Today, in celebration of Nicolas Cage's birthday, we select Dream Scenario, his most recently released film.
Synopsis
In 'Dream Scenario', a college biology professor named Paul Matthews suddenly becomes the most famous man in the world, but his newfound fame comes with a twist. People start dreaming about him, and his dreams become their nightmares. As Paul struggles to come to terms with his new reality, he must confront the dark side of viral fame and the consequences of becoming a media sensation.
Why Today?
Nicolas Cage was born on January 7th, 1964, making him 60 this year. In honor of his birthday, we choose the most recent of his vast collection of work, dark comedy 'Dream Scenario.'
The beautiful thing about Nicolas Cage is he is whoever you want him to be. We could've gone a lot of different directions here: from his Academy Award-winning performance and critically-acclaimed dramas, to his prolific action-packed films. His latest "Cage-aissance" phase encompasses diverse roles, including a film where he portrays a fictionalized version of himself. In this instance, we've focused on the latter part of his career, specifically his latest movie, earning him a Best Actor Golden Globe nomination, and encapsulating the essence of the Cage experience.
Review
I wanted to like, even love, this movie, but it just doesn't work for me. I was onboard with the concept and the set-up, but it completely falls apart in execution, especially the second half.
There's some great stuff in here (concept is great, Cage is great, has some truly funny and well-executed scenes, using the dream thing purely as a plot device instead of trying to "over-science" what the cause is), but it falls flat in trying to satirize in the final act and over-explore the themes it wants to tell (cancel culture, parasocial relationships, over commercialization, dissonance between self-perception and how the world sees you, etc, etc, etc).
Ultimately, I'm just left frustrated. There's a fantastic movie in here somewhere with this concept and Cage's performance, but this ain't it.