Known for his love of overacting and being in virtually every genre, Nicolas Cage takes the screen in a new release Dream Scenario. Playing a quiet college professor Paul Matthews, life is pretty normal if not boring until it isn’t. Suddenly his daughter is seeing him in her dreams and he’s just standing there watching. Then others start recognizing him when they’ve never met – he’s the man in their dreams. If it was one or two people it would be a coincidence, but when it becomes dozens if not hundreds and more – he makes the news. How Paul became the man in everyone’s dreams is a mystery and a cultural phenomenon.
Loving and basking in the attention he has never gotten Paul takes his moment in the spotlight. But the quick moment of going viral goes away quickly as the dreams begin to go dark, and now no one wants a man in their nightmares around. What is causing this and why is Paul the center of it all?
It’s off the wall, a bit weird, and goes dark towards the end. But Dream Scenario is the type of movie that lets Nicolas Cage spread his wings and do the overacting that he so loves, and still at times blends into a character that could just be anyone’s dad. From the meek, mild-mannered man at home with an unsupporting and slightly controlling wife, to a professor who revels in his moment in the spotlight and even to a murderous psychopath – even if it’s in someone’s dream. The character changes from scene to scene, and while completely different they are all completely the same man at the core.
The movie seems to break down just what the cost of going viral could be, and what fame can do to a person’s life – both the good and the bad. But at the same time, the costs that Paul ends up paying for something that is completely out of his control is beyond the scope of normal, and yet completely believable in a reactionary society. The movie will make you think, but at the same time may just fade into the background like Paul does in his own life before and after the dreams began.
Dream Scenario is in theaters everywhere this weekend.
Overall Rating:
About Dream Scenario:
Hapless family man Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom, in this wickedly entertaining comedy from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli and producer Ari Aster.
Starring Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, and Dylan Baker
Written and Directed by Kristoffer Borgli
(A24)
Rated R