Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Jessica Clement
Intro:
… an engaging enough experience while it’s happening, but one that you’ll likely have trouble recalling when you wake up the next morning.
There exist in this world certain films that have perfect quirky little premises. The kind of yarn that makes you say, ‘Oh hell, yeah, I need to see that’. Being John Malkovich was one (“there’s a magical tunnel into John Malkovich’s head”), Stranger Than Fiction another (“Bloke realises his entire life is being controlled and narrated by an author”) and the latest Nicolas Cage-starrer, Dream Scenario (“Man starts appearing in everyone’s dreams”), is undisputedly a rock solid example. However, in the case of the latter film, Dream Scenario may offer a very different experience to the expected one, albeit with a lot to recommend it.
Dream Scenario is the story of Paul Matthews (Cage), a mild-mannered, generally pleasant if forgettable biology professor, who begins appearing in people’s dreams. It starts small, just a few here and there, but snowballs into more and more, causing Paul to become something of an unlikely celebrity. And then, things take a turn for the weird and the dark and the scary, with Paul’s dream scenario becoming an inescapable nightmare.
Dream Scenario never fully commits to what it wants to be. The first half is a clever, knowing comedy about a man coming to terms with celebrity and being chewed up and spat out by the experience. This part of the flick works well, and the performances from Cage (hewing close to his sweaty schlubby masterwork, Adaptation) and Julianne Nicholson are superb. Then the film wants to skew into an Ari Aster-esque horror yarn with a soupçon of Black Mirror thrown in and it doesn’t quite work, leading to an ending that feels half baked.
There’s plenty to like here, mind you. Great performances, solid direction and one of the most hilariously awkward sex scenes in recent cinema history. However, the lack of a cohesive mission statement or evocative ultimate point renders Dream Scenario an engaging enough experience while it’s happening, but one that you’ll likely have trouble recalling when you wake up the next morning.
