Dream Scenario

Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker, Kate Berlant, Lily Bird, Jessica Clement, Marnie McPhail-Diamond, Paula Bondreau, Noah Centineo
Running Time: 100 min.
Rating: R

★★★ (out of ★★★★)

Nicolas Cage has taken on so many wild roles over the past decade it's easy to forget just how skilled he is at inhabiting average, everyday people trapped in circumstances beyond their control. In writer/director Kristoffer Borgli's black comedy Dream Scenario, we're reminded, which isn't to say Cage's bland, middle-aged protagonist doesn't have his fair share of quirks and eccentricities. But for the most part, he's almost painfully normal. At least until stumbling upon overnight fame for a really unusual reason, creating far more problems than it solves.  

In asking viewers to consider how they'd endure a similar situation, most of the film's surprises come from unfamiliar places. He might be the butt of the joke, but it's likely most couldn't handle things any better, as this sci-fi fantasy morphs into an existential nightmare that offers a scathing social commentary about the cost of fame. Once the public starts projecting their own ideas of him into the world, we get a story that wouldn't seem out of place in The Twilight Zone. And at its center is Cage, who isn't playing the agent of chaos this time, but its unsuspectingly hapless victim.

Socially awkward, mild-mannered biology professor Paul Matthews (Cage) can't seem to catch a break. An adjunct at a local university, his lectures on zebras bore students while his supportive wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and daughters Sophie (Lily Bird) and Hannah (Jessica Clement) roll their eyes at him. Desperately wanting to be published, the timid Paul halfheartedly confronts a former colleague (Paula Bondreau) over an allegedly stolen idea before encountering ex-girlfriend Claire (Marnie McPhail-Diamond), who confesses he's been inexplicably appearing in her dreams. 

After Paul grants Claire permission to write about these dreams for an article, strangers start coming out of the woodwork claiming to recognize him from their dreams. As his celebrity profile rises, he hires a forward thinking PR firm to help manage his suddenly limitless opportunities. But when everyone's dreams turn increasingly violent and sinister, an angry, unsympathetic public blame Paul, making him their number one target.

The one thing all these dreams (cleverly referred to as a "collective Mandela Effect") have in common is that this bearded, balding man's walk through role in them is limited to passive observance, no matter how dire or outrageous the situation. While irked by how closely that resembles his actual tendencies, there's still a large part of him enjoying the newfound fame, with the best scenes revolving around how his undersized personality conflicts with it. Previously defined by a small, anonymous existence, this strange phenomenon makes his world a whole lot bigger, flipping whatever life he had upside down. 

Paul's lectures are now not only well attended, but exciting, with students eager to pick the brain of the world's most recognizable face. But the gap between Paul's desires and people's expectations grow, most noticeably in his interactions with goofy, people pleasing public relations CEO Trent (Michael Cera) and the firm's smitten assistant Molly (Dylan Gelula) who becomes obsessed with recreating her explicit dreams of Paul, to disastrous results.

Paul becomes sort of an everyman symbol society can embrace until these dreams turn to nightmares. But what's most astonishing is just how far the script goes with this, depicting a cancel culture catastrophe where popularity hinges on fans' fickle whims. Their dreams aren't "real," but they're still emotional triggers, representing at least some piece of them or they view reality.

Borgli's even more interested in the concept of entering someone else's consciousness, culminating in a great visual payoff involving Paul's marriage that's as strangely moving as it is comical. There's also a heavy emphasis on how his plight connects to the ethical conundrum surrounding dream technology. If there's any drawback, it's that the film sometimes trips over itself in the delivery, unsure how to get this all out. Still, there are deep ideas in here that make a good enough case for subsequent viewings.    

Playing an introverted, unassuming professor battling perceptions of his more dangerous nocturnal counterpart, there are definite echoes of Cage's work in Charlie Kauffman's Adaptation, with the actor again proving why he's an ideal fit for off-the-wall parts that amount to more than they first appear. And given how he's resisted critics and audiences placing him in a box throughout his career, it's only appropriate he's playing someone trapped in such a predicament. But with as much to say about us as his embattled character, Dream Scenario rarely backs down when it comes to exploring the full ramifications of its oddball premise.