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List Price: $9.98 | | Label: Lions Gate
Salesrank: 46615
Released: April 23, 2002 |
| Our Price: $2.08 |
| Used Price: $0.01 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Dr. Frank sagnster is a straight-laced dentist who finds his tidy prosperous life transformed into a comic quagmire of illicit sex illegal drugs and inexplicable murder in this brilliantly offbeat bitingly comedic gem. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 02/17/2004 Starring: Steve Martin Laura Dern Run time: 95 minutes Rating: R Director: David Atkins
Description of Novocaine:
A screwball noir comedy that marks a promising directorial debut by first-timer David Atkins, Novocaine has a knack for the offbeat, beginning with the casting of Steve Martin as Frank, a dentist who traps himself in an escalating series of secrets and lies. Frank likens his dilemma to the insidious rot of tooth decay, personified by quirky drug addict Susan (Helena Bonham Carter), who enters his office, steals his narcotics, and draws him into an unexpected flirtation with disaster. Frank's brother (Elias Koteas) complicates matters almost as much as Susan's psycho brother (Scott Caan), but it's Frank's fiancée and hygienist (Laura Dern) who shotguns the movie to its outrageous and gruesomely off-putting conclusion. Erratic in tone and briefly amusing, Novocaine offers a few surprises (including an unbilled appearance by Kevin Bacon), but the movie never really finds its groove, and its curiously numbing effect makes the title just a bit too apropos. --Jeff Shannon
Novocaine Reviews:
Gruesome but Good Fun 
2009-08-31 - Steve Martin and Helena Bonham Carter's outing into comedic film noir in "Novocaine" is not destined to be in the Criterion Collection of great movies. But it is fun to watch...in part because I recently discovered that Bonham-Carter and Martin were involved with each other (I don't know whether this was before, during, or after the movie was shot). In any case, the two leads had some chemistry...And since I love Helena Bonham Carter (almost as much as I like Kate Winslet), that made "Novocaine" more than watchable for me.
The plot is simple. Steve Martin plays a dentist who seems to have it all: wealth, respect, the love of a good woman (played by Laura Dern), and a substantial dental practice. But then Helena Bonham Carter's character comes into his life and nothing is much the same after that (and Martin soon learns that the "good life" he was living was largely a tissue of lies). Helena Bonham Carter plays a character who is a very far cry from her period piece characters in "Room with a View," "Wings of a Dove," "Howard's End," etc. For one thing, she plays an American (with a faultless accent). She also plays a character whose appearance and behavior pretty much scream "I'm a bad girl but I've got a heart of gold."
I won't get into the plot machinations except to comment that if you are afraid of dentists and dentistry, this is probably not something you want to see. There is some gore (two murders) as well as one fairly explicit scene where Steve Martin and Helena Bonham Carter get "a little friendly" in the dentist's chair.
But it's all good fun nonetheless and people knocking it for "not being realistic" ought to skip comedies in general because real life seldom is funny...but this movie is...frequently.
Not worth your time or energy 
2009-07-15 - I would have to say that this is the worst Steve Martin movie. We decided to watch this movie as a family, and not only where we all confused but the ending was probably the best movie. I am not sure what would have made this movie a good movie because most of which I would remove. Allot of people had said that it was a comedy but I would have to say that it is a Dark movie. The Plot is not good the writing is not that good and it went unnoticed as a movie for a reason I am sure. I would not waste my money or time getting this movie.
Don't dentists use Lidocaine these days? 
2009-05-23 - Dentist Frank Sangster's (Steve Martin) quiet life is turned upside-down when an odd new patient (Helen Bonham Carter) starts a spiral of drugs, lust, and murder.
I was hoping Martin would play another wacky dentist like his character in Little Shop of Horrors, but no such luck. This movie isn't a comedy and is too awkward to be a drama/thriller. Dr. Sangster is so relentlessly bland that he's too dull to care about, and Carter's slutty drug addict character is completely repulsive. Even with the two big stars plus Laura Dern as Sangster's fiancé, this feels like a low-budget, indie film with much ham acting and plot holes galore. The truly hideous finale will leave you cringing; all in all it's a big disappointment.
Very well crafted noir-ish movie 
2009-05-06 - Great movie of someone being taken advantage of. It is very easy to relate to Steve Martin in the movie; he slowly gets sucked into a bad situation that evolves into a far worse situation, and its all very believable. Its a fun movie to watch, and does a good job of incorporating less mainstream, more creative artistic elements, like a noir-ish mood, good camera work, interesting cast, etc. Helena Bonham Carter is outstanding, as always.
A COMEDY, QUICK AND FUN
2008-06-23 - If you like Steve Martin, then you'll probably like this movie. I give it four stars because it earns its weight in laughs and entertaining scenes. The Amazon review misleads. It's true, it doesn't completely 'find its footing', and by all means it's not a "perfect" film or comedy - but for sheer easy going fun, with a black humour edge, you could do a whole lot worse than this film. I didn't regret watching it. It certainly ends with a bit of a stretch that's a little too convenient (but of course the whole movie is highly implausable!). Still, I found that in this 95 minute film, the interest level is pretty high for at least 75 of those minutes. And it was better than 3 stars too which I'd reserve for films like "Protocal" which I saw recently with Goldie Hawn, who I really love in her better moments - that film was too predictable and the laughs were far and few between. This one gave me more than a few chuckles - loved Kevin Bacon's performance. Beleivable? Heck no. But in the comedy department, it scored 4 of 5 in laughs (or at least chuckles). If you're not too demanding, or expecting Stanley Kubricks' next masterpiece, you'll have fun with Steve in this over-the-top movie with understated humor.
