Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage) is an evolutionary biologist who is yet to publish and a family man who feels unimportant to his children. So when the general public start to see him in their dreams he feels seen and wonders if he can use the notoriety to finally publish the book he has dreamed of. 

Dream Scenario is weird. It has a high concept, was advertised as a comedy, is actually more of a surrealist horror and goes absolutely nowhere narratively. It seems to have a statement to make on commercialism and fame but nothing particularly profound. And without its brilliant lead performance I suspect it would have been consigned to a streaming service with little fanfare and no cinema release. 

Matthews is the epitome of a sad middle aged man who has been unable to follow his dreams. (It feels painful to write that sentence on my humble blog!) He is unable to speak up for himself, feels disrespected by his kids, is not invited to a colleagues dinner parties and has been overtaken professionally by people he once worked with. Cage makes him painful to watch whilst you both sympathise and despise him. 

Initially the dreams have Matthews as a bystander but they slowly become more malevolent and the initially positive response sours quickly. It is here there is a brief commentary on cancel culture but it feels half baked. 

But then, slowly it dawns on you that nothing is happening. And the film goes nowhere. I laughed once, admittedly out loud in a completely empty cinema. Otherwise the tone is creepy horror. Whilst the most memorable scene for me was the opening one where Cage’s bedraggled academic explains to a bunch of barely interested students that Zebra’s camouflage is about blending in with each other rather than their surroundings, but sometimes there is an evolutionary reason to stand out. It summed up the entire film and without Cage’s magnetic presence it would have been a very tough watch from there. 

A depressing, peculiar watch.