Novocaine (2025)

Novocaine (2025)

Well… No, really!

Directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, this is a film that attempts to merge the genres of action, comedy and romance. As ever, those who loved it said it was well balanced and those who didn’t thought it was either very badly balanced or just not balanced at all.

Let’s be clear from the outset: this film is for fans of very black humour, there are quite a few gory scenes and the humour can be ultra-heavy. Sensitive souls will have to go their separate ways, but the rest of you should go for it!

If you like a fairly violent romance, this is probably the film for you. If what you find most romantic is fighting, getting beaten up, being tortured to save your beloved (with whom you’ve only spent one night and who won’t even look at you the next!), chances are you won’t be on the same wavelength.

Despite some very good moments and some relatively enjoyable humour, the film gradually sinks into something pathetic. I waited impatiently for the end. It’s a good thing I didn’t have my watch on, otherwise I’d just have watched it!

It’s definitely one of those films for teenagers in need of a thrill. Those who hate Hollywood films (yes, yes, those who fall into the ‘I’m always complaining!’ category) will also find something to like here. They’ve got to like a film every now and then, since they spit on most other feature films.

Oh yes, this will also appeal to fans of Kick-Ass (2010), Super (also 2010), and also Guns Akimbo (2019).

Note the line ‘You’re a white guy who works in a bank, so the judge was nice to you’! Thank you for this fine piece of propaganda. This is clearly not denunciation, or else it’s very badly done.

We’re going to have to seriously rethink the film industry if we want to attract people back to the cinemas. It’s a good thing they’re free!

Come on, let’s be nice! Let’s just say that the script is original, albeit not at all credible, with no logic or coherence whatsoever, right up to the end! So… I stand corrected: I’m going to say that it’s the direction that’s correct and that the beginning is nice. The main actors are good… even if their characters are unbearable.

Jack Quaid, son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, was great in Companion (2025), which was a good film this year. But here he’s so lacking in self-confidence that his character becomes sickening.

Well, he was also a pleasure to watch in Scream 5 (2022) and he’s also in the series The Boys, which I still haven’t seen.

The film stars Amber Midthunder, the lead actress in Prey (2022), and Jacob Batalon, a Filipino American actor best known for his role as Ned Leeds in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, particularly the latest Spider-Man trilogy.

There’s certainly an element of mindless entertainment here! It’s close to the worst films of the 90s, because there were some, even if that decade was a sure thing.

In a nutshell:

Quite disappointed! I wasn’t expecting much, but it could have been a lot better. Too much is too much. Sure, the hero doesn’t feel the pain, but personally I think it’s too overplayed.

An entertaining film, but nothing more. The story doesn’t really hold up, the parts are completely zany and not very believable.

Bloody, with no head or tail! If you’re 80, you’re bound to turn your head away three-quarters of the time.

It’s really not that great, although it doesn’t start off too badly at first. Nothing very original, that’s for sure, because you kind of suspect what’s coming next, but hey… it passes. After that, it becomes grotesque and really heavy-handed.

I can’t say I had a good evening with this film, despite its second-degree humour. It’s very limited and has zero credibility.