Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make your bed. Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the singular “Dead Lover.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV NewsChannel’s Scott Hirsch to talk about the uncom rom com “The Drama,” the outer space antics of “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” and the singular “Dead Lover.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: An uncom rom com (uncomfortable rom com) “The Drama” stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as a young couple whose relationship is threatened by an unexpected revelation.
CAST: Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mamoudou Athie, Alana Haim, Hailey Gates, Zoë Winters. Written and directed by Kristoffer Borgli.
REVIEW: Unconventional and uncomfortable, “The Drama” is a showcase for Zendaya and Robert Pattinson’s embrace of the pitch-black material.
As quirky bookstore clerk Emma (Zendaya) and museum director Charlie (Robert Pattinson) plan for their wedding they take a moment to play a harmless game with friends. “All right, so before we got married, we did this thing where we said the worst thing we’ve ever done,” says Emma’s friend Rachel (Alana Haim). “I’ll tell mine if we all do it. Promise?”
After some encouragement Emma shares a dark secret so sordid it rocks her husband-to-be to the core. As the couple attempt to find “radical acceptance” of each other’s flaws and secrets, they first must ask if they ever really knew one another at all. “You have to stop thinking about it,” Emma says.
What begins as a meet cute rom com takes a turn into dark territory during a party game of “what’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” over a bottle or two of wine. No spoilers here, but hot buttons are pushed by Emma’s confession, and the mist of romance disappears, crushed by the weight of the past.
Told with great energy by director/writer Kristoffer Borgli, the film is proof that many things can be true at the same time. It’s often uneasily hilarious but also upsetting. It’s stressful, provocative and yet awkward. Bound to be controversial, the gallows humor embedded in the script may corner the market on uncom rom coms as it mines some pretty dark material for laughs but somehow maintains a relatively fizzy tone.
Borgli uses the conventions of rom coms—the meet cute, obstacles and conflict, etc—but does so without the feel-good tone of a Drew Barrymore or Kathryn Heigl flick. The film’s shocking disclosure is a trigger for hurt feelings and bad behavior, but ultimately it contemplates the limits of love and empathy. It shares connective tissue with run-of-the-mill rom coms, but by its nature it digs deeper, examining the true nature of personal connection in the face of unpleasant surprises.
“The Drama” works because of Borgli’s fearless script, clever editing and Daniel Pemberton’s score, but it sticks because Zendaya and Pattinson bring messy humanity to Emma and Charlie that feel authentic no matter how twisted the plot machinations.
The only thing worse than someone who says, “I had the craziest dream last night,” and then tells you all about it is… well, hardly anything. There are few things worse than suffering through a disjointed story that barely makes sense to the teller and absolutely no sense to you.
But, just imagine if everyone, family, friends, strangers, told you about their dreams, because you were in them. Every single one of them. That’s the nightmarish idea behind “Dream Scenario,” a new “Twilight Zonesque” Nicolas Cage social satire, now playing in theatres.
Cage plays humdrum evolutionary biology professor Paul Matthews. He’s an unexceptional, almost invisible man, mocked by his students and colleagues at work and a sad sack at home with possessive wife Janet (Julianne Nicholson) and two teen daughters.
His unremarkable life is made noteworthy when inexplicably, he begins to appear in the dreams of millions of people.
He’s viral all over the world, except, tellingly, in the nighttime visions of his wife. Why not? “Because you get the real deal,” he says to her. “It wouldn’t be fair to get both.”
“Why me?” he asks. “I don’t know. I’m special I guess.”
Trouble is, he doesn’t do anything special in the dreams. He mostly just appears in the background, watching unresponsively as strange things happen to the dreamer. “He occupies the space like an awkward guest at a party,” says one dreamer.
As his fame grows, it brings with it some unexpected repercussions for the unassuming Paul. “You know,” says Sidney (Marc Coppola), “fame can come with some less desirable side effects. You should be prepared for that.” At first, he almost enjoys the intense glare of the spotlight, but when his presence in the dreams goes from passive to active, and he becomes as repugnant to the public as he was once popular.
“Dream Scenario” does feature some surreal dream sequences, but it’s not really about dreams. It’s about life as a modern, viral celebrity, on display in the unblinking eye of the public, social media and cancel culture.
Cage plays Paul as a man who claims to love his anonymity, but fights a former colleague for credit when she alludes to one of his thirty-year-old theories in an academic paper, and, when fame comes, he’ll pose with anyone who wants a selfie. He’s tired of being invisible, but wants fame on his own terms. But, as the movie ably points out, fame is a three-headed hydra, untamable and uncontrollable.
It’s a perfect role for Cage’s sensibility. As Paul’s life switches from dreamlike to nightmarish, Cage embraces the tragicomic elements of the role—a man who can’t live up to expectations in real life or dream life—and pulls off a great trick by making a forgettable man memorable.
“Dream Scenario” is a clever, timely film that details everything from mid-life crisis and cancel culture to viral fame and social media marketing in a bizarre, funny and thought-provoking way.
