by Robert Bouffard, Editor
A teenage girl, Sophie (Lily Bird) has a dream where objects are falling from the sky and she is floating away while her dad stands and watches, doing nothing to help her. At the breakfast table the next morning, Sophie tells her dad, Paul (Nicolas Cage), about the dream. Distressed that the dream version of himself didn’t do anything to help his daughter, Paul goes into work as a college professor to find that his daughter wasn’t the only person he knew to see him in their sleep. In fact, after a journalist friend of his writes a viral story about Paul, people all over the country begin realizing that he’s appeared in their dreams as well.
In writer/director Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario, Paul Matthews becomes an overnight (emphasis on “night”) sensation. He’s spent his life as a perfectly plain person, and now into his middle age, as he teaches his biology students about zebras having stripes so that they blend into their herd, he’s reveling in the new sensation of standing out. This all makes for a fun setup — Cage is downright hilarious in his role. Thanks to his typical total commitment, his little idiosyncrasies stand out. His line readings and body language are perfect; Paul’s voice is not much different than Cage’s, but it’s enough so that there’s that much extra quirk or zing on each delivery.
As a whole, though, the movie is the epitome of one that’s carried by its central performance. The premise is enough to draw you in, but not quite enough to sustain an entire feature. It starts off being pretty on-the-nose, but not so much so that it’s overbearing. Watching Cage appear in everyone’s dreams and be perfectly serene while disasters occur is always funny, and as Paul gains more fame in waking life, it’s compelling to watch him try to navigate his newfound status.
But the film hits a point where it wants to have its cake and eat it too. You can surmise that it’s about the perils of fame, and how precarious such a status is, especially in our modern lives filled with social media and the 24-hour news cycle. However, once the film actually utters the words “cancel culture” and brings in “hip” marketing executives (as much as I’m loving seeing Michael Cera in movies again), it becomes less fun. Becoming literally about what it was metaphorically about implies one of two things: It didn’t knowhow to proceed with its excellent premise, or it didn’t trust the audience enough to understand it. My instinct, given the particular nature of the filmmaking, is that the former is true, which is certainly less egregious. There are worse kinds of movies than ones starring Nic Cage as a finicky, middle-aged, unconfident father of two.
While Dream Scenario doesn’t ultimately land the way it wants, it’s still a nice entry into this era of Cage’s career. Borgli’s direction and editing, especially in the creative dream sequences, are highlights. He remembers to include just enough heart and pathos to make this dream a sweet one.
Rating: Low Side of Liked It
Dream Scenario is currently playing in theaters
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