Starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Cera, Julianne Nicholson

Written & Directed by Kristoffer Borgli

A24 in Cinemas now.

A bookish university professor becomes a global phenomenon when he starts to appear in everybody’s dreams.

It seems like just the boost to his career that evolutionary biologist, Paul (Nicolas Cage) has been looking for. Fact is, he’s having a mid-life crisis. His kids think he’s a dweeb, and his fascination with Zebras (and why they get ulcers) not only leaves his students at Osler university uninspired, but publishers equally so – he can’t interest them in the dull book he hasn’t got around to writing yet. So when he starts to appear as a benevolent, if ineffectual presence in dreams across the planet, it offers the exposure he’s been craving, and soon he’s talking to top agents about his future. However, this new found attention is unsettling, and as he struggles to cope with the pressures of fame, so his role in people’s dreams start to change accordingly and his life takes a darker turn.

It’s worth outlining the story (all of the above is clear from the trailer), because the premise of Dream Scenario is intriguing and original – its twists and turns hard to predict.

Cage is on top form – looking wonderfully schlubby in a bald wig and a tatty parka. I’m not sure he’ll ever top the grumpy chef at the heart of Pig (my personal favourite Cage role) but this is up there as one of his best. Michael Cera is also terrific as the shallow but passive aggressive agent, and hopefully this presages a new phase in Cera’s career, liberating him from the irksome man-child he’s been trapped in for at least ten years too long.

Dream Scenario is at its best as a magical realist satire on the ephemeral nature of social media fame, where celebrity exists purely in the phone of the beholder. Internet fame – or notoriety – rarely has anything to do with the reality of the person adored or vilified, but has the power to make or destroy that person on the turn of a dime.

Unfortunately, in its final act, the movie attempts to leap into tech sci-fi – which is a different genre altogether – and it feels like a cheat, because we haven’t been in that world for the preceding 75 minutes. To add injury to disappointment, instead of helping the story to find a resolution, it confuses things, like a misfiring deus ex machina. It’s a shame that writer-director Kristoffer Borgli couldn’t find a character-based way to bring the story to a truly satisfying conclusion.

Verdict: Despite literally losing the plot in its closing fifteen minutes, Dream Scenario is a hugely enjoyable, very funny, and thought-provoking film. A combination of narrative originality and Nicolas Cage make even the disappointment of its sputtering resolution a price worth paying. 7/10

Martin Jameson

www.ninjamarmoset.com