One good idea does not a movie make. Writer/director Kristoffer Borgli had this wonderful idea of an ordinary man making cameos in the dreams of, well, everyone. So many questions: How was he in their dreams? Why was he in their dreams? How are these connected? Why now? What does he represent?
And that -pretty much- ended the brilliance of Dream Scenario, sad to say.
It’s been a while since I was this disappointed in a film, but we’ll get to that.
Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) is a professor of evolutionary biology. He schools us on the zebra as the film opens. The stripes on a zebra are not for camouflage in the reeded African plains as I assumed; the stripes are for indistinguishability among the herd. If a predator cannot pick out an individual target, it gets confused. That’s evolution. Zebras have evolved so that predators grow frustrated with a hunt before it has even begun. Isn’t that fascinating?
No?
Well, how about this? Professor Matthews keeps showing up in dreams. Dreams of people he knows. Dreams of people he doesn’t know. Dreams of people around the globe. And it always seems to be a cameo in the middle of a nightmare. Car accident on the road – Paul is there. Serial killer chasing you – Paul is there. Trump has been re-elected to office – Paul is there. How? Why?
The dreams expose Paul for the person he is: a milquetoast at best, petty and small at worst. It takes the film a while to do this; we have to run a gamut of Paul’s emotional baggage on the way to any conclusion. The bald quasi-intellectual appears humbled by the attention, but then “sure I’ll meet with an agency” and “so you’ve been having sexy dreams about me, huh?” and “how do I get what I want out of this?” come through loud and clear. Far from allowing Paul to be enhanced by the attention; he is instead called out for his constantly self-serving behavior.
The highlight of the film appears to be when Paul goes viral after becoming enraged on film. In 
the aftermath, the agency discovers Paul is no longer wanted for product endorsement, but instead is suddenly coveted for symbolic value among the RW ecosphere of white male victimhood.
Oh, that’s perfect. Just perfect. Being a white, heterosexual male perceiving threats from women, students, etc. all while showing neither an ounce of emotional maturity nor any introspection, and tending toward a violent response, Paul becomes a natural fit for the Right-Wing propaganda machine. Yes, Paul, tell us again and again how he’s the real victim here, just like all those perspective-challenged Trump-voting morons. Has all of this stupidity just been a metaphor for cancel culture? Does cancel culture need a metaphor?
Dream Scenario seems content to milk the initial premise and go almost nowhere with it. The film never let’s us in on the secret of the dream cameos, nor explores why some people dream about Paul and others do not. Hence, the enjoyment of the film is entirely wrapped up in the performance of Nicolas Cage as the omnipresent spectator within your dreams and the omnipresent protagonist out of them. This all might be great (Nicolas Cage delivers a wonderful performance here) if anything he did seemed even remotely altruistic. In turn, the film goes nowhere; it gets stuck in a metaphorical ditch and never climbs out. What is on screen is an indulgence in mediocrity and a film where the evolutionary biologist ironically fails to evolve. I couldn’t be more disappointed.
There once was a professor named Paul
Who showed up in dreams one and all
The novelty was cute
Until emotional dispute
Led to a societal withdrawal
Rated R, 102 Minutes
Director: Kristoffer Borgli
Writer: Kristoffer Borgli
Genre: FYNC!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Critics
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Did this movie have a point?
