For most, their wedding day is supposed to be a time of joy and celebration. It’s the happiest day of your life. You’ve found love and are ready to make a commitment and build a life with someone you know deeply. But what happens when all those feelings and plans get derailed?

In the new film The Drama, we have a couple that are faced with that exact question. The film from writer/director Kristoffer Borgli is about a couple embarking on their wedding week when a simple question and game among friends throws everything out of balance.

We meet Charlie (Robert Pattinson) as he’s writing his wedding speech and toast. He’s about to marry Emma (Zendaya), and he’s deeply in love. Through the process of his speech, we see how they met. We see their awkward first date. And we see how the fire of passion has bloomed between them.

And Emma feels the same. As we see her talking with friends, she’s smitten with Charlie and excited about their future. He’s her first great love and she’s ready to be married. But they still have to nail some of the details.

So, Charlie and Emma gather with their best friends—Mike (Mamoudou Athie) and Rachel (Alana Haim)—to finalize the catering menu. As they kick back with a bottle of wine, it turns to a bit of a game. Mike and Rachel, before they were married, shared the worse thing they’d ever done with each other. They suggest that Charlie and Emma do the same, offering to share their own deep, dark secret first.

It starts as an awkward game of revelations as Mike, then Rachel, and then Charlie share their story. Finally, it gets to Emma, who digs deep and offers up a secret that shakes all those at the table to their core. Will it derail her relationship with Charlie and their upcoming wedding?

I’ll be honest, I don’t do well sitting in discomfort with shows and movies. Famously, when watching The Office, there were times I had to leave the room when Michael Scott got going. I squirm, I struggle, and I want to be anywhere else. But you can only get me to that point if you’ve executed a deeply uncomfortable narrative at a high level.

I don’t say that as a criticism, but rather as a nod to Borgli and his work here. This film is deeply unsettling and deeply uncomfortable. It forces you to sit in that discomfort for a long time, then turns it up to 11 in the Third Act at what has to be the wildest wedding I’ve ever seen. That is a credit to him as a writer and director.

It’s also a credit to his cast. The supporting work is strong, with Haim definitely making her presence felt. So, too, does Hailey Gates, who is having a great 2026 so far. But this is about our leads. Pattinson is solid in the lead role and seems to launch himself into these difficult and awkward situations with a flourish. But I was captivated by Zendaya. Her facial expressions and performance is so commanding you can’t look away, even if you can’t stand what’s going on in the narrative.

This isn’t an easy film, and it won’t be for everyone. The secret that Emma reveals is a narrative choice that won’t sit well with some. I won’t give away the secret here, but for those who are sensitive you may want to see it out. There will also be those that won’t want to sit in the discomfort required to get through this narrative.

But if you do, you’ll be rewarded with a well-crafted tale that has a closing scene that ties things together in a somewhat beautiful way. The Drama is now playing nationwide.

Matthew Fox is a graduate of the Radio, Television and Film program at Biola University, and a giant nerd. He spends his free time watching movies, TV, and obsessing about football. He is a member of the FSWA. You can find him @knighthawk7734 on Twitter and as co-host of the Fantasy Football Roundtable Podcast.