The Drama

Directed by Kristoffer Borgli, The Drama follows an engaged couple (Robert Pattinson’s Charlie and Zendaya’s Emma) as their relationship is tested after a secret is revealed. Filmmaker Borgli, armed with his screenplay, delivers an erratically-paced yet mostly compelling endeavor that benefits from its compelling storyline and solid lead performances, as, in terms of the latter, Borgli elicits strong work from both Pattinson and Zendaya that effectively draws the viewer into the proceedings and, eventually, compensates for the narrative’s bumps and lulls. And while it ultimately seems clear that the picture could’ve used some judicious editing (ie the whole thing probably should’ve topped out at around 90 minutes), The Drama, despite its grating score and egregiously ostentatious visuals, mostly comes off as a intriguing, irreverent piece of work that does, predominantly speaking, manage to exploit its attention-grabbing setup to agreeable effect.

**1/2 out of ****