The drama was one of those movies that was good, but it didn’t blow me away the way I expected it to. Because of the hype surrounding the movie. Let’s be honest: The Drama stars the likes of Zendaya and Robert Pattinson. Two of Hollywood’s most sought-after stars in a romance flick. Some might say a match made in heaven. But here we have two of the hottest names in the game right now. Together for the first time on screen. I mean, the checks write themselves. Now the script doesn’t, so they still have to put together a great performance. But I’m sure they knew as soon as this movie was greenlit that they would put butts in seats. Simply based on name, image, likeness alone. So needless to say, expectations were high.
Now you might be wondering why I separated the two. Personally, after watching and reviewing almost 100 different movies, TV shows, and anime. Is that two things can be true at once. A movie can be bad but still have great performances. Like when the story or the plotline never really lives up to the characters within it. Now, by no means do I think The Drama is a quote-unquote bad movie. It’s just not as great as the performances by the two actors in it. That's where the red flags come in. Which have many meanings in the context of this film. The first one is the subject matter. Trigger warning. The shock factor of The Drama is that it discusses school shootings. Or at least the potential of one, under the guise of a drinking game gone wrong. Now I know A24 is known for pushing boundaries. They have a whole host of different kinds of movies under their belt. But maybe they should have, idk, put some kind of trigger warning ahead of this movie. Shoot, or even in the movie itself.
Granted, the way that they navigated it in the story is tasteful. And you don’t really see anything that crazy, but that’s where the movie goes left for me. Now I won’t go into crazy detail about all that went into it cause I think the movie itself does a good job of exploring that. But outside of the shock of it all, I don’t know how much it added to the movie as a whole. I mean, there is plenty of teen angst to go around. But it definitely sparked the beginning of the end of everything. So I guess you could say that it serves its purpose, but idk, man. Something about it just doesn’t sit right with me, but aye, who am I to tell somebody how to do their art? I’m just a guy who likes to talk about movies, TV, and anime on the internet.
I do think this movie is definitely interesting and thought-provoking. On a multitude of levels. So let’s get more into that. Hopefully it brings more awareness to look for the signs, maybe not. Regardless, I can’t call it. Let me know if y'all feel the same way or not; I'm curious about what the pulse is amongst the general public. But that was just one of the many red flags in this movie. And once you kind of accept the premise of the movie, then the real drama starts. I mean, just imagine you're about to marry the love of your life. And while you're trying to decide what cake you're going to have on your wedding day, you get hit stick by Ray Lewis. If you know ball, you would know that's the last person you wanna see on the football field. But back to the subject at hand. That is basically what Zendaya’s character, Emma Harwood, did. When she finally took her turn in the worst drinking game known to man. Emma basically became Ray Lewis. Blame it on the alcohol, if you want to. She really sat up there and said that she almost did a school shooting when she was a kid….
Yeah, you heard me right. Obviously, like us in the audience, everybody at the table was shocked. Dumbfounded even. And then a slew of questions followed. Even as I'm writing this, I can’t believe that this was the one thing that she decided to share. And neither could she. But you know what they say: a drunken man’s words are a sober man’s thoughts. But all I could think of at the time was that it was an immediate red flag. Flagrant foul, level two, immediate ejection. No longer was I thinking that The Drama was gonna be simple or safe. Relying on the same old, tired tropes that cause drama in relationships. You know, like some kind of infidelity or crossing of boundaries. From that point on, all I saw were red flags everywhere.
Now I will be honest, this might be a me problem. Because after that, all benefit of the doubt went out the window. Not just with Emma, but everybody. Cause at this point I’m like, where are you taking us? I can’t take nothing about this movie at face value anymore. Just like Robert Pattinson’s character, Charlie, I’m questioning everything. Which is probably a green flag as a director or writer cause you are making the audience feel something. Even if it's second-hand embarrassment, anxiety, stress, grief, all that. Shawty really just blew her whole life up with one statement. One statement about something she thought about doing, not something she did. But it's a deeper feeling; nonetheless, I guess you could say a win is a win.
So I guess, technically, this movie isn’t all red flags; some might say they sprinkled some green ones in there too. Now, The Drama holistically brings about a lot of different feelings. Emotions that permeate throughout the entire duration of the film. See, I don't want it to seem like I’m boxing them into any one given plot device. Cause The Drama is multifaceted. In its approach to storytelling and character development. And even the plot devices they choose to deploy at certain times. It all felt intentional. Which leads me to the next red flag. Emma doesn’t really have any friends of her own. At least none that were not connected to her job or Robert Pattinson’s character. I mean, his best friend's wife was gonna be her maid of honor. Now we do find out later in her backstory that Emma was a military brat and an only child. Shout out to all the only childs out there, keep holding it down. But yeah, at the end of the movie, when I sat down and thought about the wedding reception, I was like, who were all those people? Family and friends...
Granted, it makes sense that if you're moving around a lot as a kid, you might not have a lot of long-term friends. Cause you change schools every like 2 years. But to be grown and all your quote-unquote closest friendships didn’t exist until you met your partner. I mean, Charlie was the one from another country across the pond. So it would make sense why his family & friends might have trouble. Pulling up to the wedding, you know, logistics-wise. Trust me, I get it; found family is a thing. I’m not denying that; I just thought it was odd that Emma’s maid of honor was her soon-to-be husband's best friend's wife. Say that three times fast. Plus, the time between relationship and wedding was like two years, so that doesn’t help the cause either. But I digress. Cause there are plenty more red flags from Emma specifically that I could get into. But I would rather you watch the movie to yourself.
And before y'all jump on me in the comments, Charlie is not exempt from the red flag mania that is The Drama either. The thing about Charlie's red flags is that they come across as endearing early on in the movie. They are a lot more subtle and under the guise of good intentions gone wrong. See, Charlie is basically a pathological liar. I mean, he lies all up and down this movie. And it comes off as quote-unquote endearing cause of the gesture, or maybe it’s just the accent; I don’t know for sure. But at least Emma knows how to keep it a buck around here. I mean, the first thing he ever told Emma was a lie. Charlie be lying to keep from crying. He be lying to himself and tryna pass it off to other people. And sometimes he just be lying to lie. But it’s a trait that gets him into trouble again and again. Making this "drama" way bigger than it needed to be. To be quite frank, it's by way of sheer incompetence. Out of fear of making things worse. Unfortunately, he did just that.
Another trait that I noticed with Charlie that some might call a red flag is his impulsive nature. Granted, that impulsivity is a part of Emma and Charile’s love story. But it could have also been the end of it. Especially when that energy gets put in the wrong place. Now I won’t dive too deep into that in case you are reading this before watching the video. But it’s almost like you could see it coming. Like the writing was on the wall, so to speak. The Drama really explored how both characters dealt with adversity. Whether it was one of them trying to avoid it all. Hoping it would all just go away before their wedding day. Or it was the one trying to rationalize and solve a problem. That technically it’s something you can even resolve practically. Cause, you know, technically it never happened.
The Drama is a tough, tough scenario to be in. What I loved about this movie is that it felt like we, as the audience, were really in the trenches with them. Looking for answers ourselves. Witnessing the possible destruction or rebirth of a union that hasn’t even jumped the broom yet. If people even still do that. I don’t know when the last time I've seen anybody do that, no disrespect, obviously. But back to the point I was making. We really got to see these two characters at their lowest and most vulnerable. I think they both delivered. I also loved how they used their vows to help tell their love story. The way we would jump from past to present. Back and forth along with the backstories or flashbacks. It made the movie a real roller coaster to watch.
This movie really calls into question how bad you want to be in a relationship with someone. Or better yet, partnership. Cause at the end of the day, where is the line? If you really love this person, what are you willing to compromise on, and what’s non-negotiable? Granted, based on what Emma did or thought about doing at one point in her life. Yeah, she might have crossed a line. But if you ask somebody else, they could have said that Charlie jumped over it. Based on his actions later on in the movie. What matters more: potential harm or actual betrayal? I’ll let you be the judge of that. All I know is that, as far as The Drama goes. They tackle all that and more. I just think that the idea of this movie is a lot bigger than what this movie kinda ended up being.
I wish they would have allowed Zendaya’s character Emma to take a more active role in this movie. Outside of just flashbacks and backstories. At least up until the grand crescendo that was their hot mess of a wedding day. But I can’t lie, it was an entertaining hot mess fosho but that's why I would give it an 8/10 g-files score. The Drama is a thought-provoking movie. That sparked enough discourse where you could get a real look into somebody’s worldview. Based on how they felt about the movie. So, at the end of the day, I would definitely recommend that you watch The Drama.
