Novocaine (2001)
Novocaine (2001)
TOMATOMETER
AUDIENCE SCORE
Critic Consensus: The quirky Novocaine flirts with both dark comedy and noir suspense, but the result is a jarring mix of tones which never quite mesh.
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Movie Info
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Cast
as Dr. Frank Sangster
as Susan Ivey
as Jean Noble
as Harlan Sangster
as Duane
as Lunt
as Pat
as Mike
as Hip movie star [uncredited]
as Gelding
as Wayne Ponze
as `Sunshine Lounge' Bartender
as Attractive Complaining Patient
as Mrs. Langston
as Chinese Wife
as "Blue Sands" Bartender
as Chinese Husband
as Liquor Store Owner
as Billy
as `Blue Sands' Bartender
as Gelding
as Detective Lily Pons
as Sally
as Motel Security Guard
as Anchorwoman
as Detective
as Harris
as Officer Peter Reilly
as Officer Chuck Smith
as Skinny Sheriff
as Visiting Room Guard
as Court guard
as Trooper Jarvis
as Trooper Bunch
as Storch
News & Interviews for Novocaine
Critic Reviews for Novocaine
All Critics (107) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (41) | Rotten (66) | DVD (9)
The casting is peculiar, the tone is off, the plot is uninteresting and the ending is sorry.
Plays like the sort of silly shared fantasy that a group of dental students might come up with late one night, after too much coffee and cramming for finals.
This movie was not effective.
A coarse, witless and stunningly violent black comedy.
Atkins never finds the right tone for Novocaine. It's not dark enough to be either viciously funny or unsettling.
With Bonham Carter's been-there, done-that performance and a plot that spins out of control, we end up with a movie that you can't quite sink your teeth into.
Audience Reviews for Novocaine
Odd but strangely alluring, Novocaine is a suspenseful back comedy. After being seduced by a femme fatale, Dr. Frank Sangster finds himself caught up in a web of lies, sex, and murder. Starring Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern, and Scott Caan, the cast is quite good, as are the performances (especially Carter's). Additionally, the writing balances the dark themes with light humor rather well. Still, the film does have some problems, as the tone's a bit uneven at times and most of the characters aren't fleshed out. Novocaine has some rough spots, but overall it's an entertaining film that's full of intrigue.
Super Reviewer
Martin took a chance in being in this little known, little seen, conspiracy thriller. It has an interesting concept and the plot is definitely worth following, but the ultimate villain isn't all that impressive or frightening. What makes this film especially unseemly has to be its reliance on black humor, which comes off less funny and more grotesque. There's this scene near the end that is so disgusting and gross that I don't even want to think about it, and that quickly veers it away from being interesting gumshoe mystery and into weird existential quandary. If the ending were a little less slovenly this film would probably be lauded for its intricate story and the great performance from Helena Bonham Carter as the drug dealer's (Caan) sister and the seductress of the dentist (Martin). Martin feels misplaced in the film, mostly because we're used to either subdued serious performances or out of control wackiness in comedies. It's just a little too all over the place to make it as memorable as it should be.
Super Reviewer
This has been a quite entertaining movie. Not really a top notch movie, not really working as a comedy, but still pretty entertaining. It started out veeery slow and boooring - it took a little too long for it to evolve. But when it started to it got better and better. There's that very freaky story and a wrecked Bonham-Carter (she's good playin such characters ;-) adding most to this film. However the ending was a little too fantastic since it shouldn't be a problem for the forensics to ... no, I won't spoil hehe. My favourite scene was Martin's call where he spoke to that guy who answered the phone with "barbie's bakery. it's mr. muffin man speakin." LOL My overall rating is: 6.5/10 - if you're not sure what to watch, try this one. It works pretty well as entertainment
Super Reviewer
Novocaine Quotes
| Jean Noble: | I've taken care of everybody my whole life, and I am fucking tired! I have organised everything, I have made everything perfect, I made everybody's lives work smoothly and I am tired of being a caretaker CO-DEPENDENT NO MORE! Do you know how hard it is to be perfect? When everybody need you to take care of them? Has anybody ever done that for me? Nobody has ever done that for me, nobody, NOBODY! And you know what? I am tired of everybody else getting all the stuff and me being left out. I wanna be the boss! I wanna be on top! Because I deserve it all! And I'm gonna get it! And if you don't understand that, you really a fucking idiot! |
| Mike: | Barbie's Bakery, it's Mr. Muffin speaking. |
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