Novocaine (2001)

Just perfect...

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Blistering performances.

Dr. Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is a straight-laced dentist engaged to his assistant Jean Noble (Laura Dern). Pat (Lynne Thigpen) is the office manager. Then sexy patient Susan Ivey (Helena Bonham Carter) comes looking for prescription drugs. He prescribes 5 pills but she scrams 50 out of the pharmacist. He constantly tries to bail out his slacker brother Harlan (Elias Koteas). Then Susan comes back pulling him into a web of danger and her handsy criminal brother Duane (Scott Caan).This one didn't make me laugh once. It could have been an interesting crime noir but this needs to strip away the attempts at comedy. It also needs to be darker and more intense. Director David Atkins's amateur skills aren't good enough. Also Frank's lies don't make much sense either and his narration that he wants to see Susan again doesn't really solve it. It's just constructed poorly.

A very, very fun little film. It's got a pretty simple noir story but it executes it so flawlessly. It's pretty quick paced, so you never lose interest, but it isn't quick enough to where it loses the audience. I've always enjoyed Steve Martin's comedic talents, but it was great to see him in a much more mellow role. Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely amazing, as always. It's pretty hard to make me fall in love with a drug addict, but she did exactly that. Easily the most, well only, adorable drug addict I've ever seen. Laura Dern is, of course, also great. In what I've come to expect from her, she becomes so immersed into her character that you don't even realize she's acting. Elias Koteas was very good as well. I also really loved the twist. It had a great, mysterious build up to it throughout the film, and was completely unpredictable. One of the rare times that I was genuinely shocked by a twist in a mystery. But, for some odd reason, they felt the need to completely spoon-feed you how everything happened...about 15 minutes after you know everything that happened. My only other complaint were the very gimmicky x-ray shots used throughout. They felt extremely unnecessary and really drew me out of the film. Other than those two things though, I really loved it. Just remarkably fun and easy to watch.

Steve Martin in a suspense thriller?! Is that really possible? Yes it is. And it's not all that bad. Martin plays Frank Sangster, a dentist who gets into an unpleasant situation. I wouldn't call this one of Martin's best movies, but it's worth seeing, if only once. I preferred his "Little Shop of Horrors" dentist.The best part, in my opinion, was the rabbit. They take a mold of Frank's teeth and put it in a rabbit doll, turning it into one creepy rabbit. Interestingly, "Novocaine" was released around the same time as "Donnie Darko", which also had a weird rabbit. I guess that the days of cute little bunnies is long gone.

You could see it and enjoy it for no other reason than to watch Kevin Bacon as an actor preparing for a role. The man knows how to play parody. Even in a small (and uncredited) appearance he does amazing things.The rest of the movie is not bad, but predictable and unexciting. Steve Martin does a good job taking on a different kind of comedic role, less broad, and with a darker edge, but the movie doesn't support him. It takes itself too seriously to really laugh at, and it's too silly to take it seriously.Without giving anything away, the initial plot devices that get the story moving do not seem motivated by the characters. In particular, Steve Martin's character's actions early on are not behaviors I can really believe, but once it's done, the plot is underway, and you have no choice but to accept it or immediately take the movie out of the machine and return it to the video store.Scott Caan fans will also appreciate his presence. He was good.Bacon rules!