The Drama dir Kristoffer Borgli

The Drama is the anti-romcom. It starts like one. Boy sees girl in a coffee shop, boy approaches girl, they fall in love, they get engaged. You know the shape of it. Then, about a third of the way through, Kristoffer Borgli (the director of Dream Scenario, and if you loved that, you'll love this) detonates something in the middle of it, and suddenly you're watching a completely different film. The reveal is a genuine shock and the crowd I saw it with actually gasped.

What happens next, and the way it plays out, is where the film earns its title. It is socially daring, funny, satirical, uncomfortable, and commits to following its premise wherever it goes, which turns out to be somewhere quite funny and quite strange.

Robert Pattinson is perfectly cast as Charlie, a floppy-haired, British overthinker who responds to an impossible situation by spiralling to breaking point. Zendaya is really good too, funny and disarming as Emma, though the film ultimately gives her less to do than you might hope. This is clearly Pattinson's movie.

I can see why some people won't go with it. I can imagine the tonal switch between offbeat comedy and genuine unease will read as flippant to some. As will its handling of the secret.

What it does though is take a genuine risk, follow it through, and have a very good time doing it. Films play it safe far too often. The Drama does not play it safe. Add two committed performances, a bottle of wine and a crowd that laughed, gasped, and talked all the way out of the cinema, you have something worth your Friday night.

I had a riot.

A genuinely great date night film, as long as your relationship survives the “what would you do?” on the journey home.