Dream Scenario

Dream Scenario surprised me in a lot of ways. The movie concerns Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage), who, for no explained reason, starts appearing in people's dreams. Not just family or friends, but strangers, all across the planet. He's a meek nobody with an inferiority complex, and suddenly, he's the most famous and interesting person in the world ... until the dreams turn into violent nightmares, and he becomes a global pariah, and his fame turns into infamy. This sounds like the makings of a horror movie. I watch-listed it thinking it was. It isn't. Dream Scenario is ... sort of a character study? And sort of a dark comedy? And sort of a drama? And sort of a commentary on fame and exploring how "cancelling" can affect the person being cancelled? I add all those question marks because one of the things holding back the movie is its unwillingness to commit to any of these. This isn't a movie that deftly blends tones and themes, because it never fully builds them out. It uses sketches of the tones and themes it has in mind. Part of that comes down to how this movie breezes past explanations for things that need it. I'm glad it didn't try to find a scientific explanation for why he's suddenly appearing in the dreams of strangers, but when the dreams turn to nightmares, they get so bad, his students refuse to be in class with him, friends won't attend dinner parties with him, and he's beaten up for refusing to leave a diner. We've all had dreams with people we know where they do something they would otherwise never do in real life, but that doesn't produce a visceral reaction so strong that we want the person exiled from life. Dream Scenario turns on a dime from positive to negative and never tries to make sense of it. It feels like this is where the commentary on cancellation is supposed to come in, but it doesn't really say anything about it. Worse yet, not only are the affected having these OTT reactions, those that aren't dreaming about him, including his wife and kids, are wholly unsupportive or understanding. It doesn't feel like the natural reactions of human beings; it feels like the strings of a theme pulling the characters in the directions the narrative needs to go to fulfill the theme. But because the movie never actually condemns these people for their rash reaction, and Paul handles it in ever-increasingly poor ways, it's hard to sympathize with his plight. I never bought into the drama, I never found the dark comedy even halfway clever, and the fact it couldn't commit to exploring its themes left that unfulfilled at best. It feels like a second draft that made it to print. Never mind the denouement, which is laughably Vanilla Sky-style out of left field. And yet, I can't say it's bad. It's definitely watchable, in fact. From an acting standpoint, this slots in nicely with Nic Cage's recent career resurgence, as he does a great job as a beleaguered everyman that just wants to be recognized for being anything but normal, but doesn't have the conviction in himself to push himself to that place. The direction is great; it has a lot of fun balancing the dream world and reality, and the score is fun and different, focusing on under-served wind instruments. It somehow manages to stay engaging and have a good energy to it, despite its flaws. This is a world I could see going back to, especially with the wild idea introduced at the end, even if it does feel grafted on from an entirely different script. So, while I am only giving this three stars, it's not without recognizing that this movie has some merit. It's a movie that, in more capable hands that could've sanded down the rough edges and polished up the dull spots, might've gotten to the four-star range. It has the bones of a great movie. It's just wearing something of a tattered coat.