Co-director’s Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (“Body,” “Villains”) joins forces in “Novocaine,” which is a painful vein in motion picture form. Nate (Jack Quaid) suffers from a genetic condition that renders him completely incapable of feeling pain. He cannot feel pain due to biting his nerves. The idea sounds perfect until you realize he lives on an all-liquid diet to prevent unknowingly biting his tongue off and sets timers at three-hour intervals to prevent his bladder from exploding. His condition is very restrictive and troublesome, but it does become useful when he sets out to be a low-budget man’s Punisher.
Nate, the quiet and scant assistant general manager at a local bank, has a crush on one of the clerks, the fiery Sherry (Amber Midthunder). Sherry is a flirt, and is even a bit extroverted. Slowly but surely, Sherry draws Nate out of his shell and after spending one night with her, he is smitten. Sherry’s beauty turns an utterly shameless Nate into a pathetic romantic. Seeing him hostage to love, Sherry robs Nate’s heart along with the cash filled with Santa suits at the bank. No need to save her, he says, while sealing that lovey-dovey idea in a box after capping out to find her by every means possible. All of this is accompanied by what seems like a cross-city chase fueled with endless private hurst gunpowder beats of Nate that has something to do and so impressively manages to take every step involved.
If it’s not apparent, “Novocaine” can be harder to follow, but in all the familiar and desired ways. The lack of violence and action is prominent. The lack of violence and action presents them as savagely overpowering. The results that mate has suffered and gauged through are quite staggering and thrilling at the same time, thanks to the script of Lars Jacobson.
Structurally, the humor and action stem from a blend of skin blistering, bone-breaking traumas. Smart cues and nods to earlier wounds keep the pacing frantic without feeling haphazard.
Even though Nate’s near-obsessive devotion to Sherry serves as a focal point of his love-starved persona, Quaid and Midthunder’s chemistry is soap opera level dismal. While the aim of “Novocaine’s” mixed genre is to set up Nate as a pathetic lover (the humorous focus) and then undo it with his rampage (the turning point of the action), the romance between the leads is the main shift of the maelstrom of violence without being interesting in its buildup.
There is some feeble effort to link their complex relationship to the unveiling of deep-seated wounds, but that, of course, is the most elusive nuance in the dialogue. The concept of the love story being emotionally vacuous is painting the bull’s eye heart of the film, but the way the story was told lacked tremendously the necessary spark between the actors to portray the laughable, battered absurdity that follows. Remove the romance, and you have a simple tale of a man in the white suit and the woman in the beige dress.
In a film of this sort, throwing guts at the wall to see what works would be child’s play, but there is a clear intention on display. “Novocaine” has action set pieces that suck you in only to spit you out.
Quaid breathes life into this character, and while he may be at his charming sucker phase, the bits of autonomous badassery he showcases especially in “The Boys” is truly impressive. As Quaid’s performance evolves into a frenzy of panic and misplaced enthusiasm, it is clear that as much as he has loveable qualities, he bulks up the investment until the very last minute.
Berk and Olsen tear apart their horror roots and assemble them with neon colors of humor and showcase their talent in this brilliant fusion of comedy and action. The world of “Novocaine” is full of gore, where the badass remains dominant even whilst being beaten up mercilessly; it is utterly ridiculous and super entertaining. Even while bodies are maimed, blood oozes out, and bones crack, the film ensures that viewers are flinching, laughing, and grimacing all at the same time.
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