It's been over a week since I saw it, having been to a Cineworld Secret screening, but "Novocaine" still isn't actually on general release in the UK yet. Whilst I think the film is amiable enough, it's pretty much ruined by a trailer that has shows far too much and I've seen way too many times.
Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) has a neurophysiological condition that means that he can't feel pain. Living quite a sheltered life, he meets Sherry (Amber Midthunder) who works at the bank where he's assistant manager and they begin a romance. The following day the bank is robbed, and the three assailants take Sherry hostage during their getaway. Fuelled by the idea of losing the girl he loves, he goes after them and his condition becomes a superpower.
I go to the cinema quite a bit and so I see trailers lots and lots of times, and the one for "Novocaine" has been in heavy rotation for quite a while. It say this because I'm acknowledging that the problem is caused by me, rather than the film, but I was so familiar with the trailer that I had seen virtually every beat of the film before I saw it. It doesn't help that the trailer holds almost nothing back.
Trying to judge it without that factor is difficult. I really like Jack Quaid and have loved Amber Midthunder since "Legion", they are a charming couple in the early scenes and it's easy to see why he is motivated to go after her. If I hadn't seen it all so often I think I'd have really liked the violence of the set pieces and the dawning realisation that Nathan was going to have to do a series of dangerous and unthinkable things to continue in his quest.
It's a fun idea for a film, I just wish I hadn't ruined it for myself before seeing it.
