“Dream Scenario” pushes its preposterous surreal story idea as much as possible, and I often enjoyed that during my viewing. Steadily anchored by one of better performances from its lead actor, the movie doles out a series of dryly absurd moments to be appreciated, and the result is a wry comic fable of social fame and notoriety.

Nicholas Cage, who looks meeker and more inconsequential than usual thanks to some makeup, plays Paul Matthews, a plain college professor who has often been daunted by almost everyone around him. While his college class is not that popular, he is not so highly regarded by his peers as well as his family members, and there is a little humorous moment when he pathetically attempts to persuade one of his more famous peers to recognize his contribution to her latest academic article.

And then, as shown from the opening scene, something very, very, very, weird starts to happen to Matthews. When a few people around him tells him that they saw him appearing in their respective dreams for no apparent reason, he does not pay much attention to that, but, what do you know, even total strangers also begin to recognize him for the very same reason. Once an old friend/colleague of his publishes an article on this inexplicable happening, he becomes quite famous around not only US but also the whole world, and he is surely glad to see that he is now finally getting some attention.

During its first half, the screenplay by director/writer/editor has some cheerful fun with how Matthews keeps appearing the dreams of many others – and how he clumsily tries to capitalize on that. While he simply appears here and there in others’ dream with no control over that, he keeps getting more and more popular as one of the latest celebrities to watch, and he even finds himself invited by a colleague who has ignored him for years just because of thinking that he is not so important. He later decides to use his growing popularity for publishing a book of his at last, but he does not even begin to write that, and he becomes quite frustrated with his meeting with a bunch of PR company people who do not seem to understand at all what he actually wants. He subsequently comes to have a little private moment with one of them, and he seems attracted to this woman at first, but he eventually steps back because he does not feel right about that.

Meanwhile, there comes another unexpected thing for him. His avatar in the dreams of many others somehow becomes quite vicious and violent, and now Matthews finds himself disliked and hated a lot by many people out there, though he has absolutely no control over the circumstance. As things get worse and worse for him day by day, he tries to deal with this growing trouble as much as possible, but, not so surprisingly, he only comes to make the circumstance all the worse.

Still not explaining anything about its hero’s extraordinary situation, the movie sticks to its detached attitude while occasionally catching us off guard. Many of the dream and nightmare scenes are mostly plain and realistic except some surreal touches, and we come to discern more of how Paul’s presence affects many others’ unconsciousness. They are just amused by seeing him there in their dreams, but then they are scared and traumatized by him later in the story, and there is a bitter comic moment when Paul and a therapist try to calm down some of these people without much success.

As his character is cornered more and more during the second half of the story, Cage surely has lots of stuffs to do, and, as many of you know, he is always good whenever he is busy with doing many things on the screen. Without any unnecessary exaggeration, he is believable in his character’s longtime desperation and frustration, and that becomes the solid ground for several big comic scenes where his character comes to embarrass himself a lot more than expected. With Cage constantly holding the film together, the movie works as a cautionary tale about how one can easily be famous and then instantly become infamous on the Internet, and you will be more amused by how Borgli’s screenplay later pushes the story more with a Brave New World which I sincerely wish will never come true at least during my lifetime.

The main weakness of the movie is how many of supporting characters feel rather undeveloped compared to its hero. Julianne Nicholson has a few acerbic moments as Matthews’ no-nonsense wife, but she does not have much else to do, and the same thing can be said about Tim Meadows and Dylan Baker. In case of Michael Cera, who has diligently advanced since his nerdy appearance in TV comedy series “Arrested Development” and Jason Reitman’s Oscar-winning film “Juno” (2007), he brings some extra humor to the story as the self-absorbed CEO of the PR company Matthews deals with, and I would be more delighted if the movie utilized his character more.

In conclusion, “Dream Scenario” is another solid comedy film from Borgli, who previously drew our attention for his previous film “Sick of Myself” (2022). As shown from “Sick of Myself”, Borgli is a smart and competent director who knows how to push a comic story further for our entertainment and amusement, and “Dream Scenario” confirms to us that he is another interesting filmmaker to watch. The movie feels a bit like an acquired taste, and you will soon enjoy its comic moments once you go along with that, and it will surely remain in your unconsciousness for a while at least.