Novacaine is one of those movies in the vein of Boss Level, Crank and Edge of Tomorrow where the protagonist is played by one of those actors who has their own fare share of critics that seeing them go through so many brutal hurdles makes the movie enjoyable.
Maybe it’s the fact that Jack Quaid is a “nepo baby” and has acknowledged that. As the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, it’s obvious he hasn’t has to struggle the way other actors have. And when the first movie you’re in is The Hunger Games, you’re not really getting your break in cheap movies while waiting tables. Since then he’s worked with Steven Soderbergh in Logan Lucky and was in the fifth Scream movie that should’ve been a poor attempt at a legacy sequel, but it was pretty darn good.
And he was in the Oscar-winning ensemble epic Oppenheimer as well as appearing in The Boys, Star Trek: Lower Deck and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. All of these roles have happened by the time he’s 33. He may also have to deak with the change in public opinion toward his father, Dennis, and especially his uncle, Randy who makes Cousin Eddie seem like Mister Rogers. But you can’t blame someone for the actions of their relatives and I’m sure he might be an OK guy but as God told Job, “There’s just something about you I don’t like.”
Quaid plays Nathan Caine, who was given the nickname “Novocaine” for his inability to feel pain as he suffers from congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. He lives a very introverted life where his only real friend is Roscoe Dixon (Jacob Batalon) who he games with. They’ve never met in real life despite talking and communicating over game-playing. Nathan is a mild-mannered assistant manager at a trust credit union in San Diego.
As the Christmas holiday approaches, he goes out drinking with a new co-worker Sherry Margrave (Amber Midthunder) after work. They hit it off and then go back to have sex as Nathan has opened up to her about his CIPA. The next day is Christmas Eve and some bank robbers, led by Simon (Ray Nicholson, son of Jack) come in dresses in Santa Claus costumes. They murder Nigel (Craig Jackson), the manager, when he refuses to give the bank code to open the vault.
Nathan complies when the robbers threaten to shoot Sherry, who was next to Nigel. They knock him out briefly and take Sherry hostage as the police arrive earlier than expected. The robbers have a shoot-out with the police and Nathan comes to just in time to see the getaway cars drive off. He quickly aides an injured cop before stealing his patrol vehicle to hunt down the robbers.
But now, Nathan is having to run from the cops who think he may be in on the robbery. Dets. Mincy Langston (Betty Gabriel) and Coltrane Duffy (Matt Walsh) are chasing him down as he tries to save Sherry fearing her life is in danger. But there’s more to the robbery than both Nathan and the police know and Nathan’s only ally is Roscoe, who reluctantly wants to help him.
A movie like this requires you to have a very sick sense of humor where you see a man get his fingernails torn out as torture but act like it hurts him. I’ve said Edge of Tomorrow is the perfect Tom Cruise movie for his fans and haters because his character is being killed in brutal and even comical ways. Frank Grillo in Boss Level and Jason Statham in Crank both understand they may not be liked by a good portion of the moviegoing audience and understood the assignment.
These are the type of roles you can’t take too seriously as an actor but must understand you got to rein in the outrageousness to make it look believable. Even though it is set in San Diego, the movie was actually filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. I think the anachronism through the movie add to its feel. This is a just another fun popcorn movie with twists that you probably can see coming.
But you like the characters enough to enjoy it. And even though the ending goes on for a little too longer than it should, it still one of those movies you’ll find yourself watching for a couple of hours on a weekend afternoon when it’s rainy outside. While the movie was a modest success at the box office and received good reviews, I believe it will eventually become a nice cult classic Christmas action movie like The Long Kiss Goodnight and Violent Night.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 