The Oscar-winning actor dons a bald cap and pitches his voice into a higher, more nasal register to play Paul Matthews, a college professor who bores his students and annoys his kids. The quarter-zip-wearing evolutionary biologist is nondescript at best and awkward at worst, the kind of guy you\u2019d only remember for an unfunny joke he attempted to make\u2014and then was the only person in the room to laugh at. Yet Paul is actually desperate for attention, and when he finally gets it, it isn\u2019t from the book he\u2019s been meaning to write his entire academic career but just hasn\u2019t gotten around to yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, this otherwise unremarkable man has started appearing in the dreams of people around the world, from his own family members and random acquaintances to total strangers. \u201cWe\u2019re not even the type of people that like attention,\u201d says his wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson), but it\u2019s clear that Paul is enjoying his new viral celebrity, even if he doesn\u2019t exactly know how to respond to it (other than awkwardly). As his role in people\u2019s dreams change, the public response shifts as well, putting Paul and his family into unfamiliar territory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In its first half, Dream Scenario<\/em> is infinitely engrossing and blackly comic as it introduces the idea of what would happen if a single person started making cameos in millions of dreams. Borgli\u2019s script mines humor from the intellectual to the scatalogical; an ill-timed fart probably got the biggest laugh from me, but it\u2019s also specific in its jokes about academia. Dream Scenario<\/em> raises questions about what it means for that individual as well as for how everyone else reacts to him, from strangers who can\u2019t figure out where they know him from to a pair of millennial marketers (Michael Cera and Kate Berlant) who see opportunity\u2014and dollar signs\u2014in his newfound fame. When Dream Scenario<\/em> evolves into a commentary on cancel culture, it\u2019s unclear what the film is actually trying to say about the phenomenon and its impact on people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the issue lies in Paul as a character and how Borgli intends the audience to react to him. Is he an average but good man who is simply misunderstood by the masses, or has his innate neediness and \u201cassholeness\u201d (as his wife puts it) curdled into something even worse with fame as a catalyst? The final scene points toward Borgli\u2019s efforts to have us ultimately sympathize with Paul, but the preceding 100 minutes have created a picture of man who doesn\u2019t really deserve that reaction from the viewer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dream Scenario<\/em>\u2019s thematic muddling is at odds with its otherwise careful craft, even beyond the performance from Cage that is in line with other recent gems in his filmography like Mandy<\/em> and Pig<\/em>. The film is thoughtfully constructed with Borgli (who also serves as the editor) making abrupt cuts that feel propulsive rather than jarring, and he uses audio in fascinating ways, particularly in a scene with a recorded conversation. Interiors by production designer Zosia Mackenzie (Infinity Pool<\/em>, Come to Daddy<\/em>) are modern and lived-in, especially Paul and Janet\u2019s home, which is almost distractingly lovely. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If Dream Scenario<\/em> didn\u2019t evince such potential in its concept, performances, and craft, its thematic issues and second-half problems wouldn\u2019t sting quite so badly. At this point, viewers largely expect most late-period Cage movies to suck, but Dream Scenario<\/em>\u2019s pedigree made it look like it would be one of the good ones, like the aforementioned Pig <\/em>or Mandy<\/em>, pointing to his earlier, bold choices in both the films he made and what he brought to them. Yet despite Cage\u2019s best efforts, Dream Scenario<\/em>\u2019s promising beginning soon sours into something far more conventional and less interesting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Dream Scenario” is in theaters Friday.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/dream-scenario2-1024x576.jpg\")
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