Dream Scenario
Nicolas Cage has two main modes: the one where he gives an actual performance and the one where he indulges in over-the-top madness. Both can be entertaining, although I vastly prefer the former. He’s in that mode for Dream Scenario, a stinging satire of cancel culture. Cage delivers a deft comedic performance while simultaneously breaking your heart.
The actor plays Paul Matthews, a balding college professor widely perceived as kind of a boring guy. Even his loving wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) seems to think so. For reasons he cannot comprehend, Paul begins appearing in the dreams of friends and acquaintances. Then complete strangers start dreaming about him, too. In all these dreams, he’s a casual bystander to bizarre events. It’s a mystery how or why he has Freddy Krueger-ed his way into everyone’s brains.
The first half of Dream Scenario spoofs the peculiar sort of viral fame that is achieved from nothing other than a lot of people being exposed to an individual at the same time. Writer/director Kristoffer Borgli has fun with the idea. Paul is recruited by a PR company run by a guy named Trent (Michael Cera). He and his team have concocted a scheme whereby Paul could advertise products in the dreams he pops up in. That’s a funny notion, as is the concept that Paul likes the attention he gets, thinking it will interest people in a textbook about ants that he wants to write. Being built up by the public makes him feel more important than he really is.
The second half of the film takes a twist, as Paul’s dream cameos become less benign, causing the public to turn on him. He’s soon “cancelled,” despite technically doing nothing wrong. His adorers become critics, and he can’t go into public without being harassed. Cage slyly conveys how devastating this is to the character. Everybody suddenly hates him, through no fault of his own. Even Janet turns on him.
Dream Scenario doesn’t necessarily say cancel culture is good or bad. It merely recognizes it as a real phenomenon – a bizarre byproduct of a culture that is (rightly) more enlightened about race, gender, and sexuality issues. Making others feel “uncomfortable” is a high crime in this day and age. Watching Paul make things worse for himself while trying to get out of this predicament creates very big laughs.
Cage is extraordinary in the lead role, giving this guy a buffoonish side, yet also a vulnerable one. The funniest scene arrives when Paul agrees to seduce one of Trent’s employees, Molly (Shithouse’s Dylan Gelula), because she has sexual fantasies about him. The manner in which his attempt to screw a much younger woman goes south is uproarious. You feel bad for him, despite thinking he’s a doofus for attempting it in the first place. Such is the nature of the movie. It continually explores the way fame can bite people on the backside.
I wasn’t sure Borgli was going to find a satisfactory ending for this offbeat tale. He does. Dream Scenario wraps up on a perfect note that’s honest, yet strangely hopeful. 2023 has been a banner year for movies that are on the trippy side. This one has a satisfying emotional quality to compliment the plot’s quirkiness.
out of four
Dream Scenario is rated R for language, violence, and some sexual content. The running time is 1 hour and 42 minutes.
