Dream a Little Dream (1989)

An accident puts the consciousness of an elderly dream researcher into the body of a bratty teenager. The problem? The kid prefers dreamworld limbo to real life.

Director:

Marc Rocco

Writers:

Daniel Jay Franklin (story), Daniel Jay Franklin (screenplay)

Stars:

Corey Feldman, Jason Robards, Piper Laurie

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jason Robards	...	Coleman Ettinger
Corey Feldman	...	Bobby Keller / Coleman Ettinger
Piper Laurie	...	Gena Ettinger
Meredith Salenger	...	Lainie Diamond
Harry Dean Stanton	...	Ike Baker
Corey Haim	...	Dinger
Susan Blakely	...	Cherry Diamond
William McNamara	...	Joel
Matt Adler	...	Dumas
Victoria Jackson	...	Kit Keller
Alex Rocco	...	Gus Keller
Ria Pavia	...	Maureen
Lala Sloatman	...	Shelley (as Lala)
Laura Lee Norton	...	Marge
John Ward	...	Derek

Storyline

The lives of a crusty old scientist and a bratty, teen Michael-Jackson-wannabe are about to intersect in a paranormal way. Coleman Ettinger seeks to break down the door of reality through studied dreaming; Bobby Keller wants Lainie Diamond, the girlfriend of his high school friend Joel, a handsome school jock. As Coleman persuades his wife Gena to join his experiments, an accident knocks their bodies out of existence, along with Bobby's consciousness. Coleman's consciousness winds up in Bobby's body while Gena's ends up buried and asleep inside Lainie's. Only when sleeping can Coleman contact Bobby and elicit his help in putting things back, except that Bobby smugly prefers limbo over his aggravated life as a modern teenager.

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Plot Keywords:

reference to freddy krueger | cult film | shortcut | messy room | blackboard | 

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Taglines:

With dreams like these who needs reality?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 March 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Long Before Tomorrow

Filming Locations:

New Hanover High School - 1307 Market Street, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,830,000, 5 March 1989, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$5,552,441

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lightning Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

114 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Part of a late 1980s mini-cycle of age-swap / body-swap pictures. The movies included Big (1988), 18 Again! (1988), Vice Versa (1988), Dream a Little Dream (1989), and Like Father Like Son (1987).

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Goofs

The part in Lainie's hair changes while talking to Bobby in the hall after taking the SAT's.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Bobby Keller: Dinger! Dinger, wake up for a minute. I gotta talk to you, Buddy.
Dinger: Bobby, I'm asleep. I'm sound asleep, Bobby. I'm dreaming. Apache women. Mai-taih's. Vannah White and a whip.
Bobby Keller: I'm in love.
Dinger: That could be a problem.
Bobby Keller: I don't think you understand.
Dinger: No, no, I do understand. I really do. Which hand is it this week PAL?

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Connections

Referenced in Save the Forest (2005)

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Soundtracks

Time Runs Wild
Written and Performed by Danny Wilde
Courtesy of Geffen Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Atmospheric and thoughtful

I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Just another teenage flick was turned into a decent movie by the direction and production team. I normally don't care for slow motion sequences like the ones in this movie, but they work because of the eerie tone. The soundtrack of familiar 60/70s music also works for the same reason.

My favorite scene is where the Robards character is pretending to be the Feldman character by trying to speak teenage slang. I can picture Robards speaking the lines and it just breaks me up. A nice supporting cast rounds out the story, which essentially doesn't amount to much more than two people finding respect for each other. In this case, it's all that it needed.