Novocaine

Novocaine (2001)

  • 38% of critics liked it
    (107 reviews)

  • 37% of users liked it
    (7,177 ratings)

In this darkly comic film noir from writer/director David Atkins, Steve Martin revisits dentistry -- an occupation he'd explored 15 years prior, in the camp musical Little Shop of Horrors. Novocaine casts Martin as a much more mild-mannered D.D.S., Dr. Frank Sangster. Engaged to a prim and delicate… More

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R, 1 hr. 35 min.
Directed By
David Atkins
Written By
David Atkins
Genres
Drama, Comedy
In Theaters
Nov 16, 2001 Wide
On DVD
Apr 23, 2002
Artisan Entertainment

Critic Reviews

  • Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

    The casting is peculiar, the tone is off, the plot is uninteresting and the ending is sorry.

  • Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel

    Plays like the sort of silly shared fantasy that a group of dental students might come up with late one night, after too much coffee and cramming for finals.

  • Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

    This movie was not effective.

  • Stephen Hunter, Washington Post

    A coarse, witless and stunningly violent black comedy.

  • Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

    Atkins never finds the right tone for Novocaine. It's not dark enough to be either viciously funny or unsettling.

Read all 15 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

  • Cassandra M


    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… More

  • Lanning :


    While I'm not going to say I'd defend this movie to the death, I will say that if you like Steve Martin, you might be willing to see everything he tries. This like, say, <i> The Spanish Prisoner </i>, is something different for Martin, and while it is not an… More

  • Fascade F


    My all time favorite movie...Come to think of it... being that I love my dentist so much...I am going to get him and his assistants a copy! LOL See it to believe it! I LOVED IT!

  • Eduardo C


    A slapstick modern film-noir (if that makes any sense) that caught me entirely unprepared and made me fall in love. Great performances (even Steve Martin, who I am not a fan of), and a decidedly wicked script make up the core of this unique experience.

Cast

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