Nicolas Cage
“DREAM SCENARIO” My rating: B (HBO Max)
102 minutes | MPAA rating: R
“See you in my dreams” takes on comedic/sinister possibilities in Kristoffer Borgli’s “Dream Scenario,” featuring Nicolas Cage at his most bleakly amusing.
Cage’s Paul Matthews is a bearded, balding, bespectacled professor of evolutionary biology at a small college. He’s bland and boring (it’s all the kids can do to stay awake in class); at home he is just tolerated by his marriage-weary wife (Jiulianne Nicholson) and their two teen daughters.
In other words, Paul’s a nobody.
Until, that is, total strangers report seeing him in their dreams. Initially this phantom Paul simply walks through or observes what’s happening to the slumbering citizens. Even in dangerous situations he doesn’t react…he’s as ineffectual in dreamland as he is in real life.
But as the phenomenon grows, Paul becomes famous. Thousands, nay, millions of people around the globe are encountering him while they snooze.
Paul tries to parlay his notoriety into a book deal (one advertising whiz kid wants him to somehow endorse a soft drink during his somnambulant visitations). But as time goes by there are disturbing developments. Dreamers report that Dream Paul has violently attacked them. Sexually assaulted them, even.
And suddenly, through no fault of his own, the dull professor is an object of hatred and disgust.
“Dream Scenario” frequently shifts from the “real” world to depictions of the characters’ dreams; by the time it’s over you may be guessing which is which.
This is only writer/director Borgli’s second feature after numerous shorts; he’s clearly a talent to watch for.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobias Menzies
“YOU HURT MY FEELINGS” My rating: B (For rent on various streaming services)
93 minutes } MPAA rating: R
Nicole Holofcener, our foremost chronicler of contemporary angst, scores again with “You Hurt My Feelings.”
It’s a comedy about how people lie so as not to hurt each other’s feelings. And perhaps end up doing even more damage.
Our main characters are Beth and Don (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Tobia Menzies), New Yorkers with what appears to be an ideal marriage. She’s a writer seeking a publisher for her second book. He’s a clinical psychologist.
A big part of their marriage is offering mutual encouragement. Which also means never doing or saying anything discouraging…even if you have to fib about it.
So when Beth asks Don to read her new book, he’s full of praise. Phony praise, as it turns out. He just wants to be supportive.
Holofcener gives us a smorgasbord of characters —the couple’s twenty something son (Owen Teague), Beth’s sister and neurotic actor brother-in-law (Micheala Watkins, Trey Santiago-Hudson), her kvetching mother (Jeannie Berlin) and various of Don’s patients (David Cross, Amber Tamblyn, Zach Cherry) — most of whom muddle through by saying not what they think but what they think other people want to hear.
“You Hurt…” is often laugh-out-loud funny (nobody surpasses Louis-Dreyfus in the sarcastic putdown department) but ultimately makes a telling point: it’s virtually impossible to survive in this modern world without lying.
“ALBERT BROOKS: DEFENDING MY LIFE” My rating: B+ (HBO MAX)
88 minutes | No MPAA rating
If you don’t already consider Albert Brooks (born Albert Einstein) a comedy genius, this documentary from Rob Reiner makes the point repeatedly.
Turns out that Reiner and Brooks were school pals and have been buds ever since; “…Defending My Life” is something of a valentine to Brooks’ eccentric and eclectic talents.
There are priceless clips of his early conceptual comedy (he was Andy Kaufman before there was an Andy Kaufman), scenes from the many movie’s he’s directed (“Modern Romance,” “Lost in America,” “Defending Your Life”) and of the acting he’s done for others (“Drive,” “Finding Nemo,” “Taxi Deriver,” “Broadcast News”).
A big chunk of the film is devoted to a conversation between Reiner and his subject…it’s like hanging out with a couple of good friends.
And there’s a small army of Brooks-loving celebs (James L. Brooks, Larry David, Judd Apatow, Tiffany Haddish, Jonah Hill, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Steven Spielberg) to give testimonials. Nobody seems to be kissing ass here…their sincere admiration is so genuine you could use it as a heating pad.
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 