Dream Scenario
By Jeffrey M. Anderson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Surreal, somewhat pessimistic comedy has strong violence.
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Dream Scenario
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What's the Story?
In DREAM SCENARIO, tenured professor Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) lives an average life, teaching evolution theory to bored students and planning a book he hasn't even started writing. One day, random people begin to recognize him, because somehow Paul has been appearing in strangers' dreams, doing nothing except walking by or observing. He becomes instantly famous. He tries to use his newfound fame to find a publisher for his book, while eager agents merely want to use him to generate big advertising dollars. Things change as people's dreams turn from innocuous to violent and terrifying. Citizens start panicking when they see Paul in the flesh. And Paul's increasingly agitated behavior isn't doing him any favors. How will Paul get out of this pickle?
Is It Any Good?
Taking a page from Charlie Kaufman's bleak, surreal human-condition comedies, this movie sustains its interesting idea until the very end and benefits from Cage's fearless performance. Written and directed by Norwegian-born Kristoffer Borgli, Dream Scenario does things right by never explaining why this Paul Matthews/dream phenomenon is happening -- or what it's supposed to mean. We're left to experience the effects of it, to explore it, emotionally, without worrying about details.
It's not always an easy journey. Paul is as socially awkward as they come, always speaking too much when silence would be more effective or trying to assert himself at the wrong times and failing. He's also drastically insecure, taking nearly every small thing as a personal criticism. However, like Beau Is Afraid (whose director, Ari Aster, is a producer here), the movie isn't an attack on Paul himself, but rather a satire of the vain, fickle, unsympathetic world that made him. (The cynical epilogue supports this idea.) Yet by the end, Dream Scenario leaves viewers with the thought that, despite all of our faults, human connection is still the most precious thing there is.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Dream Scenario's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
What is the movie saying about advertising and consumerism?
How does the movie portray sex? What values are conveyed?
What would you do if you suddenly had Paul's kind of viral fame?
How would you summarize the movie's overall theme? What is it actually about?
Movie Details
- In theaters: November 10, 2023
- On DVD or streaming: December 22, 2023
- Cast: Nicolas Cage , Julianne Nicholson , Dylan Gelula
- Director: Kristoffer Borgli
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studio: A24
- Genre: Comedy
- Run time: 102 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: language, violence and some sexual content
- Last updated: June 28, 2024
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