Novocaine

I had a lot of fun watching this in the cinema.

I’ve always been a sucker for action-comedy and this one does delivers the goods. It’s unabashedly goofy and doesn’t take itself seriously unless it needs to, and Jack Quaid makes for an effortlessly charming and endearing leading man. The movie makes use of its outlandish premise and there’s plenty of fun to be had in seeing just how much punishment Quaid’s hapless hero takes… even if he can’t necessarily feel it, the audience certainly will and some of the violence is pretty fucking gnarly. I would express some surprise at how this movie managed to get a 15 rating, but in recent years, the BBFC have been surprisingly lenient with graphic violence so… eh, it is what it is. I’m fairly confident that the tongue-in-cheek nature of the film provided plenty of mitigation to some of the more gruesome moments.

Loved the support cast as well. Amber Midthunder is great and I like that they don’t completely make her character a damsel-in-distress, even if she mostly does spend the middle act as… well, exactly that. Still, the love story between her and Quaid works well and they have good chemistry with each other. I also really enjoyed Ray Nicholson as the main villain. He definitely seems to channelling a lot of the same energy that his dad, Jack, had, and I find it amusing how both the protagonist and the antagonist of this film are played by actors that are ostensibly products of Hollywood royalty. Not complaining by any means, I’m just merely observing.

Yeah, this was an enjoyable romp… although I will say, it does face some stiff competition with for my “Most Fun I Had With A Movie” award for 2025. I’m sorry but The Monkey had me in fucking stitches half the time, so that’s gonna be tough to beat.