Nicolas Cage at his funny best at TIFF – Deadline

A24

Nicolas Cage, after more than 100 credits, finally landed the role of his dreams, at least as far as comedy fans are concerned. He knocks it out of the park as a bald, schlubby college professor who suddenly starts appearing in people’s dreams, first in his daughter’s dreams, then in his old girlfriend’s dreams, and soon millions of people around the world are seeing this ordinary-looking, very ordinary man walking through. They hibernate in fairly nondescript ways regardless of the situation. It turns into a phenomenon, until the whole thing turns into a real nightmare.

This is the inspired comedy premise of dream scenario, It was probably the most creative idea on screen that Woody Allen had ever done kingalthough it might be interesting if he did (think quirky Zelig). Instead, it comes from the mind of Norwegian director Christopher Burgeli, whose main claim to fame before this film, which had its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this weekend, was its entry into Cannes 2022 with a look. Sick of myself. but Dream scenario It marks his English language debut, and on the basis of this funny, character-driven film, could be the answer to the question: Who is the world’s next great comedy filmmaking talent? In addition to writing and directing the film, he also serves as its own film editor, which may be why the comedic beats of this film are so great.

Cage, who is a riot as this nice, unremarkable guy who suddenly gets his 15 minutes of fame, is clearly in sync with what his director had in mind, even modulating his voice for maximum effect as well as his recognizable appearance. More often than not, Burghley projects the same smiling image of Cage’s character Paul Matthews on screen and gets a good laugh every time.

What’s remarkable is Burghley’s ability to stretch the premise of a single joke into a 101-minute film without letting the soufflé fizzle out — no easy task. Paul Matthews is like a million ordinary men wandering the planet – you’ll never look at him again – except somehow he starts appearing in other people’s dreams. There is a very funny encounter early in the theater between Paul and his wife Janet He didn’t do that He had a dream in which he appeared (one of the best jokes), he met an old friend who told him the dream she just had after she last saw him decades ago and never thought about him. He’s unfazed, and Janet is a little put off, but it quickly escalates, first with his students and then all around. He’s become a real celebrity, but all Paul really wants is a publishing deal for his book idea on ants (which others misunderstand as about plants). Even a major corporation comes calling by the name “Ideas,” run by baseball-hat-wearing CEO Trent (Michael Cera) and his partner Mary (Kate Berlant) who call him up to try to sell them on their “ideas” to him, noting that Sprite is already on board to get an idea. To make an ad where Paul enters his dreams holding their product. As they say, even a movie deal is possible, but Paul just wants to help with his dream Book suggestion. One comedic highlight is a young woman (Dylan Gilula) who has sexual dreams about Paul that turn into a “date” as she tries to make the dream come true. You can guess where Which He goes, but he gets the kind of laughs in an entire sitcom that writers dream up for themselves.

However, things start to go wrong, and Paul’s fortunes change when the dreams in which he appears turn into Freddy Krueger-style horror movies, and everyone is now scared to death of this man who gives them nightmares. Even his class wouldn’t show up.

The cage is glue. His seemingly effortless timing and invaluable reactions carry this premise all the way, and keep you laughing constantly. The actor has seen a renaissance recently with acclaimed work in offbeat films like pig And The unbearable weight of enormous talent. He’s already said that he thinks this is his best movie, and that means A a lot. The jokes are delivered almost every time in a clever, observant manner that makes this comedy sing. The supporting cast, especially Cera, plays the game perfectly as well.

Comedy has been an endangered genre in Hollywood lately Dream scenario Is there any indication that they might return with a vengeance if the right talent gets their chance. Burghley is definitely one of them.

Producers are Lars Knudsen, Ari Aster, Tyler Campelloni, Jakob Gafke and Cage.

Title: Dream scenario
distributor: A24 Films
release date: November 10, 2023
festival: Toronto Film Festival (Platform)
Director and screenwriter: Christopher Burghley
ejaculate: Nicolas Cage, Julian Nicholson, Lily Bird, Jessica Clement, Tim Meadows, Michael Cera, Kate Berlant, Dylan Gilula, Kara Vulchev, Noah Centineo, Nicholas Brown, Dylan Baker.
Running time: 1 hour and 41 minutes