REVIEW:
The Drama was a pretty solid movie. It reminded me of an Anne Hathaway movie called Rachel Getting Married from some time ago. Only the Drama was better. Both movies are about the events surrounding a wedding weekend and leading up to the actual wedding. Both are black comedies, filled with drama and outbursts s as be some very awkward wedding speeches. But unlike Rachel Getting Married, which was about the alcoholic sister of the bride, The Drama is about the couple themselves. It’s far more interesting.
In fact, the movie is about a secret that Emma has… a story from her past, which impacts the entire film from the moment that secret is unveiled. It should be said at this point that the second trailer for this movie, which is all about the secret, is one of the best trailers ever made (even if it does steal the song from the end of Us.) That trailer gets the viewer instantly curious and excited. And the movie does more or less live up to that trailer, which is to say that the movie really is about the secret, the whole way through.
It is Emma (Zendaya,) who tells the secret, while she, Charlie (her finance played by Robert Patrick,) and their two best friends partake in a food and wine tasting for their wedding menu. The secret is fine, but the characters over-react and continue to over-react throughout the rest of the movie. Especially the woman who is Emma’s maid of honor. There are definitely moments when you just want to shout at Charlie “get over it already,” and “move on.”
That being said, two thirds of this movie are great. The first part and the last part. It’s the middle that lags a bit. The movie starts out using some very clever strategies to introduce us to the characters. Charlie (Robert Patrick,) is working on his wedding speech and going over ideas with his best friend. The two of them talk about how Charlie and Emma (Zendaya,) first met. And then we see it for ourselves in flashback. The scene is quite funny with Charlie walking past Emma in a coffee shop, seeing the book she’s reading, quickly going on Wikipedia on his phone to read all about the book, and then approaching Emma by pretending he read that book too and loves it. It’s a total lie, of course, which Charlie owns up to on their first date.
From there, we are off and running. And it isn’t long before the secret comes out, as the four members of the group confessed the worst thing they have ever done. Most of these stories are pretty dumb, although the Maid of Honor’s story is actually far worse than Emma’s. But it’s Emma’s story that gets all the attention.
The movie continues to move forward, bringing us closer dnd closer to the actual wedding. Charlie and Emma go through all of the different pre-wedding activities, such as a photo shoot. And they also continue to deal with the friends who heard the secret. The maid of honor even considers not going to the wedding at one point. Amidst all of this drama, there are some funny subplots baked in. My favorite of those has to be the one about the wedding Dj who the couple saw doing heroin on a street corner.
While the movie does lose its way a bit in the middle, and would have benefited from more subplots (why don’t we meet either Emma’s or Charlie’s parents until the wedding? And do either of then have any siblings?) it definitely finds its way back by the end. The day right before the wedding, with something that Charlie does, and then the wedding itself, are both great. The third act and climax of the movie definitely deliver. This movie isn’t great the whole way through, but it is definitely interesting and in the end, manages to be a good deal of fun.