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Dreamland 's frustratingly diffuse narrative approach is consistently offset by typically strong work from Margot Robbie in a central role.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Miles Joris-Peyrafitte

Margot Robbie

Allison Wells

Travis Fimmel

George Evans

Garrett Hedlund

Perry Montroy

Kerry Condon

Olivia Evans

Eugene Evans

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Film Review: ‘Dreamland’

Miles Joris-Peyrafitte makes a grand stride forward in his ambitious second feature, a singular if somewhat slow-to-alight outlaw romance set against a Dust Bowl backdrop.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

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The dust in “ Dreamland ” is so thick, it makes your eyeballs itch. Clouds of the stuff billow up from dirt roads with every car that passes, swarming dark and angry as a massive bee horde when the winds pick up. And when the air is still, it smudges the cheeks of the film’s characters — poor, small-town Texas farmers with faces as desiccated as their fields — rendering them haunted, like the Depression-era sharecroppers Walker Evans photographed in “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.” Dreams, it seems, are all these opportunity-strapped Americans have going for them: dreams nourished by pulp crime magazines and, maybe, by the movies, although it’s doubtful this bedraggled settlement can support a cinema.

From its opening lines of narration, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte ’s revisionist outlaw saga endeavors to set the record straight about one Eugene Evans, a naïve Texas teen who ran off with on-the-law beauty Allison Wells and wound up etched beside her legend in history. These words are spoken by Eugene’s kid sister, Phoebe (Lola Kirke performs the older-wiser thoughts of child actor Darby Camp), with a kind of purity that recalls the dreamy voiceover of Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven” — as mythic an influence on “Dreamland” as Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” which could have been its prequel, had Clyde died and Bonnie stumbled away wounded from that climactic shootout.

If you don’t remember whatever version of the Allison Wells story Phoebe so earnestly wants to correct, that’s because no such bank robber as Allison Wells ever existed. And yet, there’s a plausibility to the tall tale Joris-Peyrafitte is selling here that rings truer that plenty of films based in fact. Maybe that’s because screenwriter Nicolaas Zwart approaches this mythic American genre through the storm cellar rather than the front door: While Allison ( Margot Robbie ) and her photogenic partner-in-crime (Garrett Hedlund) are shooting up banks somewhere offscreen, the film opens on Eugene ( Finn Cole ), saddled with mundane chores and thirsty for excitement.

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No sooner does Eugene hear that Allison’s camped out somewhere in the vicinity, and that there’s a $10,000 reward for her capture, than he discovers her bleeding behind a tractor in the family’s barn. The money would be more than enough to rescue the family farm from foreclosure, but as outlaws go, Allison isn’t anything like he expected. For starters, she’s looks like Margot Robbie — and not the dumpified, down-to-earth version made up (or down?) in “Mary Queen of Scots.” This is Robbie at her radiant best: movie-star gorgeous, at this naïve young man’s mercy, batting her eyes and enticing him with the possibility that his nobody life might just have gotten interesting.

At that moment, Eugene decides not to collect the bounty, but to help this fugitive, who assures him that the blood-soaked stories he’s heard aren’t true — though her guilty flashbacks, parceled out in fragments, suggest otherwise. Zwart paints Eugene like a fame-struck ingenue, seduced by whatever glamorous south-of-the-border fantasy he imagines awaits if they were to run off together. (His father fled to Mexico when he was a kid, leaving him a postcard, and now he lives with his stepfather, a stern sheriff’s deputy played by a square and weathered-looking Travis Fimmel.) Allison serves as something of a femme fatale, bewitching the boy, whose every questionable decision is his own.

Obviously, there’s no room for a “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” interlude (which seemed out of place even for Butch Cassidy) in a town where it never rains, so Zwart concocts a midnight swim during which Eugene and Allison can bond, sowing sexual tension that pays off later in an evocatively shot hotel tub scene. Though the chemistry between these two characters feels genuine (Cole, who was a regular on the series “Peaky Blinders” and “Animal Kingdom,” gives a star-making performance here, opposite the ever-impressive Robbie), “Dreamland” spends a bit too much time standing still, holed up with Allison in the Evans’ barn, or waiting for the right moment to make their break.

Maybe the filmmakers felt it was more realistic for the bond between these two to temper slowly, although those early looks pack more strength than the movie realizes. The movie races when they’re together, but drags during those intervals when Eugene is off running errands, telling fibs to his folks, or stealing first small necessities — food, clean clothes, etc. — and later bigger-league things, including Allison’s police file from the station and the getaway vehicle they’ll need to skip town.

As Eugene’s minor transgressions compound into outright crimes, “Dreamland” positions itself for that inevitable escape, at which point the film finally shifts gears, becoming at last the bandits-on-the-run spree we’ve been anticipating all along — although strangely, it’s disappointing to note that at no point does the movie really take off. It’s gorgeous, yes, and texturally vivid enough to leave your mouth dry at the sight of all that dust, but Zwart’s script ultimately takes too long to get rolling, and when it does, the directorial vision that has so far distinguished “Dreamland” from other films like it gives way to generic tendencies: a close call with a bumpkin cop who pulls them over for speeding, a giddy bank robbery (Eugene’s first) nervously captured in a single shot.

Momentum problems aside, “Dreamland” has such a strong identity of its own, it’s hard to believe that the project is just Joris-Peyrafitte’s second feature. Certainly, cinematographer Lyle Vincent (Ana Lily Amirpour’s go-to DP) deserves a hefty share of the credit, although it was presumably Joris-Peyrafitte’s idea to alternate between bold widescreen compositions and the square 8mm format used to represent the duo’s dreams: projections into the future, shot like celebrity home movies (in anachronistic color), of the couple frolicking in period bathing suits along the Mexican coast. Several sequences — including a massive CG dust storm, and a poignant cornfield scene that ends with a floating camera peering down as rain falls around it — are quite literally arresting. As for Eugene’s fate, it’s more romantic than realistic, despite his kid sister’s assurances to the contrary.

Reviewed at Tribeca Film Festival (Spotlight Narrative), April 28, 2019. Running time: 98 MIN.

• Production: A Romulus Entertainment presentation, in association with Titan Worldwide Entertainment of a Luckychap, Automatik production. (Int'l sales: Endeavor Content/CAA, Los Angeles.) Producers: Brad Feinstein, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Rian Cahill, Margo Robbie, Josey McNamara, Tom Ackerley. Executive producers: Joseph F. Ingrassia, Kweku Mandela, Imran Siddiq, Bradley Pilz, David Gendron, Ali Jazayeri. Co-producer: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte.
• Crew: Director: Miles Joris-Peyrafitte. Screenplay: Zwaart. Camera (color, widescreen): Lyle Vincent. Editors: Abbi Jutkowitz, Brett M. Reed, Michael Berenbaum. Music: Patrick Higgings, Miles Joris-Peyrafitte.
• With: Finn Cole, Margot Robbie, Travis Fimmel , Kerry Condon, Darby Camp, Lola Kirke, Garrett Hedlund.

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‘dreamland’: film review | tribeca 2019.

Margot Robbie and Finn Cole star as an outlaw and her rescuer in 'Dreamland,' Miles Joris-Peyrafitte’s second feature, set in 1930s Texas.

By Caryn James

Caryn James

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Lyle Vincent’s cinematography instantly invokes that film as well, without seeming derivative. His wide images of dust and barren ground, of the small town and the lonely farm, are bleak, but the shades of brown are also delicate and beautiful. The photography is very different from Vincent’s shadowy black-and-white work on the vampire story A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night , which was also impressive. As much as the director, Vincent gives Dreamland its style, which is realistic in its attention to character and poetic in its imagery.

The narrator tells us that Eugene’s father disappeared when he was five, leaving him with a postcard and a dream of finding his father in Mexico. When we find him as a young man, he is addicted to detective stories, idolizes glamorous criminals and longs for adventure. But his riskiest move has been stealing a pulp detective magazine from the local store.

Robbie wears clumsy 1930s shoes, and has dirt and bloody smudges on her cheeks. But let’s face it, she still looks like Margot Robbie, with makeup so perfect it seems like she’s not wearing any; like female criminals in old movies, she has to look at least a little glam. But she is quietly fearless in creating Allison as an enigma. Through all the twists and turns of her character, Robbie refuses to allow Allison to become a simple, sympathetic heroine.

Allison swears to Eugene that she has not killed anyone, but the narrator tells us that Allison tailors her story to the audience. That sets up the guessing game the film will follow through. Exactly how deceptive is she being? How blinded by his attraction and the possibility of adventure will he remain? Is she his ticket to the future or his destruction?

As the answers take shape, Cole (from the series Peaky Blinders and Animal Kingdom) gives a nuanced performance that charts the complicated way the character reacts. Eugene is not stupid, but he is besotted. Late in the film, with the pair on the run as we knew they would eventually be, his eyes have been opened enough so that he asks Allison if he’s being used. He’s also so in love that he chooses to believe her when she says he is not.

There are set pieces as vital to the film as the story, including a town dance that is lively and full of folksy fiddle music. It establishes the life of the community, and also provides a setting from which Eugene slips away to pilfer and destroy evidence the police have against Allison.

The special effects only go over the top once, when giant billowing clouds of dust appear spanning the horizon. It is a distractingly artificial moment that briefly takes us out of the film’s fictional world. A better effect has Eugene’s stepfather bracing himself against the wind, trying to make his way to the barn, as we see him though a veil of dust that covers the screen. Meredith Lippincott’s production design feels entirely lived in.

Travis Fimmel is gripping as the oppressive stepfather, and Kerry Condon empathetic as Eugene’s worried mother. As the young Phoebe, Darby Cole (who is in the new season of Big Little Lies ) in wonderfully natural, a child who is suspicious and precocious yet believable.

Joris-Peyrafitte’s first feature, As You Are , won a Sundance Special Jury Prize in 2016. That achievement was obviously no fluke. The final image of Dreamland is an overhead shot of a body lying in a pool of blood on the drought-ravaged dirt, as rain finally starts to fall. Harsh and beautiful, it is just the right ending to this lovely, evocative film.

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Period Drama Review: Dreamland (2019)

Last Updated on March 25, 2023

Anyone who watches frontier-set period dramas will recognize “Dreamland’s” opening scene: the homesteaders have traveled countless miles to discover that the land they’ve staked everything on is no more than a “rotten promise.”

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The narrator tells us they are heartbroken, fearful, and at the mercy of the banks and impassioned preachers. All they can do is pray for rain.

This is a love story, just not yet.

In “Dreamland” (2019) , Finn Cole (Peaky Blinders) plays Eugene, an innocent 17-year-old boy who lives in middle of nowhere 1930s Texas during the Great Depression. Like everyone else in town, Eugene brings a mask when he goes out, even to church, because the dust storms could kick up anytime, and they do. His homesteader dad left when Eugene was little, his mom (Kerry Condon, Better Call Saul) remarried a stern Deputy (Travis Fimmel, Vikings), and their farm is on the verge of foreclosure. Eugene starts dreaming his way out of this life, escaping through the adventures in his detective magazines.

Bank robber, maybe murderer, Allison (Margot Robbie, Mary Queen of Scots) is on the run, and the narrator speaks up again to say that this charismatic woman is headed straight for her brother Eugene. Allison is young, intelligent and beautiful, and like a page out of one of his detective stories. She plays him like a piano to save herself from being captured. Why wouldn’t she? She’s deeply wounded – physically, from being shot – and emotionally. Allison needs Eugene, and he’s in love before he knows it, thrust headlong on a journey into manhood. Allison isn’t in love with the kid, not yet, but “it’s a long drive to Mexico.”

Eugene’s little sister Phoebe (Darby Camp, The Christmas Chronicles), is curious and spunky like the prairie’s young Laura Ingalls, and she knows what’s going on. That’s why twenty years later, she’s able to narrate his story like a poet. It unfolds with suspense and her witty repartee, alongside foot stomping at the barn dance (to excellent banjo licks).

The film is an echo of Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven and pays homage to Bonnie and Clyde , but director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte gives “Dreamland” it’s own cinematic language. Super 8-like footage anchors us to the character’s memories, imaginings and desires. Wide shots of fading sunsets and canopies of stars set us free. Drought, storms, and rain are symbols punctuating the timeline of Eugene’s life. This is all good, and even better is that Eugene and Allison’s dynamic is honest and believable, and so are the period setting and costumes.

But best of all: living this through Phoebe’s eyes, enveloped in her love of her brother Eugene. So that makes two love stories.

“Dreamland” is AVAILABLE to STREAM

Rated R; contains some language, violence, sexuality and brief nudity.

If you enjoyed this post, be sure to see Period Films List . You’ll especially like the Best Period Dramas: Interwar Era List . Also see our review of the prairie-set movie Heartland . 

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1 Comment on Period Drama Review: Dreamland (2019)

Travis Fimmel again and Finn Cole:) Thank you. Though I wish someone would adapt and turn into a period piece Kevin Baker’s ‘Dreamland,’ about Coney Island in the old days, thrills and romance.

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Critic’s Pick

‘Dreamland’ Review: The Hit Man and the Trumpeter

A double dose of Stephen McHattie helps this freaky noir find its footing.

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By Jeannette Catsoulis

If you’ve never seen a movie luxuriate in eccentricity as thoroughly as a cat basking in a sun puddle, then you need to watch “Dreamland.” Strange, challenging and boundlessly confident, this tripped-out noir from the Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald (best known for his 2009 horror movie, “Pontypool” ) is part lucid dream, part drugged-out nightmare.

“We’re in a different world,” a haggard hit man named Johnny Dead Eyes (Stephen McHattie) signals from his perch in an unidentified European city. On the instructions of his longtime boss (Henry Rollins, channeling Austin Powers), Johnny must sever the pinkie finger of a heroin-hazed jazz trumpeter (inspired by Chet Baker, and also played by McHattie). This mission could be hampered by Johnny’s secret plan to rescue an underage girl from a nut case known as the Countess (Juliette Lewis), who has procured the girl as a bride for her vile brother. Who just happens to be a vampire.

Freaky and frequently incoherent, “Dreamland” uses McHattie’s affecting portrayal of beaten-down anguish (he played Chet Baker in a 2009 short film ) to clear a path through the craziness. Gathering the living, the dead and the undead together on a single, surreal plane, the movie turns its sordid, sex-trafficking plot into a decadent, redemptive fairy tale. Washing everything in a synthetic glamour, the cinematographer, Richard Van Oosterhout, coaxes dazzle and delirium from underworld club, glittering ballroom and scummy alleyway.

These days, too many movies shrink all too willingly into the constrictive embrace of the small screen; “Dreamland” fights diminution every step of the way.

Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 32 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon,  iTunes ,  Google Play  and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.

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Review: Waking up from ‘Dreamland’ could stand to be rougher

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The new Margot Robbie vehicle “Dreamland” seems to be about legends, the price of escape, maybe unreliable narrators — but ends up not saying much about any of them.

The Dust Bowl drama finds Eugene ( Finn Cole ) longing to leave behind his small Texas town. He lives with his mother, young sister, Phoebe, and lawman stepfather George ( Travis Fimmel of “Vikings”) on their ruined farm. He wastes his days on petty larceny with his apparently Native American pal Jo (Stephen Dinh) and ingesting exciting tales of the rebel heroes of the day: gangsters. Lo and behold, a fugitive bank robber shows up in his family’s barn — Allison Wells, played by Robbie . Injured Allison easily enlists Eugene’s aid; he patches her up and plans to help her escape to Mexico in exchange for $20,000; quite a load of suds to an average Joe. He falls for her, of course, though there’s no reason to believe she actually has $20,000; it’s what far-away-eyed Eugene wants.

Allison seems awfully composed and well-spoken for a fugitive suffering from blood loss who claims to have come from similar downtrodden roots to those of Eugene’s family. She also claims to have never killed anyone, despite her notorious legend. That’s sure to come up later. She’s pretty darn cool as Eugene removes a bullet from her leg without anesthesia. Luckily, she’s an extremely quick healer. And about as perfectly made up and coiffed a gunshot-wounded bank robber as you’ll ever find hiding in an abandoned Dust Bowl barn.

We dip a toe into her back story, but no more. What little we learn about her is unreliable anyway as the knowing, 20-years-later narration by grown Phoebe (voiced by Lola Kirke) assures us. In fact, perhaps because this is all ostensibly Phoebe’s imagined reconstruction of events, everything that happens between Allison and Eugene has a cursory feel, except for one vivid bonding scene in a hotel bathroom. Moments aren’t deeply investigated, and neither are motivations or emotions. Ultimately, “Dreamland” feels like the story of a rather selfish kid (Eugene) consumed by unrealistic escapism, with little interest in thinking important things through.

That might be from where the film’s title comes — that he’s in Dreamland. He imagines a better life but isn’t awake to the realities of what it takes to get there. Not that his daily struggle is vividly depicted: How Dust Bowl families survived isn’t the film’s concern. When Eugene risks his stepfather’s job on a whim, it doesn’t communicate land, just how disastrous that outcome would be.

Even grown Phoebe’s narration yields little. She says she’s setting the record straight, but she’s talking about things she couldn’t know. And while her assessment of her brother isn’t exactly worshipful, it’s not critical or insightful, either.

We end up wishing waking up from “Dreamland” were harsher.

'Dreamland'

Rated: R, for some violence, language and sexuality/nudity Running time: 1 hour, 38 minutes Playing: Starts Nov. 13, the Lot Fashion Island, Newport Beach, and in limited release where theaters are open; available Nov. 17 on premium VOD and digital

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Review: Dreamland (2019)

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Director: Bruce McDonald

Starring: Stepehen McHattie, Juliette Lewis, Henry Rollins, Tomas Lemarquis

Run Time: 92 mins

"Dreamland" is a weird trip of a movie. Much like the title suggests is offers a curious tableau of dreamlike scenes that skates over a variety of genres - from crime to comedy to fantasy to horror. Not that this should come as any great surprise as it comes from cult director Bruce McDonald. And particularly given it sees him re-team with both the writer (Tony Burgess) and star (Stephen Mchattie) of his cult horror hit "Pontypool."

Given that fact, the question quickly becomes, can this film live up to "Pontypool"? So not to prolong the wait, the simple answer is no, no it does not. In fact, if there is a film in McDonald's filmography, it bears most resemblance to it would be "Hellions." A film that was similarly a surreal hodge-podge of ideas and visual styles. Not that "Dreamland" is ever quite as bad or aimless as that film (even if it does sail close on occasion).

The main reason it is never as bad is McHattie, without whom the movie would not work. His work in a dual role as both a ruthless assassin with a heart and a virtuoso jazz musician with a heroin problem is quite captivating. It hardly needs to be noted that McHattie is a singular talent. But the mixture of his particular rough-hewn look and the unique intensity he brings to each role leaves an impact. He raises the level of pretty much every scene he is in, and every scene without him is notable by his absence. Not that, to be fair, much of the rest of the cast is given much to work with.

Take Juliette Lewis. Who usually is such a memorable presence is given hardly anything to do as a malevolent countess - of the kind who holds lavish parties for gun-runners and tinpot dictators.  It feels like it should be a juicy role that should be accompanied by an excellent scenery-chewing performance. Instead, it is entirely one-dimensional, and Lewis, for all her screeching, seems oddly flat. You may be surprised to learn in amongst the weirdness there is actually a plot (of sorts). The central story focusing on Mchattie's assassin, who is ordered by a ruthless gangster (Henry Rollins) to bring him the finger of the aforementioned jazz musician. A plot that then intersects with a few sub-plots, including a weird wedding and child trafficking (more on which later).

The most considerable frustration here is not so much the movie is terrible but that it seems to have the potential to be very good. There are certainly a few great scenes. The most memorable being an oddball pawn shop robbery gone wrong and the bloody wedding reception finale. There is also a particularly out-of-left-field and amusing moment involving a group of schoolboy hitmen. In these moments, you remember what a wonderful off-kilter talent McDonald can be. Add to this McHattie's performance, an enjoyable outing from Rollins and a great atmospheric jazz score, and you can sometimes be fooled to thinking we are onto a winner.

However, none of these elements can cover up the film's flaws. From its on-the-nose visual metaphors to the sluggish pacing to the sense, none of it adds up to much. There is also a sense of proceedings being weird for the sake of being weird. Like, one character is a vampire….because….you know kooky, right? Sure the character is the brother of the countess, and so it could be they are likening the human monsters among the uber-wealthy elite to actual monsters, but it is a bit clichéd if that is the case.

All of which brings us neatly to the biggest flaw here. Namely, when the movie's wacky ongoing comes up against the real world. Particularly when the focus lands on child trafficking, a sensitive subject matter that is treated in such a frivolous and throwaway manner here, it can't help but leave a sour taste. Plus, any attempts satire on inequality and the privileged class' gross excesses provide to be both toothless and as subtle as a hammer being thrown at a large bag of spanners. Overall: The very definition of a mixed bag. An excellent central performance and a few other interesting elements failing ultimately to overcome its numerous flaws. In the end, it is one of those curious films which seem kind of okay when you watch it but gets increasingly worse the more you think about it.

Dreamland is available on demand and on digital from June 5th

Watch the trailer for "Dreamland" here

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Atmoshperic, Bruce McDonald, Comic, Crime, Fantasy, Henry Rollins, Horror, Indie, Jazz, Juliette Lewis, Stephen McHattie, Surreal, Tony Burgess

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Bruce McDonald ’s “Dreamland” is a half-remembered nightmare. It’s full of incomprehensible flashes of striking imagery, most of which won’t make sense in the morning. But in the moment you’re watching “Dreamland,” you’ll feel the restlessness of its messy story, the fitful starts-and-stops of its erratic editing and the leaden quality of its action sequences, which has all the grace of someone who took a Benadryl pill too early. McDonald’s film mines features from the “ John Wick ” series and some passing resemblances to “Leon the Professional” and “ You Were Never Really Here ,” but leaves behind any of the brilliance that made these movies memorable. 

Stephen McHattie plays the dual roles of Johnny, a hitman with some kind of a nebulous moral code, and drug-addicted trumpet player known only as The Maestro. You can tell them apart because one wears a dreadful shaggy wig and carries a gun, and the other will slick back his hair and always look ready for an impromptu jam session for some reason. Fate crosses their paths when a shady criminal boss named Hercules ( Henry Rollins ) puts a hit on the jazz player’s pinky finger because he says, and I quote, “I’m crazy,” and is still fuming after the musician hurt his pride. That’s not all on Johnny’s plate. His noble streak then forces him to save a pair of kids caught up in Hercules’ new business venture into child trafficking, and that’s before the brother-sister team of vampires ( Juliette Lewis and Tómas Lemarquis ) arrives for an even more nonsensical twist. 

Trying to find a silver lining in “Dreamland” is like a fishing expedition in a dried-up riverbed. Maybe you’ll stumble upon some sign of life, but I came home empty-handed. Poor McHattie’s characters look more tired than world-weary. His killer with a heart of gold is no more interesting than his bad wig, and his dope fiend musician schtick is as tired as he looks. For a moment, he takes on the “Leon the Professional” and “You Were Never Really Here” mantle of saving kids from a terrible fate but never manages to do much with it. It’s one of many ideas introduced into the film and quickly dropped like a hot pan, like the pack of roaming boys cosplaying as Damien from “The Omen” that Hercules sends out to fetch the kids and are never seen again. 

If there’s something to be said about the unenviable task of playing two distinct characters in the same scene, it’s that those moments in “Dreamland” are among its clunkiest and ill-fitted. Reactions feel delayed, and the actor never really seems to be interacting with another person at the moment. It’s almost awkward enough to distract you from the terrible dialogue or the movie’s stilted action sequences. There’s one action scene early on where the camera is at a distance, but framing the actors from only their arms and up, missing most of the action in the process and looking more like a photograph your uncle took that’s full of more ceiling than people. Duff Smith ’s editing often lingers too long in each cut so that any momentum a fight scene might pick up feels too delayed. And cinematographer Richard Van Oosterhout appears to have cribbed many of the neon-soaked lighting cues from movies like “John Wick” for McDonald’s vision of the criminal underworld, which also features attractive women assistants in winged-tipped eyeliner and knock-off chic military jackets. 

I hoped the late addition of vampires would liven up the mix, but there’s not nearly enough Lewis-as-kooky-diva-wedding-coordinator to offset the plodding lead-up to her ostentatious party. Her campy vampire brother (Lemarquis) acts like he’s in an entirely different movie, hamming it up for the camera by hungrily licking his lips and widening his eyes for the full Nosferatu look. It’s almost unfair to put him in the same room as the anemic Johnny, who makes the undead look more alive than the living. The wedding itself is its own kind of parody, seeing as it somehow includes a man in a Nazi uniform with his attack dog seated near a Black man in an African-themed military uniform and a woman in a burqa, and ends with a laughably distanced jazz performance during a shoot-out. It doesn’t feel cool, although it seems intended to play as such. 

McDonald wishes that these layers of insanity can make up for his lack of skill, but it doesn’t. There’s scant entertainment value in “Dreamland,” but what you’ll find instead is some queasy throwaway lines that suggest Hercules named his club after Al Qaeda and an exploitative subplot about sex and human trafficking. Not bad enough to even have a good laugh, “Dreamland” exists on a plane of exhaustion, one that’s too tired to be much of anything. 

Available on VOD today, 6/5.

Monica Castillo

Monica Castillo is a critic, journalist, programmer, and curator based in New York City. She is the Senior Film Programmer at the Jacob Burns Film Center and a contributor to  RogerEbert.com .

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Dreamland (2020)

Stephen McHattie as Johnny

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