Novocaine, 2025.
Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen.
Starring Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, Evan Hengst, Conrad Kemp, Craig Jackson, Lou Beatty Jr., Garth Collins, and Tristan de Beer.
SYNOPSIS:
When the girl of his dreams is kidnapped, a man incapable of feeling physical pain turns his rare condition into an unexpected advantage in the fight to rescue her.
On his way to working his San Diego trust fund assistant manager job, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), the titular character of the inventively violent and gruesomely funny Novocaine, overhears a radio host reading off some self-help mumbo-jumbo inspiring disabled people not to be held back by their disability. It’s a bit jarring since Nate doesn’t appear disabled. However, we quickly discover that he has a rare condition that renders him numb to pain once a coworker, Sherry (Prey‘s Amber Midthunder), accidentally spills piping hot coffee on his hand, giving him some nasty burns.
Growing up with this genetic condition has caused Nate to live a relatively sheltered life, which, in turn, has rendered him introverted and socially awkward. It’s also clear that empathy and emotional vulnerability compensate for everything he doesn’t feel physically. Sherry is overtly interested in getting to know him and going on a date, only to be met with a combination of shyness and jokes masking his insecurity due to the condition he hasn’t explained to her. This is even though the interest in one another is mutual. Instead, Nate spends most of his free time gaming alongside an online buddy he has not seen or met in the flesh (Jacob Batalon, always amusing as the encouraging wingman sidekick), who tries to give reasonable advice when wooing a woman.
Eventually, Nate and Sherry go on a diner date where cherry pie forces Nate to explain his condition. He can’t eat solid foods since he doesn’t feel pain, meaning there is a chance he could unknowingly bite off his tongue. Some of these quirks come across as self-inflicted overprotection due to helicopter parenting. Still, Sherry understands and accepts this with more curiosity, and the two continue hanging out and learning more about one another.
Surprisingly, directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (using a screenplay from Lars Jacobson) build this romance sweetly, going an extra step introducing a layer that Sherry struggles with self harm and is working through that by selling art drawn from that. With that juxtaposition, the romance is so unique and earnest that a case could be made that Novocaine doesn’t need to transition into an action film following its first act. These characters talking about their lives and the inability to feel pain in contrast with inflicting pain to feel something for two hours would have made for a beautiful movie on its own.
Fortunately, Novocaine is also successful as an action film about Nate repeatedly throwing himself into harm’s way to save Sherry once she is kidnapped in a robbery of the trust fund led by Ray Nicholson’s Simon. Unfortunately, the characterization fades away and becomes primarily non-existent, but that’s also fine since the film has already done a convincing and moving job of establishing a believable romance. However, there is a clichéd twist that doesn’t need to be here, somewhat muddling aspects of Sherry’s character, which is frustrating since one wishes the story would take the opposite approach and dig into her mindset and life more.
This is probably starting to sound like a negative review, but the reality is that this is a good movie that could have been great if it had found a way to keep certain aspects character-forward among the bloody brawls. As for that fighting, Novocaine is ingenious and exhilarating, cleverly finding sharp ways to turn the violence inflicted upon Nate into something comical that is then turned into a weapon of its own against his attackers. At one point, a knife impales his palm, making for a sickening sight that is also played for laughs due to Nate’s shock and inability to feel that pain. The blade stuck inside his hand turns his body into a weapon.
Watching Nate find ways to intentionally hurt himself to flip the tables on much more formidable opponents is imaginatively demented; it’s cartoonish but never too cartoonish that it takes away from the menacing, cold-hearted nature of the villains. They have a nasty mean streak here with plenty of innocent bystanders and various first responders murdered, keeping grounded danger amongst Nate’s superhero-like powers, reminding that just because he will likely be safe doesn’t mean that everyone else will make it out alive.
The key word there is “like” because this film also overcomes a common flaw in similar movies where it’s hard to care about the protagonist’s plight if nothing can hurt them. Nate can’t feel pain, but he is still very much at risk and capable of dying, often trying to dispose of firearms in battle before doing anything else. That’s not to say there is a sense of life-or-death urgency in every fight, but there is sadistically crowd-pleasing excitement in wondering how much Nate will put his body through to save the day and how far Novocaine will go regarding its violence. It delivers on both accounts, elevated in part by sincere romance.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association, Critics Choice Association, and Online Film Critics Society. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews and follow my BlueSky or Letterboxd
