'The Drama' reviews: Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's rom-com earns strong early Rotten Tomatoes score

The A24 film earns 83% on Rotten Tomatoes as critics praise performances but remain divided on tone

A new romantic comedy starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson is receiving largely favourable early reviews, with critics highlighting performances while offering mixed views on its tone and themes.

The Drama, written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli, opens in cinemas nationwide this weekend. The film follows a happily engaged couple whose wedding week is disrupted by an unexpected turn, testing their relationship and exposing deeper tensions.

As of Thursday midday, the film holds an 83% “fresh” critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 76 reviews. Audience scores and the critics’ consensus are yet to be published.

Several reviewers have praised the film’s style and ambition. India Block wrote, “It’s cringe-inducing and gross-out in places, but artfully shot, interestingly edited and set to some of the freakiest flute toots in arthouse cinema.” Peter Howell added, “Kristoffer Borgli’s marital dramedy turns the rituals of love and commitment into a warped mirror for modern guilt, exposing how easily intimacy curdles into self-serving hypocrisy.”

Zendaya’s performance has been singled out as a standout. G. Allen Johnson noted, “It’s Zendaya’s movie. Her layered performance holds back then lets go as Emma’s full complexity is gradually revealed. If you can’t get on board with Emma, then you’re the problem — which partly is Borgli’s intention.”

Other critics praised the film’s bold approach. Brian Truitt described it as “one of the boldest, brashest movies in some time … When not giddily tearing apart the rom-com, Borgli asks really major thematic questions with his controversial subject matter.”

However, not all responses have been positive. Robert Daniels questioned, “What gives this glib, circuitous film the right to persecute the apathetic when it barely understands its own characters?” Larushka Ivan-Zadeh added, “It’s about cold feet and how well we know the people close to us or want to — the irony being the movie itself doesn’t seem all that invested in its own characters, who rarely behave like plausible human beings.”

The Drama also features Alana Haim, Mamoudou Athie and Hailey Benton Gates, and is rated R for language and mature themes.