Dream Scenario (2023)

★★1/2 (out of 5)

I gotta be frank… I didn’t like Dream Scenario. While there is an originality to this concept that was intriguing throughout, it never felt fully explored. Mixing anxiety-ridden horror with dark comedy to comment on cancel culture was interesting, but I don’t think the movie ever really worked for me. Nicolas Cage was amusingly awkward.

Worked better for me when I thought of it as a sort of Freddy Krueger origin story… but really, while I was impressed with its originality and I know a lot of people are liking it… it just wasn’t for me.

It all made sense when I saw “produced by Ari Aster”…

BUT I also feel like this might be one I revisit in the future and like a little more... as the more I think about it the more I start to appreciate things the movie did.

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Film Info:

Premise: A hapless family man finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. When his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom.

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A24

Written & Directed by Kristoffer Borgli

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, Dylan Baker, Kate Berlant, Lily Bird

Runtime: 1hr 42min

Rating: 14A

Comedy, Horror

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IMDb Rating: 7.3/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

RT Audience Score: 87%

RT Critic Average: 7.6/10

RT Audience Average: 4/5

Metacritic Score: 74

Letterboxd: 3.7/5

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Fun Fact: At one point Ari Aster was directing the movie with Adam Sandler playing the main character. After Kristoffer Borgli's film Sick Of Myself (2022) got good reviews, it encouraged Ari and A24 to let him direct his own script. Kristoffer wanted Nicolas Cage instead of Adam for the main character.

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Trailer: