Illustration by Michael DiMilo
Welcome to My Nightmare: Film Review of Dream Scenario
By Geoff Carter
Back in the early days of cinema, the gold standard for the sight gag was the pratfall, usually someone slipping on a banana peel. Laughing at someone else’s misfortune always seemed funny—until one considered that the butt of the joke could suffer serious injury. There’s a thin line between comedy and pathos—pain and laughter—that has been exquisitely navigated in Kristopher Borgli’s Dream Scenario, a film about a hapless man who suffers the consequences of involuntary and unwanted notoriety.
Professor Paul Matthews (Nicholas Cage), a mild-mannered, pitifully nerdy, and timid biology professor who discovers that he has inexplicably been appearing in numerous people’s dreams. The opening sequence shows Matthews’ daughter Sophie (Lily Bird) sitting outside while her father is raking leaves. Inexplicably, objects start falling from the sky. When Sophie starts floating away and calls out to her father, he only says, “It’s all right, sweetie,” as she disappears into the sky.
When Sophie tells Paul about the dream, he seems upset he didn’t do anything to help his daughter, but, as more and more people tell Paul he is appearing in their dreams, his passive and uninteresting demeanor becomes a common theme. He is appalled that he doesn’t help anyone in their dreams. After an old flame tells him about her dream where he watches her help an accident victim and writes about it, Paul is flooded with thousands of social media responses from people who say he has visited them in their dreams. His wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) asks him why he never appears in her dreams, a question he cannot begin to answer.
While still irked by his nondescript presence in the dreams, Paul revels in his newfound viral fame, appearing on television and finding newfound appreciation from his students. Despite being a boring and nondescript milquetoast, he finally feels valued. Paul tries to use his fame to seek out a publishing deal for a book he has long wanted to write but discovers that the PR firm headed by Trent (Michael Cera) has different ideas, wanting to appear as a spokesperson for Sprite. Trent’s assistant Molly (Dylan Gelula) tells Paul she’s had erotic dreams about him, but when he, at Molly’s request, tries to recreate the dream in real life, he is humiliated.
After being stiffed by a former colleague who uses his book idea for an academic paper, Paul loses it. Subsequently, his dreams become violent and sadistic and his is subsequently shunned and ridiculed by his former fans. Stunned and bewildered by this change in events, Paul tries to follow through on his book deal but discovers Trent has cashed in on his violent dream presence with Dream Scenario, a pulp version of his autobiography. He is assaulted when he refuses to leave a restaurant, and despite having no control over anyone else’s dreams, he apologizes for causing anyone pain, but—true to form—he comes as a self-absorbed hysteric looking for sympathy, embarrassing his wife and daughters. Janet throws him out of the house. He has been asked not to come to Sophie’s school recital, but Paul finally snaps and barges in, inadvertently injuring a teacher, cementing his pariah status.
The narrative takes a left turn as it is revealed that a communal subconscious has been discovered and is now being exploited as an advertising space. In other words, anyone can pop into your dream and hawk athletic shoes or power drinks. The dreams disappear but Paul’s life is forever changed.
The conceit of Dream Scenario, that a person, or a persona, can inexplicably invade the dreams of tens of thousands of people might at first seem like the plot of a horror film, this movie takes an entirely unexpected direction. It is a comedy, a social satire, and the portrait of what could be interpreted as an everyman. Paul Matthews is unattractive, underappreciated, and and—in his eyes—undervalued. He feels it keenly when he tells his old flame that his wife was worried she might still be interested in him and she laughs and replies, “Why?” Earlier, after she makes a comment about him and he takes a bit of umbrage, she asks, “Still looking for insults?” Paul is sadly, almost pathetically conscious of his own shortcomings until he becomes an almost accidental celebrity. He revels in his unearned notoriety.
Early in the film, while lecturing his class on evolution, Paul asks them how a zebra’s coloring is an effective survival tool and then—answering his own question—makes the point that zebra’s stripes allow them to blend in with each other, that sticking out is what makes them visible to predators. It is a neat analogy for what will happen to Paul in the future. His status as a dream celebrity has pushed him out of the herd. He will become, in every way, a target, both for predators—and, as in the case of Molly, prospective mates.
Layered on top of the zebra analogy (there is even a scene in which Matthews is reading the book Why Zebras Don’t Have Ulcers, a nod to evolutionary biology), is the conceit of Paul’s unconscious celebrity as being parallel to social media fame—and infamy.
Paul doesn’t know why he is in people’s dreams just as many viral subjects in social media are unwitting participants in their notoriety. TikTok videos or photos of people wiping out (remember the banana peel?) or embarrassing themselves go viral with no warning.
Even the famous are at risk. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were reviled on social media for simply being a couple. When Ms. Swift attended her boyfriend’s games, she was accused of ruining football—and then mercilessly and unjustly politicized by the far right, victims of a virtual mob mentality.
Paul Matthews dream appearances are much the same. At first, he is a silent witness in most dreams he is in much the same way that social media makes the most unsuspecting subjects famous. Then, later, when the dream Paul becomes violent and sadistic, again without his control, he becomes a pariah, much as the most unsuspecting person can be on social media. The anonymous mob cruelty of social media trolls, detractors, and haters is on full display here—as is the crass commercialization that has erupted all over the media. Everyone has heard tales of how teens and pre-teens (who can be the cruelest creatures on the planet) use TikTok, Facebook, X, and others to torment and punish.
Borgli’s neat use of this analogy is marvelously done. While the narrative stands on its own as a compelling science-fiction fantasy tale, the comic and satirical elements taking on modern culture is brilliant even though the ending seems a bit contrived and a little too neat. Kristopher Borgli manages to handle these ponderous themes with a light touch. Dream Scenario is funny. He deft direction is tight, and his handling of the actors’ comic timing is great.
Cage’s portrayal of the dowdy loser Matthews is spot-on. He is the portrait of passive aggressiveness and the epitome of frustrated middle-age. Although this is typically Paul Giamatti territory, Cage makes Paul Matthews a simultaneously pathetic and annoying character. His whiny demands are grating to the ear. As Janet, Paul’s long-suffering wife, Julianne Nicholson is refreshingly down-to-earth and sensible, a perfect counterpoint to Cage’s anxious insecurities.
Dream Scenario has something for everyone. It is funny, entertaining, and fascinating while examining important social issues through the lens of the biology of herd mentality and the unplumbed depths of the collective unconscious.