Movie Review: 'Novocaine' Succeeds on Jack Quaid's Charm

Novocaine

Directed by Dan Berk, Robert Olson

Written by Lars Jacobson

Starring Jack Quaid, Amber Midthunder, Jacob Batalon, Ray Nicholson

Release Date March 14th, 2025

Published March 14th, 2025

Novocaine stars Jack Quaid as Nate Caine, aka Novocaine, a nickname given to him by childhood bullies. You see, Nate has a rare medical condition which causes him to not feel pain. When kids found out about his condition, they immediately wanted to test it and set about beating Nate up on a regular basis. All grown up, Nate takes great care not to get hurt. He is, of course, not afraid of pain but rather, if he were to get hurt, he would not know it. He could be bleeding out and he wouldn’t know it until he saw the blood.

Nate works as an assistant manager at a bank where he has recently fallen in love with a newly hired bank teller, Sherry (Amber Midthunder). She doesn’t know he’s in love with her, but he very much is. When she asks him to lunch he trips all over himself before finally accepting. They flirt and chat and he opens up about his unique condition. The two end up spending the night together and it seems as if Jack’s dreams are coming true. That is until he gets to work the next day. While daydreaming about Sherry, bank robbers dressed as Santa Claus, yes, Novocaine is a Christmas movie, enter the bank and proceed to rob the place.

The bank robbers, led by Simon (Ray Nicholson), not only rob the bank, they take Sherry as a hostage and human shield. Desperate to save his new love, Nate steals a cop car, after saving the life of a bleeding cop, and goes on a violent quest to save his new love. Along the way, his unique condition allows him to bounce back from all sorts of violent assaults from 3rd degree burns to bullet wounds, to a variety of broken bones. Novocaine gets quite bloody and violent as the story progresses and Nate takes the kind of damage that would leave a Mortal Kombat character eager to tap out.

Therein lies an unfortunate flaw in Novocaine. The film goes so far in showing off Nate’s ability to take punishment that it begins to feel repetitive. The final act especially suffers as the movie peaks twice, only to needlessly keep going. Novocaine is 110 minutes long when it should be closer to a tight 90 minutes with a quick pace and no fat. Sadly, the filmmakers throw in a series of twists as Nate plays detective to find out where Sherry is. These scenes, like one set inside a booby trapped house, have a few laughs, but they also serve to slow the movie down when it should be gaining momentum.

The pace is a notable flaw in Novocaine, but not a fatal one. No, I still liked Novocaine despite its tendency to meander. The key is the performance of Jack Quaid who has a silly, goofy quality that I adored throughout the film. Quaid has a puppy dog quality and watching him pine for Sherry is sweet rather than creepy, even as he’s obsessed with her without having spoken to her. Quaid’s gangly frame and shy smile are a winning combination and his chemistry with Amber Midthunder has a timid, fumbling cuteness that I found adorable. Nate is the kind of shy guy who won’t realize a woman likes him until she’s started to take her clothes off.

As for the rest of the cast, Ray Nicholson reminded me so much of his dad it almost became a parody. His voice especially evokes Jack Nicholson and I kind of want Ray to get cast as The Joker just to see how much Ray could expand on that character and play to my nostalgia for the 80s Batman movies. Nicholson is a bit let down by a script that gives him little to do but be smug, condescending, and violent, but Nicholson overcomes it via that Nicholson fire-in-the-eyes quality that always helped his dad elevate lesser material.

I would prefer Novocaine to be a bit more nimble, but, again, it’s not a fatal flaw. The film has enough strength in its original premise and the charm of its cast to help me recommend it. Be prepared for some seriously bloody violence, one particular injury nearly made me give back my popcorn, but if you don’t mind bones cracking, blood spraying, and the extra loud sound of fists on flesh, you will find plenty to enjoy about Novocaine, a film that combines its violence with a good heart and a strong sense of humor.

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