Novocaine

Most stars have made a film they regret. I fear this will be the one for Steve Martin, Laura Dern & Helena Bonham Carter. Martin stars as a popular dentist, engaged to his office manager (Dern). One evening when he's alone in the office a mysterious young woman (Carter) comes in and convinces him to give her a prescription for pain killers, promising to come back for treatment the next morning. This one mistake of his sets off a series of intrigues and doublecrosses with a satisfying ending. So why am I so disappointed in the movie? For one thing, the story has holes that no amount of dental work can fill. And the movie is filled with gratuitously painful-to-watch scenes of dental work... starting right from the beginning. This is definitely not a movie to eat popcorn by and, in spite of the satisfying ending, everyone at my screening left the theater feeling sickened and extremely disappointed in Steve Martin.

This has been a quite entertaining movie. Not really a top notch movie, not really working as a comedy, but still pretty entertaining. It started out veeery slow and boooring - it took a little too long for it to evolve. But when it started to it got better and better. There's that very freaky story and a wrecked Bonham-Carter (she's good playin such characters ;-) adding most to this film. However the ending was a little too fantastic since it shouldn't be a problem for the forensics to ... no, I won't spoil hehe.

My favourite scene was Martin's call where he spoke to that guy who answered the phone with "barbie's bakery. it's mr. muffin man speakin." LOL

My overall rating is: 6.5/10 - if you're not sure what to watch, try this one. It works pretty well as entertainment.

Steve Martin has either grown more talented and brilliant with age or we are now having more opportunities to witness this. His subtleness and incredible face are alluring. The entire cast deserves kudos for a great ensemble. On the other hand, the writing and directing do not.

Unlike the cast members who were top rate, the direction was simplistic, not in a minimalist fashion, but in a puerile attempt: first this happens, then that, now everyone act vaudevillian. The direction appeared to be confused between stage and film. The writing was weak with annoying one liners and non-clever phrases. Not enough credit was given to the intellect of the audience and too much was spelled out for us. None the less, I managed to finish the film and was rewarded with a unique and sweet ending.

To start with, any movie in which Helena Bonham Carter gets naked is a good thing.

This is a weird weird movie, but good pacing and casting saves it. A more disciplined director could have turned it into a cult classic.

Steve Martin is convincing in a challenging part. He is a fine actor.He brings just enough comedy so the movie doesn't descend into the land that light forgot. This edge gives the film strange believability.

Laura Dern is also exquisite walking a fine line to achieve a balance between farce and drama. Her character, blondness and 'hard body' look contrasted effectively with HBC's petite, auburn wickedness.

At the end, I wanted to watch it again to appreciate the fine points I missed the first time through.

I would describe it as a darker " The Whole Nine Yards".

Novocaine is a very strange film. It doesn't make up its mind whether it's a take off on a genre or is it playing straight. That said, the story has a lot of laughs and it was a complete surprise given the negative comments one had heard about this film. David Watkins' script and direction give this film a different look of what Hollywood is giving us lately. Steve Martin is a very difficult actor to cast and he has to have the right vehicle and direction in order to excel, as he does here. Sometimes Mr. Martin comes across rather shallow in some of his screen portrayals, but as the dentist at the center of this comedy, he is at the top of his craft. Laura Dern is just perfect in her role. She keeps getting better all the time, whether it's comedy, as it is here, or her other film this year, Focus. She's an actress who doesn't repeat herself. She's a true original. Helena Bonham-Carter is perfect as the junkie that appears in Steve Martin's life. Quite a change for her image, better known for her appearances in serious films. This must have been quite a turn around for this actress, better remembered for her work in serious English drama. The most remarkable scenes are those of the great Kevin Bacon as an actor tailing David Keith in preparation for an upcoming police film. He is hilarious as the method actor in search of ways to interpret the real life detective in the movies.

All in all, this is a very satisfying comedy.