It didn’t take long for Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli to become influenced by Celebritism after moving to the fame-seeking capital of the world, Los Angeles. It resulted in last year’s funny comedy “Sick of Myself” about a barista who starts taking medication to induce a severe rash for the sake of getting attention. With “Dream Scenario” the writer-director pulls an about-face as Nicolas Cage plays college professor Paul Matthews who’s trying to avoid the spotlight after an unexplained phenomenon causes him to appear in random people’s dreams. Filled with laugh-out-loud moments. the dark, cringy comedy tackles cancel culture as Hollywood’s ultimate chameleon drops another memorable performance.
It seems like the high school students who slept through Mr. Lorensax’s economics class (minus Ferris who was absent after passing out at 31 Flavors) are now in college dozing off in Biology taught by Professor Paul Matthews (Cage). Can’t say I blame them. Who cares why the zebra looks the way it does?
By all accounts, Paul is just an average older guy. He’s balding, wears glasses, has a beard, and dresses conservatively. He doesn’t like to draw attention to himself, and he has a beautiful family that consists of wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and daughters Sophie (Lily Bird) and Hannah (Jessica Clement).
An unexplained phenomenon begins to happen. Paul begins showing up in people’s dreams. Not as an active participant but more of an observer. It begins with his daughter Sophie who is chilling out poolside while dad rakes leaves. Suddenly the glass patio table she’s seated near shatters and the adolescent daughter begins to float up to the sky. She’s terrified but Paul just continues raking leaves. He does nothing to help.
Soon more people begin dreaming about Paul. There’s his female student who dreams she’s being attacked by crocodiles while Paul walks by and observes. Then there’s his old girlfriend Claire (Marnie McPhail) who pops up at an event being attended by Paul and his wife. She comes on strong almost discounting Janet’s presence to tell him, “You’ve been on my mind lately” and explains a dream in which she’s trying to help her husband who’s been in an accident when Paul shows up to watch. Again, like all the other dreams Paul does nothing to help he just observes. While these are just visions in people’s minds, Paul is disturbed by the fact that he does nothing to help. He’s embarrassed by it.
The surreal psychological drama emanates “Donnie Darko” vibes tossed with cringy humor as Cage delivers a terrific performance filled with moments of hilarity. Paul (who has no social skills) finds himself in extremely awkward situations while dealing with his newfound fame as people all over the world begin dreaming about him.
Of course, with all this fame, Paul needs a PR Team and that’s where new startup company Thoughts? comes in. Run by a group of hipsters led by Trent (a pitch-perfect Michael Cera) who dresses like Quint from “Jaws,” the firm pitches several ideas to Paul including a collaboration with Sprite. He’s not interested in any of that. Paul just wants to publish a book about ants or what he calls “ant-tellegence” (BTW he hasn’t written a page). Too bad, that 15 Minutes of Fame Andy Warhol conceptualized comes and goes as Borgli takes on cancel culture while amping up the horror as we head into peculiar Ari Aster territory. A24’s Golden Boy is listed as one of the film’s producers.
Apart from influences by Aster, Richard Kelly, and Charlie Kaufman, there is a significant Wes Craven vibe as “Dream Scenario” begins to take on a “Nightmare on Elm Street” ambiance. Suddenly Paul is no longer a bystander in people’s dreams which turn into nightmares as he becomes this generation’s Freddy Krueger. Paul is still that mild-mannered, HARMLESS, biology professor but in dream form, he’s a homicidal maniac and people can’t differentiate fantasy from reality.
Paul’s students turn against him (spray painting “Loser” on his car), he can’t visit a restaurant without making people feel uncomfortable (he’s forced to leave), and his relationship with Janet begins to fall apart.
The first half of “Dream Scenario” is very funny but once the story turned dark, I was hit with overwhelming sadness while watching Paul’s life fall apart. The final act goes a bit off the rails as pioneering dream technology enters the storyline (unfortunately without a David Cronenberg influence) which leads to a heartbreaking scene involving David Byrne’s “Stop Making Sense” big suit. If only we could go back and return to “Same as it ever was.”
(3 stars)
Now showing in theaters
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