As Patrick Swayze famously said in the 1989 classic “Road House,” pain don’t hurt.
The new action-comedy “Novocaine” takes that mantra literally as a banker with a resistance to pain finds himself on a rescue mission after his crush is kidnapped in a robbery.
Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, “Novocaine” is the latest in a line of kinetic, hyperviolent action films like “John Wick,” “Nobody” or, perhaps more similarly given its comedic flavor, “Bullet Train.” Gleefully gory and knowingly absurd, the Lars Jacobson-penned flick works in each of its genres thanks in no small part to its charismatic lead, Jack Quaid.
It begins in rom-com territory with Quaid’s credit union assistant manager Nate crushing on teller Sherry, played by Amber Midthunder. Something of an introvert who spends most of his free time fantasy-gaming online, he hesitantly accepts a lunch invite from his more forthright coworker after she startles him into spilling hot coffee on himself. After the initial awkward hurdle, the two hit it off. Nate pumps himself up enough to visit her art exhibition, and the two head to a bar before going home together.
This may all sound fairly standard so far, but the twist on the formula is that Caine has a disorder called “congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis” — or CIPA for short. Unable to feel pain, a dangerous condition for which he’s already passed the average life expectancy of 25, he’s exceedingly cautious, from covering door handles and pencil tips to avoiding solid food so as not to accidentally bite off his tongue. As revealed during an encounter with a middle school bully, his childhood nickname was “Novocaine.”
But things are looking up for Nate the next morning, until his workplace is hit by a trio of robbers dressed as Santa Claus (an amped-up Ray Nicholson, Conrad Kemp and Evan Hengst). After the thieves take the money along with a captive Sherry, leaving a dizzied Nate amidst the dead, he steals an injured police officer’s gun and car and takes pursuit. Supported by his lone friend Roscoe (Jacob Batalon) and trailed by a partner cops Mincy and Coltraine (Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh, respectively), he finds himself not only in an increasingly dangerous situation but also suspected of performing an inside job.
From stabbings and shootings to snapped and deep-fried limbs, “Novocaine” is as violent as it is comic, keeping a sense of humor in the face of its action-packed tonal shift and graphic injuries, which elicited audible reactions from the more squeamish audience members. Self-aware but not exhaustingly so, “Novocaine” may not land every joke, nor is it as flashy an action spectacle as some of its contemporaries, but it does go down as a fun time at the movies.
And while it’s perhaps a bit long at nearly two hours, it’s thankfully just short enough to avoid showing the inevitable medical bill.
“Novocaine” is now playing in theaters.
This article appears in Mar 13-20, 2025.