“Novocaine” (2025) Review

There’s a lot of pressure on a premise as bonkers as Novocaine to be unhinged with its violent slapstick. When hearing the idea of an unlikely hero having the ability not to feel pain, my mind was drawn to Crank and its over-the-top whirlwind of absurdity. This film doesn’t quite go that extra mile of insanity, but it does make up for its lack of gonzo with enough charm to go with its goofy grit.

It was refreshing that the beginning of the film gives plenty of time to get to know and like the protagonist, Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid), a bank executive trying to play it safe with his condition. If you hadn’t seen the trailers or marketing, the opening tone would almost suggest a romantic comedy with how he finds himself attracted to his co-worker, Sherry (Amber Midthunder). The two of them hit it off around Christmas time and sweetly opened up about their conditions. While Sherry’s suicidal history slowly comes out, Nathan’s disorder of congenital insensitivity to pain is too prevalent to conceal for long. Sherry would likely start asking questions when Nathan spills piping-hot coffee all over his hand and doesn’t even flinch. There’s some solid chemistry between them as Nathan opens up and takes a risk at love, gently nudged by his online gamer companion, Roscoe (Jacob Batalon).

Everything is looking up for Nathan when a brutal bank heist hits like a thunderbolt. The robbers kidnap Sherry, and Nathan takes it upon himself to do the rescue when realizing how ineffective and scattered the police may be in handling this situation. As expected from Nathan’s condition, he endures plenty of beatings, cuts, burns, shots, and broken bones without displaying pain. This makes for some amusing fight scenes, but more for Nathan’s inability to handle this action scenario. He might have the pain tolerance of a superhero, but he also has a weak stomach when it comes to seeing people get brutalized. This is a film that’s smart enough to know that Jack Quaid’s superpower is his comedic bluster, which adds as much wit to the fights as bloody carnage.

The chaos of the premise wears a bit thin as the film goes on, primarily because of the simplistic villain. Ray Nicholson plays up the antagonist, Simon, as an eccentric psychopath who cackles at killings but doesn’t do much more than that. His scheme for swiping cash isn’t all that interesting, nor is his obsession with violence. A better film might’ve been able to rope in that villain trait with Nathan’s disorder, but the movie spends more time trying to come up with bruised-arm blistering by the third act than anything else. Despite the descent into fights for fight’s sake, the maintaining of Nathan’s romantic obsession for Sherry does coat the picture reasonably well with motivation. Placed on top of the inventive kills are some moments of heartbreak and worry, where there’s a reason to care about a guy who can’t feel pain. To quote Harvey Birdman, “He feels pain, just not that kind.”

Novocaine has enough fun with its wild premise, even if it doesn’t cannonball into the deep end of absurdity. Those expecting some slapstick antics of Quaid groaning at the inconvenience of being shot by an arrow or faking pain to stall the torturing robbers probably won’t be disappointed. The flow between the action and comedy works well enough, with Quaid delivering some charming punchlines and tonal shifts in his quest, able to go from stabbing a Nazi with a tattoo pen to putting on his executive voice when on the phone. The stern devotion to charisma and slapstick makes up for this movie making a sensible meal out of its idea instead of pigging out on the carnage.