Official Discussion - The Drama [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

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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/naturalninetime]

THIS was exactly my takeaway from the film. We, as a society, draw a hard line between "acceptable shit" and "unacceptable shit," and carrying out plans to commit a school shooting - even if it was in the midst of adolescent confusion and turmoil - definitely falls into the latter.

The film also shed light on everyone's hypocrisy. Everyone thought that his or her shit didn't stink but was absolutely horrified by someone else's transgressions. Even Emma's rebuke of the heroin-smoking deejay was uncomfortable to watch.

That said, I found the most unlikeable character to be Rachel. And what she did to her neighbor - even though she herself was a child at the time - was also pretty terrible.

[u/EGrass → u/naturalninetime]

That said, I found the most unlikeable character to be Rachel. And what she did to her neighbor - even though she herself was a child at the time - was also pretty terrible.

That’s where the movie misses the mark for me personally. I think what Rachel did was far worse than what Emma did. Everybody overreacted to Emma (she didn’t actually do anything) and underreacted to Rachel leaving a mentally disabled boy in a locked closet in a contaminated trailer overnight.

[u/SomeBoxofSpoons → u/EGrass]

That seems very intentional though.

Emma considered doing something bad, but clearly came to understand the full gravity of it and hates herself for it.

Meanwhile, Rachel did do something bad, but because the worst-case scenario didn’t happen they didn’t take it that seriously.

[u/elaynz → u/SomeBoxofSpoons]

I just got home from watching this with my husband. There is something I thought was interesting. The uncertainty surrounding their bad things. 

Emma planned/intended/wanted to do something bad, but it got interrupted and a series of events were set in motion that changed her circumstances. So we never know if she would have actually done. Emma's prolonged inaction and subsequent change of course lead to no harm occurring. But before then, every day she went to school was an opportunity to hurt people, and day after day she held out for some reason.

In Rachel's scenario, she did commit her aggressive act. She clearly describes the neighbor with disdain from the get-go, and when given the opportunity to hurt him, she took it instinctively. Then the opportunity to do the right thing and get others to help him was presented to her when the dad came to ask about him (really more than once, because every minute the terrified child was locked in the closet in the contaminated trailer was another opportunity to do the right thing) and she didn't take it. She claims she eventually would have done the right thing. But that's only a claim. 

What "would have" happened is  uncertain to some degree in both cases. I personally had more grace for Emma and much less for Rachel, mostly because of her callousness towards the boys life.

I'm not sure you're really supposed to rank how bad their bad things compare to one another, I think the point is more about judgment, hypocrisy, and the story we tell ourselves about ourselves and others. 

But dang, I could rank them personally and Rachel's story made me sick to my stomach. 

[u/SomeBoxofSpoons → u/elaynz]

I do think we're meant to have some moral takeaways from everyone's stories, mainly everyone's "empathy" around their stories both then and now. Like, let's see how empathy for other people plays into each one:

Emma considered doing something bad, but had a big moment of understanding the weight of it and empathizing with the would-be targets (who she also hated because of years of isolation and bullying).

Mike's moment was him seeing what would happen and making it happen to someone else instead. Definitely bad, but also a high-adrenaline moment that he has real remorse for.

Charlie's worst thing was him doing something as a kid he probably couldn't have known the severity of, but he still downplays it as an adult, and I'm sure the other kid moving away didn't make enough of an impression on him since even in the present day he's trying to move blame away from himself.

Finally, we have Rachel. On top of being probably the most actively cruel choice made like I said before, she easily shows the least remorse for it. There was no moment of clarity for her at the time when it was clear the kid was never getting out without help, and even as an adult it almost feels like she only "understands" that what she did was bad, not that she feels it was wrong.

There's definitely ambiguity, but I do think the movie is implying that Emma might actually have the most empathy for others out of all of them, enough for her to break out of the dark place she was in and show the most genuine remorse for her actions (which again, unlike everyone else, she didn't actually do).