A screwball noir comedy that marks a promising directorial debut by first-timer David Atkins, Novocaine has a knack for the offbeat, beginning with the casting of Steve Martin as Frank, a dentist who traps himself in an escalating series of secrets and lies. Frank likens his dilemma to the insidious rot of tooth decay, personified by quirky drug addict Susan (Helena Bonham Carter), who enters his office, steals his narcotics, and draws him into an unexpected flirtation with disaster. Frank's brother (Elias Koteas) complicates matters almost as much as Susan's psycho brother (Scott Caan), but it's Frank's fiancée and hygienist (Laura Dern) who shotguns the movie to its outrageous and gruesomely off-putting conclusion. Erratic in tone and briefly amusing, Novocaine offers a few surprises (including an unbilled appearance by Kevin Bacon), but the movie never really finds its groove, and its curiously numbing effect makes the title just a bit too apropos. --Jeff Shannon
(15 votes)
2.
Novocaine, Artisan Entertainment’s edgy, unpredictable crime thriller, stars Steve Martin as a prosperous dentist whose well-ordered existence is thrown into turmoil when an alluring new patient draws him into a seedy underworld of sex, drugs and murder. This stylish macabre film also stars Laura Dern, Helena Bonham-Carter and Scott Caan, and marks the feature directorial debut of writer David Atkins.
Frank Sangster is living the American Dream. Blessed with a thriving dental practice and a sleek modernist home, Frank is happily engaged to his ambitious dental hygienist, Jean Noble (Laura Dern). His perfectly managed life quickly unravels, however, when Susan Ivy (Helena Bonham-Carter), a seductive new patient with an appetite for pain-killers, settles into his dentist chair. Before long, drugs are missing from his office, Susan’s psychotic brother Duane (Scott Caan) is stalking him, and Frank himself is wanted by both the DEA and the police for drug trafficking and murder. As he flees from authorities, Frank becomes increasingly drawn to Susan, and through her learns he is the victim of an elaborate con scheme, which may also involve his wayward brother, Harlan (Elias Koteas). Fueled by the desire to create a new life for himself and Susan, Frank plunges into a shadowy world of drugs and violence in order to prove his innocence, only to discover that breaking the law might provide his only hope for freedom.
Defying expectations at every turn, Novocaine takes a twisted look at the menace that lurks beneath the innocent veneer of the everyday. Writer/director David Atkins has turned classic film noir on its head, distinguishing his work with surprising plot twists, surrealist flourishes and a mischievous sense of humor. With an all-star cast, featuring Steve Martin in a brilliantly restrained performance, Novocaine proves that crime is no longer just for criminals.
(15 votes)
3.
Getting to the root of the problem is like pulling teeth
Dr. Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is a straight- laced dentist who, because of one innocent lie, finds his tidy, prosperous life transformed into a comic quagmire of illicit sex, illegal drugs and inexplicable murder in this brilliantly offbeat, bitingly comedic film!
(15 votes)
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