MOVIE REVIEW: “NOVOCAINE”
Not to be confused with the Steve Martin-headlined film from 2001, this “Novocaine” is a completely different animal. One in which a high concept (a man who feels no pain gets his ass kicked repeatedly) and nepotism (this movie features both the son of Dennis Quaid and the son of Jack Nicholson) battle it out for supremacy. In the end, though, despite a handful of entertaining moments and a fair share of action sequences, the real loser of this battle ends up being the audience.
In the actioneer/dark comedy that is “Novocaine,” Quaid plays Nate, an unassuming, good-hearted individual whose rare affliction comes in handy when he’s getting punched or taking a bullet but said affliction also comes with its downsides. Imagine not being able to tell if you’re going to bleed out. This is to say nothing of the fact that the guy can’t even eat ice cream because doing so might result in him biting his own tongue off. Yep. It sucks to be Nate.
The plot of “Novocaine” springs into action when a girl (played by Amber Midthunder of “Prey”) that Nate takes a liking to is kidnapped. Rather than turning a blind eye to the situation, this often aloof individual opts to engage in a mission to save her but it won’t be easy because the man (played by Ray Nicholson) behind this woman’s kidnapping is a real unsavory (and violent) type. Of course, what this unhinged baddie doesn’t realize is that he’s about to deal with a guy who can’t feel anything.
As directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, “Novocaine” doesn’t quite live up to its said high concept premise. It’s a movie that feels reminiscent of 2006’s high-octane “Crank” and Sam Raimi’s underappreciated “Darkman” yet it can’t seem to conjure up the hyper-kinetic silliness of the former or the visual bravado of the latter. Instead, despite a fairly brisk pace, a plethora of violence, and quite a few action scenes, there’s something rather lifeless about this movie.
Sadly, a big part of the problem here is that Jack Quaid doesn’t quite bring it. Sure, he has moments (a bit in which he pretends to hurt when he’s being tortured by one of the film’s big bads is actually pretty inspired) and there’s no doubt that he inherited his dad’s signature grin but in the end, he hasn’t quite got the charisma or the overall chops to carry an entire action movie on his shoulders. A shame, too, because despite my playful nepotism jab at the top of this review, it’s not like the guy hasn’t worked hard to get where he’s at. Still, for my money, he simply didn’t keep me invested in what was happening.
“Novocaine” isn’t a straight up bad movie. It’s just kind of a forgettable one. On par with the mediocrity that was the recently-released “Love Hurts,” another high concept actioneer/comedy that simply reminds one of better movies (think “John Wick” and “Nobody”) instead of taking on an identity of its own. Where the overall generic plots and lack of romantic chemistry at the heart of them is concerned, I don’t know that either movie is necessarily better than the other but ultimately, I’d give “Love Hurts” the edge because Ke Huy Quan is simply more lovable and charming as the central protagonist than Jack Quaid is in this picture. In the end, this movie just kind of made me feel like its lead character; numb.
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