Dream Scenario Movie Review

Dream Scenario (2023)

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Written by: Kristoffer Borgli
Directed by: Kristoffer Borgli
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Baker, Julianne Nicholson, Jessica Clement
Rated: R
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Plot
A hapless family man finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. When his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom.

Verdict
This is such a wild premise, and Cage does an amazing job. A novelty becomes a nightmare as the public moves from intrigued to exiling him. You get why everyone is afraid of him and you understand why he doesn't want to retreat, but Paul is never likable. There's a reason fame doesn't suit some people, and Paul is one of those. He's petulant and self centered. The spotlight only makes it worse. Should he be banned from public for how people feel? No, but this makes a good case for yes. The ending is all over the place. It feels like a combination of not knowing where to end it and also having more ideas without the time to explore them.
Watch It.

Review
Based on what little I knew about this, going in I thought this would be some kind of comedy. Right out of the gate during the title screen it's clear this is some kind of horror movie.

It starts slowly with people reacting to Paul (Nicolas Cage). Knowing the premise, they've seen him in dreams. Paul is ordinary, a professor interested in biology. You've got to give Cage credit, he does an amazing job, exhibiting a level of neuroses in addition to bewilderment as he wonders just how many people are dreaming about him. This is fun, creepy, and just wild. What's going on?

Nicolas Cage plays Paul Matthews

Paul has a meeting with an old classmate who Paul accuses of taking his research. His research is a topic he talked about during college, but he's yet to do any research or study. He wants credit where it isn't due. This might be a mid life crisis, general unhappiness, or plain jealousy. Paul wants credit, and this dream scenario brings him a bit of fame. He's excited, hoping he can leverage it.

Initially the dreams are Paul in the dream, but not helping or reacting. He's taking it personally that he seems like a jerk despite it being a dream. The problem is that Paul is petty and incredibly awkward. This situation gives him a larger ego than he's earned. He even gets an invitation to an acquaintances dinner party where he didn't rank before.

It's difficult to tell what's real and what's a dream. This doesn't make a distinction. When someone breaks into Paul's house, initially I suspected it might be a dream. You never know you're in a dream until you do. Every time it's a shock.

The dreams become violent, coinciding with Paul's outrage that the old college classmate stole his idea. The classmate is rude, but it's not theft. Paul had years to research and write about his idea but he never did. All he had was an idea. With the change in tone of the dreams, people begin avoiding him. He's no longer famous, he's scary. While he did nothing wrong to these people in reality, in the dreams he's the boogeyman. This just increases his agitation. This fame didn't bring him any of the awards and accolades for which he had hoped. He thought he had a lottery ticket, but it evaporates.

Cage plays this great. He's a sad, insecure man that's unhappy with the life he's chosen. He's grown complacent and successes of his colleagues only generate jealousy. He's now a symbol of fear. While this invokes some form of cancel culture, this is a different situation. Anyone would be uncomfortable when you have to confront a symbol that has completely terrified you even if it is only in a dream. But these dreams reoccur.

This ties back to Paul's discussion of zebras. The stripes don't camouflage them into the environment, but it makes it difficult for predators to pick one out of the pack. Paul completely blended in before, but then he stood out. That was good at first, but his own deficiencies began to manifest in the dreams. No one wants him around. As he states, he's done nothing wrong. He suggest the people that feel uncomfortable leave. That's valid, but the counter would be no one wants him around and plurality wins.

In one last ploy Paul posts an apology. It's self serving and fake. He doesn't want to be exiled. People feel empowered to exclude him because of how they feel and what he's done in their dreams. That's not without merit. His self serving apology doesn't exonerate him. He's not sorry, he wants to be excused. Paul was never a nice person. This widespread fame didn't make him bad. It just exposed him. There's a reason he's no longer in touch with any of his college classmates and why they never invite him to any dinners. The people that knew him, didn't like him. Now the world doesn't like him. Even if their reasons are dubious, the point stands.