Streaming Review: NOVOCAINE

Jack Quaid is a very pleasant presence on the screen.

Whether it is as his break-out rule as Hughie Campbell in the hit TV Series THE BOYS, or as the voice of Boimler in STARK TREK: LOWER DEPTHS or as the lead role in in the surprise action hit NOVOCAINE, Quaid’s welcoming “everyman” presence grounds the proceedings of whatever he is in into “comfort” territory.

And that is a good thing for the aforementioned NOVOCAINE, for the rest of the film is so unbelievable that one will need to forget that and when in the presence of Quaid’s character, Nate, one does.

The premise Novociane is simple. Nate is nicknamed “Novocaine” because he can feel no pain. His would-be girlfriend, Sherry (Amber Midthunder) calls him a “Super-hero”, which Nate denies, but when Sherry is kidnapped, Nate goes into full Super-Hero mode to rescue her.

Novocaine is a “turn off your brain and enjoy” type of film and if you do just that, you’ll be rewarded to a rollicking good time with Nate, Sherry and Nate’s friend (Jacob Batalon - you know, Peter Parker’s friend in the recent SPIDERMAN flick) going up against an over-the-top (is there any other kind in this type of film) bad guy in Ray Nicholson (SMILE 2) who didn’t find a scene he couldn’t chew in this film (and that’s a compliment).

Co-Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen stated their purpose was to make Nate’s actions “semi-believable”…well…they leaned heavily on the term “semi”.

Nate can feel no pain, but he can feel pleasure.

Nate puts his hand in boiling french fry oil and while his skin is burned, his hand continues to work just fine.

He get shot by an arrow which causes a (dramatically induced) limp in the scene, but in the next scene, he runs like he is an Olympic champion.

You know, stuff like that…

Oh…and don’t get me started on the various ways the Detectives (Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh) who are chasing Nate (thinking he is the villain) break standard procedures/protocols (which would put them in jail themselves).

But…if you can ignore all that…and much, much more…you’ll be treated to a very pleasant two hour divergence with an extremely charming and charismatic lead.

Letter Grade: B

7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to theBank(ofMarquis)