“Dream Scenario”: Nicolas Cage Is Brilliant, In A Dream That Turn Into Nightmare | Review
According to research, all the faces that appear in our dreams are of people we’ve encountered somewhere and at some point, even if we don’t remember it. So when I saw “Dream Scenario” with Nicolas Cage, about a boring biology professor who starts appearing in other people’s dreams and becomes a star because of it, I found myself jumping up and down on the couch, like someone who discovered halfway through the movie that Keyser Söze is a physically disabled ghost, posing as his deceased mother in an isolated cabin in the woods. “What’s wrong with you, people?” I shouted at the characters in the movie, “Don’t you realize that the guy with the bald head, the beard, and the potbelly, supposedly, is no other than Nicolas Cage? The veteran actor, whose filmography contains more than 160 films, including more than 20 horror films?”
It doesn’t work that way because the characters didn’t listen to me, and apparently, Nicolas Cage is playing a character here who is not Nicolas Cage. I sat back on the couch, embarrassed, trying to enjoy a black comedy with elements of fantasy and horror – and succeeding, to be honest, because “Dream Scenario” is a beautiful film with a great idea and decent performances by Cage and the cast. It offers a decent watch even if it lacks a few elements that could make it a masterpiece or at least a cult film, like following the ideas a little further or deciding what kind of film they want to make.
What Is Dream Scenario About?
In “Dream Scenario,” Nicolas Cage plays Paul Matthews, a boring professor of evolutionary biology or something about insects. His life is very routine, and some might say it is dull. Paul is married to Janet (the underrated and usually fantastic Julianne Nicholson), father of two girls (played by Lily Bird and Jessica Clement), teaches his bored students at college and dreams of writing a book on a boring subject, only to discover that his former doctoral supervisor is ahead of him with her book, in which his ideas also star.
Paul dreams of receiving recognition, or at least credit, but that doesn’t happen. He mostly wants to be a zebra. As he explains several times throughout the film, the stripes of zebras allow them to disappear into the herd, which confuses the lions, who don’t know who to attack. This is probably a metaphor for his life or a sign that the professor once had a relationship with a zebra.
Everything changes when, one day, all kinds of people worldwide start having strange dreams in which the professor stars. The term “starring” may be a bit of an exaggeration because Matthews is “caught up in the situation”: he appears in dreams walking or looking at what is happening and does nothing. When the world discovers it, Matthews becomes a celebrity, some would say a sensation.
The problem is that he doesn’t know how to deal with his new status, especially when the dreams in which he appears become increasingly cruel, including terrible acts that he actively commits. The professor becomes the “bad guy” that everyone is afraid of, a human version of Freddy Krueger (and the film, of course, refers to this similarity in the dialogues and also in a particular scene, in which Matthews is photographed with Freddy’s glove as an act of PR promotion).
Take a look at the trailer of “Dream Scenario”:
“Dream Scenario” is based on a brilliant idea behind which stands the Norwegian director, screenwriter, and editor Kristoffer Borgli, one of the promising names in Northern European cinema. “Dream Scenario” is his first film in English, after dealing with some issues at the center of the plot in the current movie. These issues seemed to have been taken from the communication studies syllabus: public image, social media, celebrities, the connection between promoting personas and products, and more. As a graduate with a master’s degree in communication, I saw potential here for many analyses and academic articles, but as a horror fan, these issues are less relevant to me, so that we will settle for this brief description.
When Other People’s Dreams Turn Into Nightmares
As you may have already understood, “Dream Scenario” is a social satire on those who start as global sensations, celebrities, network stars, or whatever you want. You can see it easily as an explicit criticism of Borgli, especially given that the movie mentioned that Matthews doesn’t do anything in the dreams and even lets terrible things happen.
The film shows, in a clever way, that it is enough to be there simply and for people to see you to become a star, even if you are a bored professor with an ordinary bourgeois life, balding hair, a thick beard, glasses, and a potbelly. The most anti-hero we can think of, because a hero, by his very definition, is usually active, brave, charismatic, or has an extraordinary appearance.
This idea of the anti-hero who becomes a hero for some incomprehensible reason develops interestingly in the first part of the film, partly thanks to Cage’s outstanding performance in one of his better roles in recent years (although not as excellent as in “Longlegs”). With all the jokes about Cage and his choice of films, or mainly the lack of selection in his choices, he is still a great actor. The film and the director’s precise work with Cage show this. Cage is a routine character in this movie, but on the other hand, we get the impression that he is dying to break out or show his “Nicolas Cage” side. It is not surprising that Cage received a Golden Globe nomination here in the comedy category, as he truly deserves this.
At a certain point, the film takes a twist. We discover how the professor deals with his new life, which affects his family life, career, and personality. He arrives at a meeting with a young PR firm headed by the young genius Trent (Michael Cera, “Juno,” “Superbad,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World)”. Matthews dreams of promoting his book, but the firm assigns him “Sprite” campaigns because interesting people – or “the most interesting man in the world,” as the somewhat Zuckerberg-like CEO declares – sell ideas.
The professor discovers that he also appears in dreams of a different kind. The assistant of that social media genius, a beautiful young woman named Molly (the talented Dylan Gelula, whom we also loved very much as the -um… smiling – girlfriend of the main character in “Smile 2”), tells him that he appears in her erotic fantasies. It happens in a compelling and cynical scene that shows that the absent-minded professor does not precisely understand the situation in which he has found himself. He is also probably not yet aware that he is still the same old guy who may be fantasizing about a young woman who would like him. Later, she will try to recreate the fantasy in reality in a great scene that ends in a way that is more reminiscent of fart comedies like “American Pie” but takes us to the next level. The moment when we realize that a very significant percentage of the dreams we dream every night are nightmares.
Is Dream Scenario Scary?
Apparently, “Dream Scenario” has all the potential to be insane: what could be better material for horror fans than terrible nightmares with Nic Cage on them? Especially if we know that behind it is A24, responsible for some of the significant and groundbreaking films we have seen in recent years in horror cinema and beyond. Films like Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” and “Midsommar,” or the excellent Australian “Talk to Me,” or the “X” film trilogy with Mia Goth. A film whose producer is Ari Aster, who, according to reports, was willing to take a more significant part in the movie at one point than to produce it.
But. is “Dream Scenario” a horror movie? It is a bit difficult to admit. The film humorously presents some of these nightmares with a subtle touch of horror. To its credit, it doesn’t explain what is happening here, why the professor appears in the dreams, and why they change, which is perfectly fine because we would probably get some unconvincing nonsense. The bottom line is that as the film progresses, the professor becomes more active and terrifying in his dreams, and not in a positive way. We see these nightmares in some cases as short scenes in the frame, in others implicitly or with the help of verbal descriptions that sound terrible on paper, but their visual expression lacks something.
Of course, this makes perfect sense because “Dream Scenario” is not a proper horror film, and Professor Matthews is not a real Freddy Krueger, but one can always dream. Especially since I think there was much more potential here to “go wild” and make the film more memorable, regardless of the horror. “Dream Scenario” is still not “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” or “Stranger than Fiction,” but some masterpieces with brilliant and partly reflexive ideas, plus excellent filmmaking.
What Is The Real Meaning Of Dream Scenario?
One of the main complaints against the film, as appears in quite a few reviews, is that it loses some momentum in its last part, or more precisely, does not realize the potential built up so far. It makes sense because “Dream Scenario” becomes scattered at a certain point. Too many supporting characters here do not contribute to the plot or the main character’s significant development, such as some of Matthews’ colleagues or even his daughters, whose image remains superficial.
On the other hand, characters who are interesting and even turn out to be very sympathetic to me – like the social media manager Trent and the fantasizing assistant Molly – are left behind a bit. It’s a shame because Cera and especially Gelule stole the show. The transition between styles is done several times in the film, sometimes even at a scene or cinematic expression level. It works in most cases because it contributes to confusion and disorientation concerning the strange situation we witness in the film, but in others, it is less so. In certain aspects, we get too many characters, subplots, and narratives here, which harm our experience as viewers.
The general idea of the film and its social criticisms are interesting but not challenging to come across in other contexts. The main message is about today’s celebrity life and star culture, which sometimes achieves world fame very quickly and without having done anything, for example, people without any obvious talent who sat in a closed house for a few months, fought over cigarettes and did lousy tasks like in the popular reality show. On the other hand, the same culture also removes them from the public order very quickly – in something like “15 minutes of fame” – sometimes through no fault of their own, because there is another instant star, or because the public has had enough of them.
“Dream Scenario” does take it a bit more to the extreme, depicting a character who becomes an enemy of the public and a horror icon who causes people to undergo psychological therapy based on gradual exposure to him. It’s a great and entertaining idea, even if it’s not explained enough within the film’s internal logic. I agree with the claims that a more interesting parable could have been built here for the whole situation. The feeling is that the excellent idea at the center of the film was not fully realized, and that we could have had something more interesting to watch and remember.
We could have gotten a masterpiece if only the direction were a little bolder and less conventional, or the script was tighter, or the film would have dared to go all out with its ideas and let the imagination run wild, which is logical in a movie that deals with such topics. We have a film that builds itself well but loses momentum, without mentioning the bizarre final scenes with a specific item related to dreams, which take the film in a science fiction direction. This idea seems like it accidentally came here from another film or sat in the attic of the screenwriter’s ideas.
Should You Watch Dream Scenario?
“Dream Scenario” is a delicate and well-made film in most respects, with a very successful general idea and some brilliant scenes. It’s no wonder that most critics raved about it but also that the audience was less exposed to it. It’s a film that resembles its hero, a routine cinematic zebra that could have stood out much more in the herd of zebra films. A film that, by trying to combine styles – black comedy, psychological drama, horror, science fiction, and more – has lost its identity to a certain extent.
Personally, and apologies in advance for the stupid metaphors, I prefer my zebras more prominent, even with knives instead of claws, or if you like, red and green stripes instead of the somewhat dull black and white. The kind of Zebra that will appear in my worst nightmares and accompany me for a few decades, or some other strange metaphor that says I watch too many weird horror films.
That could happen in Nicolas Cage’s next film, which is probably around the corner. That’s how it is when it comes to one of the busiest actors of our time, whose face is impossible to forget.
Dream Scenario – Frequently Asked Questions
Year: 2024
Who directed Dream Scenario? Kristoffer Borgli
Who plays in Dream Scenario? Nicolas Cage leads the cast of “Dream Scenario”. The cast includes Julian Nicholson, Michael Cera, Dylan Gelula, Lily Bird, Jessica Clement, and Dylan Baker.
Who wrote Dream Scenario? Kristoffer Borgli
How long is Dream Scenario? The length of the movie is about 102 minutes.
When was the movie produced? United States
What are the languages spoken in the film? English
When was Dream Scenario released to theaters? The release date of the movie is November 10, 2023.
What was the budget for Dream Scenario? Approx. 10 million dollars
How much did Dream Scenario gross? The film grossed more than 12.5 million dollars, according to Box Office Mojo.
What is the MPAA rating (Parents Guide) of Dream Scenario? R
What do Dream Scenario reviews say? The film has a rating of 6.8 on IMDB and 91% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes (“Tomatometer”)
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