In this horror/comedy from Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli, Nicolas Cage plays Paul Matthews, who becomes a viral sensation when he starts appearing in people’s dreams. When these dreams start to become nightmarish, Paul’s situation quickly changes. Cage continues his recent run of good performances in this film. At first he is a man who feels a bit downtrodden, unappreciated by the people in his life. He brings a surprising amount of depth to the character and really makes you feel for him. As he begins to lose control of his fame, his vanity and stubbornness become more apparent. However, even when Paul is at his most unlikable, Cage still manages to make him vulnerable and sympathetic.
Cage may have been reduced to somewhat of a meme for some people, the bee scene from the terrible 2006 remake of ‘The Wicker Man‘ remake may spring to mind. However, in the past few years Cage has proven he is still a brilliant actor, with his performances in 2018’s ‘Mandy‘, and 2021’s ‘Pig‘ being particularly strong. ‘Dream Scenario‘ further proves that Cage has still got it, in this more reserved performance.
The film starts off very funny, and again, Cage plays this very well. He is great when paired with other comedic actors like Tim Meadows and Micheal Cera. However, when the dreams take a darker turn, so does the film. Fans of Ari Aster might know that he is a producer on this film, and I think that speaks for itself. There were some scenes that make great use of quick cuts that succeeded in making me uncomfortable, and when the film wants to put you on edge it does this very well. I found the nightmare scenes very tense and unsettling at times. I am not a massive horror fan, so if you are more seasoned then this might not get to you as much as it did me.
While the film excels in its humour and horror, for me it sort of falls flat towards the last twenty minutes. This was where the film was trying to be satirical and make its point, but it didn’t really work. It felt like it was trying to say something about cancel culture and how society treats people who are suddenly rocketed into fame, but it feels really messy and unfocused. There were also some jabs at corporate consumerism that missed the mark for me. For all its flaws I did find the actual ending of the film very good, and wished it focused more on Cage’s character trying to reconnect with his family.
4/5
Image Credit: TMDB
