Unlike the main character of Novacaine, who cannot sense pain, it’s a funny feeling for me to be judging a movie due to its attempts at being more aspirational than I feel it needs to be. As a silly action-comedy, Novacaine is at its best when balancing situation-specific comedy rooted in the high concept with light-footed action sequences that put the choreography on display in a manner that further expands on the film’s central conceit. Issues arise when the movie puts a well-meaning foot a bit too far forward, with lengthy moments arriving in between the action beats, suggesting the audience needs to feel even more invested with the characters as if the film’s cartoonish premise has somehow set the stage for a grander feature. Points for trying, I suppose, but even with a bulky-ish runtime, there’s still good, violent fun to be had here.
Jack Quaid stars as Nathan Caine, a sheltered but good-natured guy who works as the assistant manager at a bank in San Diego and is crushing on a recent new hire, Sherry (Amber Midthunder). After finding the courage to go out on a date with Sherry, Nate reveals that he has a rare disorder, congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), meaning he cannot feel any pain. Complications truly arise when a bank robbery leads to Sherry being taken hostage, and Nate becomes hellbent on rescuing her. This leads to numerous scenarios where Nate is put in harm’s way, fighting off various aggressors who get in plenty of hits on this guy, who may not be invincible but can take much more than just a punch.
See Also: ‘Companion’ Review: Wired To Love
Conceptually, this film reminded me of the Neveldine/Taylor film Crank with Jason Statham. Of course, the difference here is replacing a bona fide action star in full brute mode with a polite geek. The other significant difference is momentum. Where films like Crank do the bare minimum to establish the premise and then rush into the action for 90 minutes at most, Novocaine is far more content to feel out the characters and put space between the action for what seems like the sake of trying to ground things in some reality. Ultimately, I found that to be to the film’s detriment.
It’s not often that I feel a film should try and aim lower, but the novelty of this premise was fun enough for me to really feel the extra runtime going toward fully building out Nate as a character and his various relationships. That can be all well and good, but there’s only so much I need to know about why Nate and Sherry want to be together, let alone how Nate and his best friend Roscoe (Jacob Batalon) get along. If this film had more interesting surprises, perhaps it could justify being 110 minutes (with credits). However, for a movie that’s pretty nimble regarding the action, the story could have been cut down even more than I already figured it was.
With all that in mind, the film shines brightest when Novocaine is focused entirely on action, comedy, or a combination of both. Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen ultimately move things in a darker-than-expected zone in terms of just how malicious the bank robbers are toward cops and civilians. However, there’s still an evident confidence in what kinds of limits to push. This is important because, as amusing as Nate’s condition can be (along with saddening to hear how it has affected his everyday life), the movie really has to dive into some gruesome territory to show this man withstanding tremendous harm to his body. That means watching Nate take gunshots, knives, and arrows to his body, as well as frying his own hand and welcoming hardcore torture as an attempt to stall for time.
Through it all, Quaid does shine here. Settling well into a nice guy role, I appreciated how the film allows this guy to be himself. We’re not watching Nate embrace some dark persona underneath his cheerful smile. We see someone act out based on certain feelings, but this is still the guy who will stop to help a cop stay alive and try to give out healing advice for those he’s fighting against, let alone use his bank executive skills to do some detective work. This all lends itself to the comedy of the movie and the physical work, which is mostly very well crafted.
Watching the action taking place, we get a lot of close-quarter combat bouts that play out like the worst results of a Jackie Chan movie. Nate, like Chan, primarily responds to defend himself, leading to his usage of a wide variety of what’s immediately available in restaurant kitchens, tattoo parlors, and booby-trapped houses. That said, Nate’s ability does mean seeing him take on immense physical damage to respond to the shots being taken at him, resulting in a few brutal deaths. Whether or not this turns into one of the best studio action movies of the year, it will undoubtedly be one of the cleverest.
The rest of the cast gets just enough to do to make their characters stand out in a film that’s not too crowded overall. Midthunder is coming off of being a badass Native American warrior who took down a Predator in Prey, so seeing her as a damsel-type character is dispiriting until it isn’t. Batalon may be playing a type, but he’s used effectively here, adding just enough for Quaid to bounce off without becoming an irritating sidekick.
Novocaine also features Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh as detectives who at first believe Nate may be in on the robbery, but the film is oddly not patient enough to have that play out for too long, choosing to instead follow through on this idea that this guy is persuasive when it comes to him telling his side of a story. On the other hand, Ray Nicholson is having a lot of fun as the lead bank robber who doesn’t mind the joy he gets from being a sociopath. For a film that doesn’t necessarily need a colorful villain, I enjoyed the extra zip of energy he brought.
I believe what gets to me is how there’s ultimately not enough here beyond the film’s premise to require so much extra work to have it feel like a real-deal movie. No, I’m glad Novocaine doesn’t feel dumbed down (though there are plenty of arguments for how nonsensical much of this movie is beyond just the fight scenes component). However, all of this ultimately means little if I was having fun with what was presented, and for the most part, I was. Shaggier than it needed to be, but while there was plenty of pain, I found enough to gain as far as maintaining my interest.
Novocaine opens in theaters on March 14, 2025.
