10 'WTF Did I Just Pay To See' Movies

For some years now, Nicolas Cage has been on the up-and-up, having recovered from a mid-career slump following the 2008 financial crash in which he took any and every role seemingly available to him. Going from strength to strength, he has recently found a niche in indie horror, dipped his toe into animation, and come full circle with the deeply self-referential meta-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022).

But of every weird and wonderful thing he has done of late, Dream Scenario is unparalleled in finding him simultaneously at the top of his artistic game while way out in the sticks of the surreal. Kristoffer Borgli's magical realist black comedy positions the big man as weaselly college professor Paul Matthews, whose life goes viral when he begins turning up in other people's dreams. The dreams spread across the world and Paul becomes a sensation, before his hubris kicks in, the dreams turn to nightmares and he crashes back to earth in spectacular fashion.

Everything about Dream Scenario, in and outside the dream world, is bizarre and Kafkan, taking society's handling of fame, technology and masculinity, and warping them into the ugliest of shapes. Going deep into the character while delivering a gut-achingly comic turn, only Cage could master this strange alchemy in a career-best performance that sells all sides of what winds up being a many-dimensioned debacle.