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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
83
Alexandra
43
Anamorph
35
Babysitters, The
32
Backseat
80
Band's Visit, The
62
Battle for Haditha
47
Bella
63
Blind Mountain
71
Blindsight
47
Boarding Gate
63
Body of War
58
Bra Boys
70
Caramel
54
Cashback
44
Chaos Theory
32
Chapter 27
69
Chicago 10
82
Chop Shop
46
CJ7
78
Counterfeiters, The
30
Cover
48
Dark Matter
35
Deal
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
58
Fall, The
43
Favor, The
58
First Saturday in May, The
57
Flawless
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
xx
From Within
44
Frontier(s)
59
Fugitive Pieces
41
Funny Games
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
61
Girls Rock!
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
57
Grand, The
58
Hats Off
68
Honeydripper
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
67
Jellyfish
xx
Kiss the Bride
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
72
Life of Reilly, The
50
Look
65
Married Life
35
Meet Bill
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
54
Mister Lonely
52
My Blueberry Nights
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
52
Noise
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
55
Pathology
48
Penelope
90
Persepolis
62
Planet B-Boy
xx
Plumm Summer, A
67
Praying with Lior
46
Previous Engagement, A
72
Priceless
17
Prom Night
69
Redbelt
72
Roman de gare
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
85
Savages, The
24
Sex and Death 101
66
Shelter
75
Shotgun Stories
40
Sleepwalking
67
Snow Angels
64
Son of Rambow
71
Standard Operating Procedure
76
Stuff and Dough
64
Surfwise
xx
Tashan
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
57
Teeth
56
Then She Found Me
55
Tracey Fragments, The
56
Turn the River
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
59
Under the Same Moon
76
Unforeseen, The
xx
Unsettled
91
Up the Yangtze
55
Vice
79
Visitor, The
64
Water Lilies
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
57
Without the King
74
Witnesses, The
63
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
45
Zombie Strippers
97
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
91
Up the Yangtze
90
Persepolis
87
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
85
Savages, The
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
82
Chop Shop
82
Taxi to the Dark Side
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Unforeseen, The
76
Stuff and Dough
75
Young@Heart
75
Shotgun Stories
74
Witnesses, The
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Roman de gare
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Life of Reilly, The
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Blindsight
71
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Caramel
69
Redbelt
69
Chicago 10
68
Honeydripper
67
Snow Angels
67
Praying with Lior
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
67
Jellyfish
66
George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead
66
Shelter
65
Married Life
64
Surfwise
64
Son of Rambow
64
Water Lilies
63
XXY
63
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
63
Body of War
63
Blind Mountain
62
Planet B-Boy
62
Battle for Haditha
61
Dhamma Brothers, The
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
Girls Rock!
59
Under the Same Moon
59
Fugitive Pieces
58
First Saturday in May, The
58
Fall, The
58
Hats Off
58
Bra Boys
57
Flawless
57
Teeth
57
Without the King
57
Grand, The
56
Turn the River
56
Then She Found Me
55
Vice
55
Tracey Fragments, The
55
Pathology
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
54
Cashback
54
Mister Lonely
52
Noise
52
My Blueberry Nights
50
Look
48
Run, Fat Boy, Run
48
Dark Matter
48
Penelope
47
Bella
47
Boarding Gate
46
CJ7
46
Previous Engagement, A
45
Where in the World Is Osama Bin Laden?
45
Zombie Strippers
44
Frontier(s)
44
Chaos Theory
43
Anamorph
43
Favor, The
41
Funny Games
40
Sleepwalking
37
Life Before Her Eyes, The
35
Meet Bill
35
Babysitters, The
35
Deal
32
Backseat
32
Chapter 27
30
Cover
24
Sex and Death 101
20
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
17
Prom Night
xx
Tashan
xx
Unsettled
xx
Plumm Summer, A
xx
Kiss the Bride
xx
Jack and Jill vs. the World
xx
From Within
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Novocaine
Artisan Entertainment
MPAA RATING: R for violence, sexuality, language and drug content
Starring
Steve Martin,
Helena Bonham Carter,
Laura Dern,
Elias Koteas,
and
Scott Caan
An edgy, unpredictable crime thriller, starring Steve Martin as a prosperous dentist whose well-ordered existence is thrown into turmoil when an alluring new patient draws him into a seedy underworld of sex, drugs and murder. (Artisan Entertainment)
| GENRE(S): |
Suspense/Thriller
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
David Atkins (also story)
Paul Felopulos (story)
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
David Atkins
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 23, 2002
Video: April 23, 2002
Theatrical: November 16, 2001
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
95 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
Quite apart from wringing the last molecule of vividness from his freewheeling roster of loose cannons, he brings to his direction of Martin a finesse shared by only a few of the directors who have worked with the comedian-actor.
75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
A funny and constantly surprising exercise in comic tension.

75
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
Martin's most adventurous film in many years, may be next best thing to a quick shot of nitrous oxide.

75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
A screwball film noir with a lot of medium laughs and a few great big ones,

70
Los Angeles Times
John Anderson
Martin is marvelous; through sheer charisma, he takes over certain scenes as if no one else is there.

63
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
Novocaine is neither funny enough to be a comedy, nor dark enough to be a true film noir. Like the drug of the title, it just kind of leaves you numb and anxious to taste the good stuff once again.
63
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
One moment it's farcical comedy, the next it's gruesome melodrama. The movie never finds the right tone.

60
New Times (L.A.)
Bill Gallo
Atkins has trouble keeping the tension high and the jokes rolling. Halfway through he begins tripping over the noir genre's dark rules, and in the end he veers off into a haze of romantic redemption that Billy Wilder and Nicholas Ray would have scoffed at.

60
Film Threat
Ellen Marshall
There are a few priceless moments, like Dr. Sangster trying to work on a patient, while removing a hot pink pair of panties from a nearby chair, and the discovery of a stuffed bunny complete with a full set of dentures on his fiance's bed.

50
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
It's too bad the movie's intriguing effect wears off (so to speak) about two-thirds through.

50
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Nothing is particularly believable here, but there are still a few moments of silly, sinister fun.

50
LA Weekly
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
If Novocaine fulfilled the promise of its premise and cast, it could be great. As it is, the film is sabotaged by writer-director David Atkins' failure to set a consistent tone and follow through.

50
Chicago Tribune
Mark Caro
The absurd meets the violent meets the droll, and we just watch from the outside, never having been drawn in by anything resembling believable feelings or behavior.
50
Portland Oregonian
Kim Morgan
The film is weighed down by the decision of director David Atkins to throw too much into the mix. The result is a serious problem of consistency.

50
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Martin seems uncomfortable and oddly waxen (the orange Al Gore makeup doesn't help), injecting Frank with neither restless anger nor wry humor.

50
USA Today
Claudia Puig
With Bonham Carter's been-there, done-that performance and a plot that spins out of control, we end up with a movie that you can't quite sink your teeth into.

42
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
Drowns promising ideas in a sea of missed details and unconvincing motivations.

42
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
There are many things wrong with Novocaine, but the film's most gnawing pain is its clodhopper farfetchedness.

40
TV Guide
Ken Fox
The mystery is terribly plotted and the satirical elements are limited and not very funny.

40
Variety
Todd McCarthy
A Steve Martin vehicle that's not prankish or weird enough by half.

40
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
There's a mechanical desire to work in as many outlandish twists as possible, and shallow grotesquerie quickly takes over.

40
Austin Chronicle
Steve Davis
Given his lackluster performance, even Martin, who is no stranger to sardonic humor, seems unsure about the film's tone.

40
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Starts out stylishly, and promisingly, but then coarsens into a silly parody of film noir.
38
New York Daily News
Jack Mathews
The result is a performance that is neither funny nor empathetic, and the romance that develops between the dentist and the junkie patient is not strong enough to support the mystery.

30
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Slack direction fails to touch a nerve. Martin was scarier and funnier extracting Bill Murray's molars without Novocaine in "Little Shop of Horrors." Now that was one crazy dentist.

25
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
Spins an unconvincing, miscast noir tale.

20
Washington Post
Stephen Hunter
A coarse, witless and stunningly violent black comedy.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
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