I think I expected too much from "Dream Scenario," the recent existential comedy from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli and A24. It stars Nicolas Cage as Paul Matthews, a rather ordinary, somewhat dull biology professor. He's married to a woman named Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and has two young daughters. One day, out of the blue, Paul discovers that he's been randomly appearing in other people's dreams, and soon becomes a celebrity.
"Dream Scenario" chronicles what happens to average, ordinary people when they go viral. We watch as Paul and his family first enjoy the newfound attention and take advantage of it. However, Paul's expectations of fame are unreasonable, and he quickly hits the limits of his influence. And, of course, he goes too far trying to live up to other people's perceptions of him, and experiences the equivalent of being canceled. I was frustrated with Paul throughout, because he makes such basic mistakes interacting with people, and is often such a blunt caricature of a narcissistic intellectual. However, it's the fame and resulting entitlement that make Paul so insufferable, and his mistakes are the same ones we've seen play out online over and over again.
The dreams themselves are strange and surreal, and Paul has no control over his inexplicable connection to them. This was the part of the film that I felt the most unsatisfied with, because "Dream Scenario" is thematically so much like the work of Michael Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, and Spike Jones in the early 2000s, but lacks the same fluency with dream imagery and experimental film language. There are some interesting visuals, but these are very limited and not as absurd or inventive as I was hoping for. I don't think I'm on the same wavelength as the filmmakers when it comes to the film's humor in general. The satire is spot-on, especially when it comes to Paul's encounters with a marketing company led by a passive-aggressive, buzzword-loving exec played by Michael Cera. Otherwise, there's a lot of cringe and a lot of awkwardness, which I found hard to sit through. I've seen this described as a comedic horror film in a few places, which I can see, but if the horror was intentional it didn't really come across. Ari Aster, who did this sort of thing much better in "Beau is Afraid," is listed as an executive producer.
Cage delivers a good performance, as he dependably does, by turns highlighting Paul's banality and his ineptitude. The filmmakers get a lot of mileage out of sticking his dumpy professor figure into incongruous surroundings. However, Cage is so good at playing someone so boring that I'd had enough of him well before the film was done. Even watching him getting shunned and bashed on by the fickle universe felt tiresome after five minutes because his reactions were so obvious. I'm not sure if going full, over-the-top Nicolas Cage would have helped, but it would have made "Dream Scenario" more engaging. Similarly, while I like the themes and ideas that the movie explores, it all feels very obvious and surface level. It was so disheartening to find Carrie Coon in a wife role that barely gives her anything to do. The cast is full of interesting actors like Tim Meadows, Dylan Baker, and even Amber Midthunder showing up in a bit part, but the material just doesn't live up to their talents.
"Dream Scenario" is the kind of weird, ungainly, high concept film I usually enjoy, but the execution here fell flat. It's a shame, because we don't see these films come around too often anymore, and similar A24 efforts have bombed regularly enough that they may give up on this kind of filmmaking entirely. It's nice to know that Nicolas Cage is still capable of screen schlubbery when necessary, but we're very far from the days of "Adaptation," and Kristoffer Borgli has a ways to go as a filmmaker. He's on the right track, but here's hoping his next film is more ambitious and feels less like a minor retread of other, better films.
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