Here are 6 of the best anti-romance films to stream after watching The Drama

After decades of being flooded with ‘will-they, won’t-they’ romantic comedies, it seems audiences are now craving something a little darker.

Throughout the 90s and noughties, audiences were treated to what seemed like countless takes on heartwarming love stories – who could forget Noah writing Allie love letters in The Notebook, David and Natalie locking lips in the middle of a school performance in Love Actually or Anna telling William she’s ‘just a girl asking a boy to love her’ in Notting Hill.

Although there’s always a place for classics like When Harry Met Sally…, Pretty Woman and Bridget Jones’ Diary, in recent years there’s been more and more blockbuster films being released that offer a twist.

The most recent case in point is The Drama – Zendaya and Robert Pattison’s new movie, which follows a ‘happily engaged couple who are put to the test when an unexpected turn sends their wedding week off the rails’.

The massive twist in store has left many divided, and while this is a spoiler-free zone, things take a pretty wild turn.

If you’re now looking to tune into other movies in which relationships are not as they appear on the surface… here are our picks of six of the best.

Materialists (Streaming on Now)

Following the success of her Oscar-nominated film Past Lives, writer and director Celine Song returned last year with Materialists.

Billed as a romantic comedy-drama film and starring Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal, it followed a love triangle between a matchmaker, her ex-boyfriend, and a wealthy financier in New York City’s competitive dating scene.

Although the ending left many divided, in its consensus of the film, review site Rotten Tomatoes said it was a ‘mature deconstruction of the conventional rom-com’.

As Metro’s review read: ‘Materialists is a stylish and thought-provoking examination of the modern dating scene and society’s obsession with trying to commodify everything – except actual love.

It also serves as proof that we should stop forcing romance films to fit within a rigidly narrow definition.’

Marriage Story (Streaming on Netflix)

The 2019 drama Marriage Story starred Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver as a couple going through a divorce that was complicated by custody issues surrounding their son.

It was nominated for six Oscars – including best picture, best actor, best actress, and best original screenplay.

As Metro’s review at the time explained: ‘Marriage Story is, as many people are already calling it, much more of a divorce story.

Ultimately it becomes a film about how easy it is to hurt someone else, and how equally easy it is to not even realise the pain you’ve caused.

About how the small moments stack upon one another until it’s too much to take apart piece by piece.

And about how we’ve built up these systems and societal norms that push us to keep hurting each other to get what we want above all else.’

Promising Young Woman (Streaming on Now)

Before Emerald Fennell boldly got Barry Keoghan to dance around naked in Saltburn or sent hearts racing casting Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi in her adaptation of Wuthering Heights, her 2020 feature film debut caused a stir for other reasons.

Starring Carey Mulligan, Promising Young Woman saw her play a ‘troubled young woman haunted by a traumatic past as she navigates forgiveness and vengeance’.

Nominated for five Oscars, the film ends with an almighty twist.

As Fennell previously told Variety of the movie’s lead character, Cassie: ‘She is heroic, even if that heroism is distressing in lots of ways.

And it may not be right.

But I do feel strongly that what she does was the only thing she felt she could do.’

Get Out (Streaming on Now)

It’s been nearly a decade since Jordan Peele burst onto our screens with his ‘funny, scary and thought-provoking’ directorial debut Get Out.

For those who somehow missed out on what it was about, the film starred Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, a Black man who uncovers shocking secrets when he meets the family of his white girlfriend Cassie (Alison Williams).

Made on a budget of $4.5million (£3.4million), it grossed a whopping $255million (£193million).

As one review read: ‘This brilliantly provocative first feature from comic turned writer-director Jordan Peele proves that the best way to get satire to a mass audience is to call it horror.’

Remember Me (Streaming on Netflix and Amazon Prime)

Although Remember Me was largely panned by critics, everyone who’s seen it will likely still remember the heart-stopping moment the massive, devastating twist was revealed.

Despite one critic calling it ‘overwritten and overcooked’, one fan recalled seeing the movie in theatres and ‘still being able to hear people gasping at the reveal’.

A Star is Born (Streaming on HBO Max)

It might have been the third remake of the original 1937 romantic drama, but 2018’s A Star is Born was celebrated in its own right.

Directed by Bradley Cooper, he also starred in the film as an alcoholic musician who discovers and falls in love with a young singer, played by Lady Gaga.

It was nominated for eight Oscars, grossed over $436million (£329million) worldwide and also saw Gaga become the first woman in history to win an Academy Award, Bafta Award, Golden Globe Award and Grammy Award in a single year.

But although it was called an ‘affecting love story’, the film didn’t shy away from darker topics.

As Metro’s review explained: ‘It’s an enthralling meditation on how the entertainment industry makes casualties of so many of its stars.’
The Drama is now in cinemas.
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