In Dream Scenario, Nicholas Cage stars as a standoffish college professor named Paul Matthews who’s known as a completely normal, albeit boring, man.
It shows how easily someone’s life can be turned around and how drastically things beyond your control have power over you.
The movie plays out with Paul appearing in almost every single character’s dream as a side character. His presence, both in person and online, grows until his entire life begins revolving around Paul occurring in dreams. Something goes wrong. The dreams of the world turn sour and Paul’s dream self begins violently abusing the dreamers, making them fear him in real life. In the blink of an eye, he is transformed from the most interesting person in the world to a hated pariah. Everyone avoids him, shuns him, and rejects him as a part of society.
This film's purpose is to give the viewer an idea of the effect fame and popularity can have. It does a fantastic job of expressing this while also exploring the deeper problems that can arise with having an influential social presence. It shows how easily someone’s life can be turned around and how drastically things beyond your control have power over you.
The plot was strange. It was difficult to see the movie framework or get what the director was trying to convey. It made little sense, and it could have been made clearer by cutting out some meaningless scenes.
A vital part of any good cinematic piece is a strong, likeable main character. Dream Scenario did not deliver this. The main character is whiny, self-centered, and avidly insists on playing the victim in every situation. This makes the movie, no matter how intriguing the plot is, hard to sit through. His actions are truly second-hand embarrassment worthy.
One part of this movie that made it easier to watch was the acting. It gives a very realistic feel to the film. When I saw it, I had to remind myself that it was only a movie. Despite the unlikableness of Nicholas Cages’ character, he portrayed the role perfectly. The actors were all incredible and gave an amazing performance.
“Well, I haven’t seen it yet, but I think the name is very intriguing, because a dream scenario is obviously a dream, so it’s in your mind, but [the title] makes it sound like there’s multiple scenarios playing out or it’s a dream scenario coming to life. I think it sounds pretty cool, so I’m going to go home and watch it,” said Tieren Drolc (12).
In total, it was a creative idea for a movie, it had good elements, but the design of the main character spoiled the entirety of this film.