There’s only one reason that Novocaine works as well as it does: the easygoing chemistry between the effortlessly charming Jack Quaid and the dazzling and badass Amber Midthunder. They give the violently ridiculous romantic action-comedy an adorable beating heart that keeps the audience genuinely invested in their meet-cute love story. I was so invested in their happy ending that I found myself entertained by things I would have found annoying in any other movie.
Jack (the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan) plays Nathan Caine, a mild-mannered assistant manager at a bank who’s afflicted with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis (CIPA), a rare condition that renders him unable to feel pain. His entire life is about risk management: he doesn’t eat solid food in case he bites his tongue. He sets an alarm for the bathroom every three hours so his bladder doesn’t explode.
But things are quickly changing for Nathan. He goes on a date with a new co-worker, Sherry (Midthunder), and immediately decides to put himself out there for the woman he feels finally gives his life purpose. When Sherry is taken hostage by bank robbers (led by Ray Nicholson, son of Jack), Nathan steals a cop car and goes on a bloody rescue mission to save the woman of his dreams.
SIDEBAR: Are we going to hypocritically complain about nepo babies with this film? On the one hand, I empathize with being annoyed by privileged children of rich actors and filmmakers getting work in the entertainment industry that could have gone to someone more “deserving,” but it’s also lame for a few different reasons. For one, most people that achieve some sort of success (whether it’s acting, banking or selling cars), try and give their friends and family a foot in the door. It’s human nature.
But the other main reason I don’t truck with the whole nepo baby complaints is that, at the end of the day, if they suck at what they try, they don’t usually get hired again. Even with the privilege and a foot in the door, they still have to execute or they won’t have much of a career. Without nepo babies, we wouldn’t have Margaret Qualley, George Clooney, Tracee Ellis Ross, Nic Cage, Robert Downey Jr., Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rashida Jones, fucking LIZA MINNELLI, and so, so many more. More than likely, at least one performer you like has a famous relative.
The central reason why Novocaine struggles to work (especially in its second half) is that the ever-escalating barrage of gore, jokes, and rampant goofiness eventually becomes a bit exhausting, leading the entire finale to feel weightless and overly reliant on shock value. Even as we understand and empathize with Nathan going to Sherry’s rescue, it’s harder to parse how he ends up being such a badass when he was so mild-mannered before. He gets in a lot of fights throughout the film and holds it down pretty well, but should probably get his ass kicked even more than he does. That said, I might be trying to apply too much logic to what is essentially an insane action movie in the same high-concept vein as Crank: High Voltage or Shoot ‘Em Up.
Still, even with a few eye-rolling moments and some cringe-worthy dialogue, Novocaine is mostly entertaining. The film plays like a superhero origin story, and with Quaid and Midthunder as the charismatic leads, I think I’m here for it. When we eventually get a sequel (2 Fast 2 Novocaine?), I would absolutely watch these characters (along with the completely wasted Jacob Batalon) team up to stop some supervillain from destroying the world or travel to space to stop a deadly asteroid from unleashing an extinction-level event. I think we can get goofier here, people.
Grade: B-
