Novocaine

Review by Clint Morris

Obviously attracted to the supremacy of the tooth drill, funnyman Steve Martin returns to the role of a dentist in new comedy thriller Novocaine.

Unlike his turn in 1986's Little Shop of Horrors though, this is a more downcast dentist - where the shoe is on the other foot and it's our man in white who's sweating with trepidation.

More an onslaught of Goosebumps than a workout for the laugh muscles, the dark comedy features Martin as uptight Chicago dentist Frank Sangster.

He's the guy with the perfect house, the perfect job, and the perfect assistant/fiancée (Laura Dern). But giving root canal to patient Susan Ivey (Helena Bonham Carter) is about to change all that.

What's she's really after is a furnish of painkillers and she finds a ready mark in Frank, who harbours clandestine fantasies about activities in the dentist's chair that she's all to keen to satisfy.

Soon Susan has emptied out Frank's drug supply cabinet, leaving him to lie to the DEA and his befuddled fiancée.

As the bodies start to pile up, the fret maximises on poor Frank's face, with added black holes in the form of Susan's seedy brother (Scott Caan) and his no-account brother (Elias Koteas) doing little to help the situation.

But towards the end of its 95 minutes, Frank will find a way out of the hole he has dug himself into.

It's nice to see Martin taking a break and doing a small non-studio film for a change.

Writer-director David Atkins has written Martin perfectly into the role, especially when the need for physical comedy arrives. It's for the same reason that Martin is wasted though. He's good in the role - but it's just not his kind of movie. It's like Adam Sandler doing The Fugitive - it's hard to swallow.

Where Novocaine scores points though is in the bizarre, but credible, chemistry between dubious suitors Martin and Bonham Carter, and Laura Dern's visibly having fun exploring her dark side in the role of the fiancée.

But the bottom line is that audiences would have rather seen a Little Shop of Horrors spin-off with Martin's memorably unrestrained goofball dentist, instead of wasting studio time on an only-passable film like this.

Novocaine isn't quite a gas - but you'll sniff where it's coming from.

3 out of 5

Novocaine
Australian release: April.
Cast: Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern, Scott Caan, Elias Koteas, Keith David, Kevin Bacon.
Director: David Atkins.
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