“The Drama” featuring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson is a movie you should watch, but it isn’t worth the trek out to the theatres. Released April 3, this A24 horror movie follows the love story of an affianced couple and the days leading up to their wedding. Despite the quality of the film, the suspenseful storyline failed to resolve in a meaningful way at the end.

The story follows Emma Hardwood (Zendaya), who is deaf in her right ear and sells books for living. Charlie Thompson (Robert Pattinson) is a museum director who falls in love with her. Directed by Kristoffer Borgli, the film spends no time displaying the progression of their relationship, instead cutting directly to the week leading up to their wedding. Emma appears normal until Charlie discovers that as a teenager, she once wished to commit a school shooting, but didn’t follow through with it.

The suspense of the movie surrounds this question: What would you do if you found out your fianceé wanted to commit a mass murder, even if it was more than 10 years ago? The movie follows Charlie as he wrestles with this question as the wedding draws near.

For the majority of the movie, I was confused but intrigued. The story frequently jumped between the present day, Emma’s past,  and hallucinations of Charlie. The director did a good job using the music and the camera angles to build suspense, but the ending failed to resolve key issues. I walked out of the theater with some big questions unanswered, and the ending didn’t seem believable for the characters.

Pattinson portrayed Charlie’s reaction to Emma’s past well. He balanced being both deeply concerned and excited for the wedding. I found Charlie’s actions to be mostly reasonable until the end.  

The merits of this movie lie in the performances of Zendaya and Pattinson and the interesting question it raises about a lover’s past. The film does a good job of highlighting that there is an unknown number of mass shootings that are planned but never conducted. It’s certainly one to watch, but not a film that will be notable in the long term of any of their careers.

The quality of the movie itself was brilliant. It had very modern portrayals of the characters as seen in the clothes, the set design, and dialogue.

Zendaya, as always, delivered a candid performance in this film. She portrays a believable bride-to-be while balancing her character’s dark past. This is what makes her a very successful and memorable actress as Rue Bennett in “Euphoria” or Tashi Duncan in “Challengers.”

If you’re torn between going to the theatres to see this film or waiting: I’d say wait until it comes out on a streaming platform, because the quality of the directing and acting is still worth the watch, but the story isn’t worth the drama.