Review: Novocaine
The recently released Novocaine is anything but painful. It delivers tons of laughs along with over-the-top, creative violence led by a fantastic Jack Quaid.
Quaid plays Nathan Caine, a mild-mannered assistant bank manager who was born with congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis or CIPA, which makes him unable to feel any physical pain. After finally working up the courage to go out with his work crush Sherry (Amber Midthunder), a trio of bank robbers violently rob the bank and take Sherry hostage. Nate takes it upon himself to try and rescue Sherry, utilizing his genetic disorder to his advantage in an increasingly brutal fashion. The plot is pretty straightforward, but it moves along at a nice, brisk pace and offers enough twists and turns to keep things interesting. There is a bit of an odd tonal shift where the movie treats CIPA somewhat seriously as Nate explains to Sherry some of the hardships he has to deal with, like possibly biting off his tongue and not realizing it. Still, once Nate goes on his rescue mission, the tone becomes downright cartoonish, not quite Crank levels, but close. It doesn’t impact the movie negatively, but it is just a bit weird to try and be sensitive to this real-life disorder and turn it into a superpower. There’s some suspension of disbelief needed for the amount of punishment Nate takes, but the movie does address it at a certain point, and it’s all in service of the action sequences. The movie does a fantastic job of coming up with different ways for Nate to hurt himself and try and get an advantage against his much more adept opponents, like grabbing a gun out of boiling oil or pounding his fists into broken glass to let him do some brutal damage with his punches. The movie has some excellent practical effects to deliver the visceral nature of Nate’s accumulating injuries. Still, all the blood and gore are humorously contrasted with Jack Quaid’s upbeat positivity throughout. Quaid has been weaponizing his Nice Guy persona in movies recently like Scream and Companion, but he’s in fully Huey mode here, and you can’t help but root for him, even as you wince at the latest horrific injury that gets inflicted on him.
Along with Quaid, Amber Midthunder is great, as usual. It’s a bit odd to see her in a role where she’s not the main person kicking ass, but she gets to showcase a different side, and she does get a chance to jump into the action later on. Jacob Batalon is also great, doing a version of Ned from the Spider-Man movies, but he is more reluctant and ready to turn his friend in to the police if needed. Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh are a little wasted as the detectives investigating the bank robbery and Nate’s trail through San Diego, and there could have been a bit more time spent with them to flesh them out. Ray Nicholson is excellent as the primary bank robber, Simon, who is completely unhinged and sadistic but still drops fun little quips or asides.
With its clever blend of dark humor, creative violence, and Jack Quaid’s endlessly charming performance, Novocaine delivers a wildly entertaining ride that’s anything but numbing.
