The Drama: What’s the Worst Thing you’ve Ever done?

As I certified rom-com fanatic, Kristoffer Borgli’s The Drama, left me feeling conflicted. Whilst it gave me a lot of questions to consider and debate, I found the central love story unconvincing. Whether that was because Patterson’s character seemed creepy and pathetic, rather than endearing and charming, or simply that it felt like they had little chemistry. Either way, I was not invested in their love story. 

The story focuses on a young attractive couple Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Patterson), grappling with the aftermath of Emma’s revelation of the worst thing she ever did (or nearly did), the week before their wedding.  

Until the pivotal moment of the movie, Emma’s recounting of the worst thing she’s ever done, I found myself a little bored. Patterson’s Charlie came across as a bit of an ick in moments of tender romance, and the only thing that made me want to write about this movie was the controversial nature of the secret.  

However, there were some choices the director made that I found myself appreciating, namely the way he filled us in on the character’s backstory. Through the medium of writing the wedding vows, we learn how the couple met and their lives up until the point of the film. This felt like an effective way to learn their romantic history without being overloaded by exposition.  

This film, whilst left me unmoved by the romance aspect, stuck with me after watching. And after all, isn’t that what art should do, stick with you and make you feel something? 

Warning! This next bit contains spoilers. 

The revelation that Emma planned, and nearly carried out a school shooting was a shocking secret that brought up many questions. The main question this film left me with was, whether someone could truly change? The considerations of age puts the blame onto the cultural climate of America and the parents, that owning and using a gun is standard practice. In the UK if a child feels isolated and depressed there isn’t the opportunity or precedence to resort to gun violence. In a country where there are regular drills on active shooter scenarios and romanticisation of shooters, this creates a harmful and combustive situation that a child, going through all the pains and difficulties of growing up can resort to.  

However, the culture of America and ease of access to guns cannot be considered the sole reason for this planned violent horror. The character of Emma herself needs to be considered, to resort to this level of violence rather than talking to someone paints a disturbing figure. Whilst she does seem to repent and throw herself into activism for gun control, the planning and considerations are still in her head. Therefore, how much can a person truly change and can a couple really move past this? 

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