Directed by: Kristoffer Borgli
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Dylan Baker, Tim Meadows, Michael Cera, Dylan Gelula, Lily Byrd, Jessica Clement, James Alexander Warren
I missed satire and with Dream Scenario, it has returned with a vengeance. It is also great to see Nicolas Cage in a project worthy of his talent and give his best performance in many a moon. Cage's gift is always to seem enthusiastic even when the material is subpar. In Dream Scenario, he is enjoying himself with reason and purpose. I hope people don't stay away from it because they think it's "yet another Nicolas Cage movie". It isn't. It is smart, perceptive, and most of all, a funny satire covering cancel culture to "feeling unsafe".
Paul Matthews (Cage) is an unassuming, nerdy college professor who epitomizes ordinariness. His students aren't engaged in his class in which topics such as zebra mating are covered, and he has yet to be published while his colleagues are publishing articles based on his ideas. His family life is more or less happy and he has a nice house in the suburbs. Then, Paul is informed by numerous people including his daughter that he appeared in her dream as an inert bystander. Paul soon becomes a social media sensation faster than you can say "viral", although he is puzzled to understand how and why he shows up randomly in dreams of people he hasn't even met, and also why is suddenly famous for it.
Paul's fame strains his marriage to his wife Janet (Nicholson), who finds her professional life improving, but also weirdos breaking into their house threatening to kill the family. His fame also comes with publishers trying to talk him into making ads featuring Barack Obama and Sprite. But just at the zenith of his fame comes the inevitable backlash in the form of people suddenly dreaming Paul is attacking or trying to kill them.
Paul is inexplicably ostracized by family, faculty, students, friends, and even the agents who were so keen on having him do Sprite commercials. He didn't actually do anything wrong, nor did he do anything period. That doesn't stop him from becoming persona non grata and effectively cancelled. It is here when Dream Scenario moves into a satirical, unexpected direction which had me smiling. Sure, Paul's situation is exaggerated and ridiculous, but people have been inexplicably shunned or "cancelled" for a lot less. The movie doesn't take political sides, although both liberals and conservatives want a piece of Paul when it suits their needs.
If anything else, Dream Scenario is a funny look at a world in which "feeling unsafe" trumps everything else, including reason, logic, and sanity. Cage gives us a sympathetic protagonist who has this crazy dilemma thrust at him and handles it with aplomb. Dream Scenario could have been a movie in which the hero figures out what's happening and tries to fix it. No explanation is given as to why Paul is appearing in strangers' dreams and we don't need to know because it isn't the point. Writer-director Kristoffer Borgli instead gives us something we didn't realize could still be made today: A pointed look at today's climate and an unexpected treat.
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