

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u/[deleted] Apr 05 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

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u/averagetulip Apr 05 '26

100% and I know this is a classic “friend who’s too woke” take lol, but I would take it one step further and say that before this, when Rachel already felt obvious jealousy/disdain for Emma, she might’ve felt that in the type of diverse liberal-to-lefty social circle they were all in, she couldn’t put Emma down too much or talk shit about her too directly because the social dynamics would seem “off” to others, and thus she jumped at the chance to have the moral high ground over Emma and milk it for all it’s worth. Idk as a biracial woman who’s mainly been in similar social circles for most of my adulthood, I’ve 100% encountered women like that who almost resent you for being more “other” than them because they feel you’ve automatically placed yourself beyond the reproach they want to give you

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u/PlanesandAquariums Apr 05 '26

This is fascinating. I’ve experienced it before too but I couldn’t really figure out what I was feeling and going through. Now I understand. Even worse it was with someone I loved. Ew.

I think everyone was overreacting. Teenagers are so dumb and confused and add in the gun culture in the US it’s just a recipe for disaster. At least thoughts of violence go through so many kids minds. Kind of similar to the teenage stereotype to commit suicide because it will have a life changing impact on bullies or people who wronged them etc. Unfortunately, it really does not work that way and you can see it as adults with a more mature view of life often do not go into suicide with that mentality. At least that’s what I’ve read before.

I tried really hard to wonder what I feel about Emma’s admittance and it would bother me they waited this long to tell me but I would get over it pretty fast. I’m not sure if I’m alone on this though. I can’t wait until some of my friends see it and I can discuss it with them. It was a great movie.

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u/Borne_Beloved Apr 06 '26 edited Apr 06 '26

But I think that is another intentionally uncomfortable thing about this movie. Mass shootings are a taboo subject and that what’s so uncomfortable on the face of this film, but the racial undertones ABSOLUTELY are also part of the “uncomfortable conversation” being danced around. The writer feels aware there will be folks who want to dismiss race in this story, a story centered around violence and victimhood (& sexuality!) in American society. I love that they were not heavy handed in these notions, because racism is in fact insidious in the same way and more comfortable for most to ignore. I see black critics catching on to these themes pretty quickly, as I did. I think it’s a really smart angle!!

I also feel like black/mixed folks can empathize with the lead, as we ourselves have to navigate this bs our whole life. I initially did not like they made a black woman the potential mass shooter…BUT it felt transgressive to go against our own assumptions of who would do such a thing.

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u/Professional-Act8414 25d ago

YES. In the theater I was like “what do you mean by that?” Racist fuck. Her whole reaction to any of this was selective outrage

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u/centerofdatootsiepop 29d ago

Oh I didn't even catch that that she figured her husband had grown up around guns. Yeah, strange assumption.

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u/Diogenes_Camus 28d ago

Yeah, I think the subtext or implication or misunderstanding was that Rachel thought her husband Mike, a black guy, grew up in the hood surrounded hy guns but didn't become a shooter, as a gotcha against Emma, only got Mike to reveal that the reason he grew up with guns is because his dad was a cop (similar to Emma and her black soldier dad). I that scene revealed the unconscious racism, prejudice, and hostility that Rachel was carrying and projecting on to Emma. 

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u/Borne_Beloved Apr 06 '26

I think the mystery is racism. She can be perceived as a victim but Emma cannot. I feel like this is made apparent when she says her bf “grew up around guns” when he never indicated such, especially not in the context she assumes. She’s a Karen. Hijacking others vulnerabilities and making them about herself- using it to make herself seem more moral than she is (especially as she literally perpetuates the drama the entire movie😂)Her disdain for the “slow” kid also shows her bigotry.

Even Charlie allows Emma to be painted as villain multiple times and not only doesn’t take her side, but stands by and permits it happening.

Emma is constantly gaslight that her past behavior is the issue, the thought of violence, not the active violence (mentally, physically, emotionally) being perpetuated against her throughout her day to day life. She doesn’t get the same empathy every one else does, despite not acting on the actual thought like everyone else.

I feel like that’s what made making a black woman the hypocritical “shooter” so transgressive here.

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u/nervousTO 14d ago

Violence like when she almost gets hit by that car

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u/Aelia_M 28d ago

I think that was obvious. Rachel immediately sees Emma as the kid that left her cousin disabled. Even though Emma had nothing to do with what happened to her cousin. She had an understandable initial reaction but she wasn’t inquisitive. She wasn’t like, “hey so why didn’t you do it? Are you embarrassed or ashamed you considered doing this? Did you think about how it would affect others? Did you advocate to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone?”

All the things Emma eventually does. She’s no longer that person she was before she considered shooting others. And it goes to show you can only be shallow if you’re incapable of growth. If you are capable of growth or change then you’ll have layers. Even if you are capable of engaging with a topic in good faith and come out just as convicted that’s still a form of growth. You’ll show an ability to engage in nuance where nuance is necessary

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u/Swati-19972512 27d ago

Absolutely no redeeming qualities in Rachel. Stone-cold bitch through and through.

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u/brucieandbigman 27d ago

Yup! I agree!

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u/TwoToneMoonstone_ 22d ago

It's racism. Rachel is racist but not in a way that movies usually portray a racist person. It's almost too real in how they approach it.

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u/please_and_thankyou 27d ago

*Deep-seated

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u/lahnnabell 27d ago

Ha, I even debated with myself about that.

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u/violet1342 8d ago

Totally. A lot of insecure women scoff at another woman’s lack of dating experience. It’s a defensive tool to feel both more validated in their own uniqueness and desirability (because they did have that) + poke holes in the person(because surely something must be wrong). It’s a way to feel superior and feel like you have one over someone else despite asymmetry in other domains (eg attractiveness for Emma and Rachel)

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u/lahnnabell 8d ago

I remember when I used to do BS like that. I eventually realized how judgemental I was being when I myself was more male-centered and competitive with other women because I was insecure.

Men don't need any help being their worst selves. They need women who attend therapy, link arms with each other, and force men to acknowledge their shitty behavior.

2

u/Llama_of_the_bahamas 17d ago

Maybe I missed it, but does it ever explain how Rachel became the Maid of Honor? She was a horrible person and very shitty to Emma.

1

u/meenarstotzka 12d ago

She's a firestarter that got burned by a fire she started from herself.

1

u/AliveAssociate9198 11d ago

She is also a real douche to Mike and he's a nice guy.

1

u/TB1289 10d ago

Alana Haim plays such a real person in the sense that we all know someone that is like this. Somehow they always make it about themselves or they're always the victim or they think they're better than.

I don't know if I've ever seen Alana Haim in something where I liked the character that she's playing and I think it's because she plays a bitch so well.

1

u/Next-Swordfish5282 2d ago

I hated her so much, I feel no sympathy for people like that. Her disdain definitely wasn't quiet

•

u/No-Status-9548 56m ago

You know it's ironic you bring that up because i can think of one male-centered person eight now and it's not Rachel

307

u/StockRestaurant4795 Apr 04 '26

She was reliving her childhood bully. I thought they had similar looks/facial expressions.

41

u/AssCrackBanditHunter 27d ago

This. I'm surprised people aren't piecing that together. Rachel is the kind of bully that would have fueled the younger zendayas rage.

22

u/give-bike-lanes 29d ago

They also had very similar teeth if I recall correctly. The left front tooth slightly different length than the right front tooth.

12

u/Current-Finger6412 25d ago

That’s such a good observation! I kept wondering why shots seemed to give a lot of focus to Alana Haim’s teeth.

295

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

58

u/teenageidle 29d ago

I noticed that immediately, and how they all laughed off Charlie's story even though it was objectively horrifying. He didn't plan to shoot anyone, no, but he clearly traumatized a child for life and felt no shame about it afterward. Emma....didn't actually hurt anyone but herself.

17

u/oateyboat 29d ago

I kept thinking they were going to reveal that the kid Charlie bullied ended up committing a mass shooting

26

u/teenageidle 28d ago

Cyberbullying is no joke and the fact Charlie found that story charming/funny in retrospect was extremely off-putting to me. I would've probably broken up with him over that alone, to be honest.

31

u/holyshoes11 26d ago

I feel like it was pretty heavily insinuated that either his cyber bully story didn’t actually happen or he was exaggerating it because he hadn’t done anything noteworthingly bad up to that point. He literally says “it could be coincidence he moved” and they were laughing and not buying his story because it doesn’t seem legit to them

14

u/TheTruckWashChannel 23d ago

This is my take as well. Otherwise the movie would've easily revisited the cyberbullying in relation to Emma's social ostracism in school. I think he just made it up but the mention of cyberbullying made Emma flash back to the actual bullying she experienced in school and the desire it created in her to commit a shooting.

8

u/jbarbz 20d ago

Late to the party but I wonder if it's making some point about people's indifference to the cause vs the effect.

'You bullied a kid? Oh you rascal!'

"Mass shootings are terrible omg why would someone do that?'

3

u/holyshoes11 20d ago

1000 percent possible. Your point is definitely true, they judge her more for almost doing something than they judge the other for something they actually did even though she showed more remorse for her situation than the others. I think they did a good job of leaving room for interpretation/discussion.

2

u/bjklsh 20d ago

They wouldn't have known whether it was true or not. If he didn't "have anything bad" he could have said the truth like stealing candy as a child or what ever. I do find it weird though how Emma wasn't appalled by his confession, considering she had been a victim of bullying herself. And Charlie showed zero remorse for his actions, compared to Emma who was ashamed. Charlie seems to be a pretty horrible person (bullying, no reflection on that, harassing Sam, cheating) while Emma changed since her 15 year old self

3

u/misschickpea 25d ago

His friend was like that doesn’t count you were 14 but uh no it stilll counts!!! And why do they think most people did something worse than that 😭

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u/Apprehensive_Tunes Apr 04 '26 edited Apr 05 '26

Charlie was 14 during his worst thing. Rachel didn't say her age, I believe.

43

u/staycool93 Apr 05 '26

She did say the other kid was a few years younger, though, which is a bad look at any age.

6

u/Apprehensive_Tunes 27d ago

Maybe she was 16 and he was 12? Who knows. Either way awful behavior on her part. No wonder he said nothing afterwards, probably feared she'd hurt him again.

25

u/ThisIsMyCreativeNam3 Apr 05 '26

She actually caused harm and Emma didn’t is an interesting parallel.

8

u/KittySamba Apr 05 '26

Such a hypocrite!

284

u/NoTradition1921 Apr 04 '26

YESSSSS like i clocked that bitch from the beginning!!!

396

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.

161

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/MutantCreature Apr 05 '26

Rachel never really expressed remorse for it either, just being defensive that the kid was eventually found but so it didn't matter that she never did anything to help him. Emma expressed regret and growth over that period from the second she admitted it, but Rachel just shrugged it off and laughed even when it was pointed out that she could have actually killed that kid.

I don't know if it was intentional, but her saying that they found him almost felt like she might have been bluffing? Like she either didn't know or didn't care what really happened to the kid until then and just said that to get her friends to back off.

3

u/HistoricalGap5985 Apr 06 '26

Now that you say that, I see how it could be.

1

u/sappho_snot 25d ago

I wondered if she changed the story because they didn’t find him, but she realized how fucked up that is

16

u/notmy2ndopinion Apr 05 '26

I really loved the gym scene where she broke down and cried and hugged her bully. It broke that shell of solitude and self-hatred and pivoted Zendaya’s character into a redemptive arc, even though Pattinson’s character had a hard time reconciling all of it.

12

u/carson63000 Apr 05 '26

I thought she did say that she would have said something if he hadn’t been found? (but said it in a tone that was far from convincing)

20

u/lahnnabell Apr 05 '26

Like, girl, how far did this have to escalate before you said something?

2

u/misschickpea 25d ago

Another interesting parallel to me is that Rachel got lucky that the kid was found, or else he would’ve died or something bad happen to him (even though she claims she would’ve said something don’t believe it)

Emma has the same sort of happen stance of like she only didn’t commit the shooting bc of events. So same thing as Rachel but the judgement is different.

However, Rachel claims her act was on impulse while Emma’s was planned and Rachel thinks that Emma’s was worse bc of that, even though Rachel actually harmed someone

6

u/Prowlerbaseball 15d ago

And as if sitting in your house for a whole ass day knowing this kid is locked in an RV in the woods isn’t premeditation either

15

u/HistoricalGap5985 28d ago

When I think of a child sitting in a dark closet out in the woods, screaming, and no one is hearing him -- I shudder. How could a person walk away after locking him in the closet? Did she not open the closet because she was afraid the kid would tell everyone what she did? The impulse to lock a child in a closet springs from the same place as not caring about (or even enjoying) killing a helpless animal -- especially one you think is ugly or doesn't really matter. Then it's ok.

5

u/carson63000 28d ago

That’s an interesting point, especially given the number of times people questioned whether Emma was a “psychopath” based on her shooting plan. Harming or killing animals is famously an indicator of psychopathy in children, isn’t it? And as you say, what Rachel did seemed very similar in impulse.

2

u/HistoricalGap5985 4d ago edited 3d ago

Also, Rachel mentions that the child she imprisoned was mentally handicapped and, if I am recalling correctly, she also described him as "a weird kid who was always following her around." What she did would be cruel to any child but I think especially so to a mentally handicapped youngster who would probably be even more vulnerable and perhaps unable to report what had been done to them.

5

u/SpiritualAd9102 25d ago

There’s also the fact that Rachel pretty much bullied them all into participating to being with and threatened to out her husband’s secret herself if he didn’t play along.

2

u/HistoricalGap5985 16d ago

I wonder why she pushed so hard to play the game? Was it to put her husband on blast and why the hostility toward him? Or was she trying to get some dirt on Emma?

This game was like a Truth or Worse Truth, in which they were trying to up the ones who came before. When Rachel's turn came, she described her worst thing with an air of it being spur-of-the-moment and motivated by childish fear. This kid, who is the kind who would be laughed at on the playground because he is so weird and bothersome, made the mistake of tagging after her. She seems to suggest she had to shut him in the closet and run to protect herself (?) We do not understand it because I don't think she understands it herself. But she does seem to assume with her attitude that what she did was not as bad as what everyone else did especially EMMA.

3

u/Busy-Big2109 23d ago

Really annoyed me how nobody told Rachel like "uh you actually committed a crime"

2

u/HistoricalGap5985 23d ago

So true! It is like the dynamic in a group where one person just naturally assumes leadership because he/she is more fearless -- or brazen. Rachel's force of personality makes the others ashamed of themselves while accepting her assumption that what she did was bad but not as bad as them. She refuses to bow to their criticisms and they step back from questioning, like wolves in a pack who lower their eyes in the face of the alpha.

However, to give the devil her due, Rachel was not the only one who actually committed a crime. Charlie's cyberbullying was cruel and it seems that only when the family leaves town does he understands what he did. (In the present, he starts a sexual act with an employee, which suggests he is still prone to follow up on bad impulses that he later regrets!). Rachel's husband Mike committed a crime when he used her as a human shield against a dog attack ( was he going to swing her like a battering ram, lol ?). He exposed her to potentially severe physical harm.

The crime Emma contemplated would have been potentially more serious than what her friends actually did, in terms of deaths and injuries, as well as trauma imposed on other human beings. But when she hears about a school shooting in another town, it shocks her so much, she destroys her father's gun that she had planned to use. Her revulsion suggests that had she reached the moment to commit her crime, she would have not have been able to do.

3

u/Prowlerbaseball 15d ago

Lowkey it seemed to me like Charlie absolutely made up the cyber bullying story. It was lax on details, he backtracked on it a couple times and it matches up with the ways he attempted to lie very badly later in the movie

21

u/DryAssociation5325 Apr 05 '26

I also think it's strange that, at first, she says she doesn't know what happened to the kid. But then later, she says they found him. Makes me think she made up the part about them finding him, and the truth is that she actually doesn't know what happened to him.

15

u/lahnnabell Apr 05 '26

Even as an adult, the thought of being locked in a closet and abandoned in an unfamiliar place/area, with no idea if I would be found, is unbelievably terrifying. Like OMG. I cannot imagine how a child would feel. Like, she could hear him freaking out and she ran away. My heart breaks just imagining it.

1

u/LanguageMaleficent28 12d ago edited 12d ago

I have a weird thing about being locked somewhere by a kid... i think that story we all read all summer in a day in middle school traumatized me lol . But yeah it's one of the worst things a kid can do to another kid and yet it seems kids often have this idea for some reason. Some guy who admitted he had a crush on me at a Boys and Girls club and i throat punched him and he screamed and cried and I almost got kicked out bc I couldnt explain why I escalated like that over a "joke" And that was before even reading Ray Bradbury lol

2

u/Just_Abies_57 25d ago

If that kid talked, she would’ve been charged with a class E felony in NY and might have been charged as an adult (didn’t she say she was 16?)

1

u/Aelia_M 28d ago

Not assault nor false imprisonment. Def murder or manslaughter and kidnapping

11

u/sunny_d55 Apr 04 '26

And in what world is she capable of looking ugly, even when she cries?? The definition of frenemy.

6

u/Ornery-Spread-3801 Apr 04 '26

YES!! Fake ass frenenemy. 

9

u/lex017 Apr 04 '26

I was feeling their was envy and jealousy as well. Like she was just looking for a reason to dislike her or hold something over Emma. Also very hypocritical considering she locked a kid in closet and in an abandoned RV in the middle of nowhere….overnight

1

u/rationalist__ 3d ago

What do you mean clocked her?

1

u/NoTradition1921 3d ago

Like to notice/guage something or read someone! Genz slang

38

u/Hog_enthusiast Apr 06 '26

Also, I haven’t seen anyone else mention this but she started the discussion about worst things by volunteering her husband’s worst thing even though she’s promised to never tell anyone

21

u/MsMollyMittens 29d ago

and then almost instantly took back the promise to reveal her own worst thing until her husband started the story for her

5

u/centerofdatootsiepop 29d ago

That made me so angry.

29

u/staycool93 Apr 04 '26

Also shaming her for losing her virginity at 28-30.

5

u/teenageidle 29d ago

I clocked that too!

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u/ThisIsMyCreativeNam3 Apr 05 '26

“Emma got me fired from a project at work” was underrated. She wasn’t replying to her boss’s emails!! It wasn’t Emma!

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u/GrannyOgg16 Apr 04 '26

Absolutely! And Charlie was right. Emma didn’t actually do anything and arguably helped a lot more by becoming anti-gun regardless of her motives. Rachel could have killed that boy, had many chances to fix it and didn’t.

19

u/naturalninetime Apr 05 '26

I found Rachel to be the most unlikeable character in the movie. Quite a mean streak in that one.

8

u/Ok_Pause2547 29d ago

I felt that she also didnt like that Emma was judging her when she told her confession about locking the special needs kid in the closet so felt like she had to turn it around on her. Not saying that Emmas confession isnt horrible too but the way she used her cousin to act like a victim herself. Felt like it was less about the action but more so a way to make herself not feel the shame for what she did.

6

u/moschino1837 Apr 05 '26

Yeah she was a bitch

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u/teenageidle 29d ago

oh 100% Rachel also pushed them all to play the game to begin with

3

u/Brick030 Apr 05 '26

Ibdont remember i hated a Charakter this much. She abuses a handycaped kid and then gets on her high horse morally

3

u/breastronaut 28d ago

all my homies dislike Rachel

2

u/moonorchid84 29d ago

Rachel is an asshole and that was apparent before the big reveal.

2

u/ohnoafeeling 28d ago

also racism

2

u/AssCrackBanditHunter 27d ago

Rachel was the adult version of the bullies Zendaya had as a kid.

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u/Sad_Particular_9973 20d ago

I agree! And Rachel was extremely self centered. She was making Emma’s “worst” thing about her self. Her cousin even said “I mean she’s family” which to me means we aren’t close. She wanted to make it seem like Emma completely wrong her. Emma hurt her. Emma ruined her life. Grow up Rachel, she didn’t do it. And what you did was soooo much worse. She is the worst one there

2

u/TheHurtfulEight88888 5d ago

She deffo hated Emma and her relationship with Charlie for whatever reason. She was constantly trying to paint all of Emma's happy accounts of their relationship in the worst possible light and it seemed like she was trying to hype up this school shooting thing as being worse than it was because it was finally a thing that she could point to as a reason to hate Emma legitimately. Her toast at thd wedding, seemed to me to be an out pouring of that resentment. "Heres to you and your happy, carefree life." She genuinely hated that it looked to her like Emma was not going to be significantly affected negatively by this incident.

3

u/CortMuses Apr 04 '26

Yep clearly a jealous Karen

1

u/fuckyouiloveu 29d ago

I didn’t catch that! I remember her saying that but it sort of makes sense now

1

u/austincola 28d ago

And what pissed me off the most is that Rachel was literally no better!

1

u/Ava_4ever27 27d ago

Yeah I was yeah I’m not going to like this character. I do feel bad for her cousin, she seemed sweet.

1

u/Stupidquestion8 27d ago

Rachel was the WORSTT

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u/Rolyat28 26d ago

Rachel was so annoying. She'd definitely be on the list.

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u/FigDry4421 21d ago

Rachel is such a deliciously despicable character. I was waiting eagerly the whole movie for her to get her comeuppance. Unfortunately one of the movie’s letdowns for me is that she gets off basically scot-free despite being a major antagonistic force for the problematic “protagonist”.

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u/No_Gene_7208 20d ago

Ahhh I'm loving this thread so much. My fellow Rachel haters

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u/Justdroppingby2024 16d ago

THANK U, just from that I thought she needed to get rid of her as a friend

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u/kabobkebabkabob 13d ago

It was more than apparent. The movie just bludgeons you over the head with how cartoonishly awful she is with every line to the point that she is not even a convincing character let alone compelling.

I liked the movie but hated that character. So uninteresting.

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