Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in “The Drama.”
A24
This article contains major spoilers for “The Drama.”
About halfway into the new A24 dark romantic comedy “The Drama,” the characters played by Oakland’s own Zendaya and “Twilight” hunk Robert Pattinson are meeting with their wedding photographer and taking a few test shots. They grimace at the camera, leading the photographer to remind the couple that they know each other really well. And, you know, are in love.
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It’s a cringey moment, but this darkly cynical film kicks off in a more adorable fashion, as bumbling British art historian Charlie (Pattinson) spots Emma (Zendaya) reading by herself at a cafe. He approaches her and pretends to have just finished the book she’s reading, but his pickup line falls on deaf ears — literally, as Emma is deaf in her right ear. Charlie, thinking she’s ignoring him, retreats and then comes back to apologize, into her good ear, and stumbles his way into a first date and a meetup that he plans to rehash for his wedding speech.
The film flashes forward to a blissfully engaged Charlie and Emma tasting their way through a potential wedding menu with their best man Mike (Mamoudou Athie, “Kinds of Kindness”) and maid of honor Rachel (Alana Haim, “Licorice Pizza”). The trouble — and the controversy — starts here, when they begin playing a game in which they reveal the worst thing they’ve ever done.
If you’d like to stay spoiler-free, here’s where you should stop reading.
Mike shares an anecdote about using his then-girlfriend as a human shield during a dog attack. Rachel says she locked a childhood friend in a closet. Charlie cops out with a benign anecdote about cyberbullying a classmate until they moved away (likely unrelated). Then Emma shares her worst story, which serves as the film’s pivot point from gushy to distressing.
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Emma reveals that, as a teen, she planned and nearly executed a school shooting. Rachel, whose cousin was paralyzed in a school shooting, has a particularly visceral reaction, which triggers a fit of self-doubt in Charlie. Can he spend the rest of his life with someone who so seriously contemplated murder? He now knows his fiancee a little too well, resulting in that uncomfortable photo shoot and a disastrous wedding day.
Naturally, A24 hasn’t publicly revealed the film’s odd turn, and the marketing blitz behind the “The Drama” includes a kitschy wedding chapel in Las Vegas, which Zendaya recently crashed to serve as a witness for two strangers.
The promo stunt does little to prepare viewers for how morbid the film becomes. The rest of the film features flashbacks to a teenage Emma (Jordyn Curet) as she prepares to enact the shooting, practicing her aim in the woods with her father’s rifle (which results in her deafness) and going so far as to record a manifesto video and bring a weapon to school. She abandons the plan and then ironically ends up joining a group advocating for gun control, but the change in her does little to dissuade her fiance.
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Robert Pattinson and Zendaya in “The Drama.”
A24
The stressful and uncomfortable plot twist elevates the film out of normal rom-com territory and into a much more sinister place, buoyed by a fantastic script and strong performances from the leads as their idyllic romance spirals out of control. But it has led to some vocal criticism.
Speaking to TMZ, Tom Mauser, whose son Daniel was killed during the Columbine High School shooting in 1999, condemned the unexpected revelation in the film, calling the use of adolescent violence “awful” and that the casting of Zendaya “humanizes” and “normalizes” a reprehensible act. Mauser also took issue with an interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in which he believes Zendaya makes light of the film’s plot pivot as she discusses viewer reactions.
“Everybody has their own kind of feelings leaving the theater, especially with the big twist, and there’s so many conversations that are had after you watch it,” Zendaya said to Kimmel, before stressing that she hopes viewers can stay spoiler-free (sorry!).
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“Without revealing anything, I could see this movie causing a lot of problems for a lot of people in their personal lives,” Kimmel said.
“Yes, those conversations can go many ways,” Zendaya replied.
In addition to the controversy surrounding the planned school shooting, the director Kristoffer Borgli (“Dream Scenario”) has also made headlines regarding an essay he wrote for a Norwegian publication in 2012. In the essay, he discusses a relationship he had with a high school girl when he was 27 years old (her age was unclear; the age of consent in Norway is 16). Borgli cited Woody Allen’s “Manhattan” as reassurance that his relationship was appropriate, ending his essay with an anecdote about sneaking out of the girl’s bedroom window to avoid being caught by her parents.
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