MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES:
Hapless family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom, in this wickedly entertaining comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli (Sick of Myself) and producer Ari Aster.
REVIEW:
Dream Scenario takes great delight in making Nicolas Cage the schlub of every dream. He’s the background extra who exists to do nothing but watch, the perfect metaphor for the helplessness one feels in a moderate anxiety dream that takes place in a recognizable present reality.
He goes viral in the mental internet of the collective mind, being famous for being ordinary, a nonthreatening ghost unaware of the angst everywhere, just doing his job and routines. He’s a meme unassociated from definition and user experience, that is until he gets defined in the id and becomes every fear and delight.
The Norwegian director and screenwriter Kristoffer Borgli takes this conceit of dream hysteria to its ultimate comic and dramatic conclusion. The character, Paul (Cage) is grounded in the sadness that is the oxymoronic state of every human, to be both left alone but recognized for who he is and has achieved.
Paul is a character who lives to find the insult- that colleague who has plagiarized his unwritten and unpublished scientific research, he’s befuddled by why he does nothing in the collective dreamscape or why he’s not invited to faculty dinner parties. It keeps him looking foolish but not a true fool. He’s dull but not despicable.
When his immobility flips to fear logic that makes him the boogeyman of every nightmare he’s still befuddled, and sinks into the fear of the collective id. He will be hunted and stalked both online and in reality.
Dream Scenario successfully ponders the downside of obscurity and notoriety. It’s finds a pillow space between funny and surreal that is the transition between id and ego, the true state of cognizant life. It’s the perfect showcase for Nicolas Cage to explore his considerable dramatic range.
In the end, Dream Scenario is less interested in cancel culture than the fickleness of a mass audience that can rapidly swerve from adulation to condemnation.
Dream Scenario gets a 3,5/5 or a B+. It’s streaming on Max.
CREDITS:
Directed by
Written by
Kristoffer Borgli
Produced by
- Lars Knudsen
- Ari Aster
- Tyler Campellone
- Jacob Jaffke
- Nicolas Cage
Starring
- Nicolas Cage
- Julianne Nicholson
- Michael Cera
- Tim Meadows
- Dylan Gelula
- Dylan Baker
Cinematography
Benjamin Loeb
Edited by
Kristoffer Borgli
Music by
Production
companies
- A24
- Square Peg
- Saturn Films
Distributed by
A24
Release dates
- September 9, 2023(TIFF)
- November 10, 2023(United States)
Running time
102 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
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