Dream Scenario is a dark comedy that follows a college professor who mysteriously starts appearing in everyone’s dreams. With his newfound recognition, however, his and his family’s life change more than he could ever expect as the dreams become darker and darker.
Nicolas Cage plays the awkward professor Paul Matthews, and he delivers an incredible performance. He somehow uses his unhinged nature to channel a hilariously awkward performance as Paul. Cage captures the feeling of instant stardom and the whiplash that comes with it expertly. Once the movie progresses and the dreams start becoming nightmares, he can harness his unpredictability to become scary. It’s a perfect casting, and with Ari Aster producing the movie, it’s a match made in heaven.
There’s vanity, insecurity, and anxiety all wrapped up in his performance. He is both sympathetic and apathetic all at once, which makes for such a unique viewing experience.
I love the way Dream Scenario‘s plot unfolds. Paul can barely put together a sentence when confronted by an ex, and the next day he’s made into a viral superstar. He has no idea how to handle it but wants the recognition to be able to write his book. Almost as immediately as the fame is given to him, he is essentially “canceled” when he becomes the center of each of their nightmares. I found that a hilarious touch because he gets upset when someone tells him that he doesn’t do anything notable in their dreams, just shows up.
The movie can balance its comedy with its darker tones very well. A lot of credit goes to Cage who can deliver a hilarious line right after he is compared to Freddy Krueger for being able to haunt dreams, (he even puts on the glove). There are great uses of sound to mask conversations to focus on Paul or other character’s reactions and emotions which I liked.
Another thing I liked is that they never explain why Paul starts showing up in everyone’s dreams. He just does and we go on from there. We just see how people treat him throughout the movie for better and for worse. Each dream is only shown briefly, but we see more of it through Paul’s dream and it becomes understandable why people are so quick to cancel him. Almost as soon as they start, they end without any explanation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
When I first heard about Dream Scenario, I thought it would be a fever dream of a movie. It turned out even better than I would’ve thought. Nicolas Cage gives an incredibly well-rounded performance. The story is fascinating to follow even with nothing being explained, and it was paced incredibly well. The ending falls a bit flat in my eyes as it felt like it extended a bit too long, but regardless, this is very much worth the watch.
