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NOVOCAINE Send This Review to a Friend
With Steve Martin as a dentist you may think you know the drill. Yes, Martin is funny, but no, this isn't a typical comedy. "Novocaine," written and directed by David Atkins and one of the major films screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (2001), is a macabre gallows-humor treat that gets wilder as it goes along. It's film double noir with laughs.
Martin plays Frank Sangster, a dentist who would seem to have everything in order. He is engaged to the very pretty and sexy Jean, played to perfection by Laura Dern, who is also his dental hygienist and the person who pretty much runs his life. What more does the guy need? There is one longing. Frank nurses a fantasy about having sex in his dental chair, and it isn't something that turns on Jean.
Enter Helena Bonham-Carter as the provocative Susan, a new patient who has her own agenda and signals her concept of a dental chair as a contraption waiting for more creative use than they teach in dental school. But the screwed up lady is really after drugs and before long her sexy come-on gets the better of Frank, who, as noir pictures go, is plunged into much more than he can handle, including Susan's menacing brother Duane (Scott Caan) and his own problem brother Harlan (Elias Koteas).
The plot gets increasingly intricate as Frank finds that his drugs are missing and…well, why spoil the fun? There are some gruesome turns, but with Martin in great form the gore comes with plenty of laughs, and we get a suspenseful yarn with a twist. The grisly highlight: the dentist yanking out his own teeth. An Artisan Entertainment release.
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