‘Novocaine’ Review: Everybody Hurts Sometimes, But Not Everybody Feels It – Sometimes
What would you do for love? In Novocaine, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) risks everything when his fetching coworker at the bank he manages, Sherry (Amber Midthunder), is taken hostage by robbers dressed as Santa Claus. This act on this day and Sherry are the most momentous things to happen to Nate in his sheltered life. You see, he has a condition that keeps him from feeling pain, which sounds like a superpower but really isn’t.
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As much as this detail about him impresses people he meets, it’s more of a curse. The slightest false move could kill him, so he never gets to live life to the fullest. He can’t eat solid food due to the risk of chewing off his tongue, and every door handle and sharp corner in his apartment is affixed with a tennis ball.
But when Sherry is kidnapped – or so it would seem – Nate, throwing every caution to the wind, springs into action on an impulse and risks life and limb (literally), because – dammit – he is head-over-heels crazy for this girl (whom he barely knows) as if his name is Evan or Jaron. To her credit, she is sweet, fun, sticks up for him, and knows where to find the best cherry pie in town (for real, not in a double-entendre sense…although now that I think about it…).
Novocaine is one of those meta-minded action comedies that takes misconceptions about a real thing and runs with them in as many wild and unbelievable scenarios as it can, ramping up the blood and carnage at each turn. Like the Crank movies (or anything with Jason Staham for that matter) or Shoot ‘Em Up, it is excitingly unpredictable on a level for people who like that sort of thing, but it’s certainly not for everyone.
Jack Quaid, in a 180 from his sleazy user-abuser antagonist in Companion, is much more likable and endearing as Nate, albeit more milquetoast and pitiful too. He’s nervous and second-guesses himself a lot. He’s led a rather dull life with no friends except the guy he games with online (Jacob Batalon) and always played it safe. But then that love bug bites, and the tone shifts from sad REM music to the happy-go-lucky tune of “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” by The Darkness.
Amber Midthunder does okay in her most high-profile part since Prey, but when I reflect, there is not a whole lot for her to work with. She has her secrets, but other than her spunkiness and filling the love-interest void, she’s little more than a catalyst – as in a plot device with a passable personality. Although she figures into the climax, we don’t get much of her backstory.
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Ray Nicholson, who’s unrecognizable, is also pretty good as the ringleader of the Santa gang. Playing a sadistic bad guy looks so easy for him, it’s almost like he has it in his genes or something. Due to the way he disappears into the character, you wouldn’t think it’s the same guy in Smile 2 with the hereditary grin of death, as far as his looks go.
Now, it’s time to get to the problematic part of Novocaine. If you’ve followed us for a while and know the state of modern Hollywood, you can probably guess what profile the bank robbers fit. It’s not exactly mentioned outright, but it is heavily implied with the subtlety of a jet engine that they are white supremacists.
Nate figures this out when he visits their tattoo artist who has quite an affinity for Nazi iconography. It also shouldn’t surprise you that they all served in the military and that one of them is a paranoid prepper who boobytraps his house. I’m referring to the guy in the trailer torturing Nate in vain with an arrow.
Put those tiresome cliches together with the fact that Jack Quaid’s politics are to the left of his dad’s, and you have a salient reason why the film is flopping. Still, I don’t think that’s the whole story. The truth about movies like Novocaine and the others I mentioned is that their gory action is often too much of a hurdle for general audiences unless their brand is Saw or the director is Tarantino.
However, Novocaine is neither a straight horror film nor does it have the deft meta self-awareness of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, or Kill Bill. It’s not a complete waste of time, despite what seems like a two-part third act, but it’s more like the kind of thing you discover on streaming and probably forget over time.
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Novocaine
PROS
- Amber Midthunder is easy on the eyes and has charm to spare
- Jack Quaid makes Nate a fun antagonist
- Ray Nicholson manages to stand out, and looks capable of building a career outside the shadow of his famous father
CONS
- The torture porn aspect and the protruding bones make this a tough sell, and it shows in the receipts
- The white supremacist military vet trope is beyond old and tired
- The third act feels like it has two parts, and thus feigns an initial neatly wrapped ending before kickstarting again into an ambulance chase
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