NOVOCAINE: A Fun Pain-Free Hero On A Logic-Free Ride

Three months into 2025 and Jack Quaid is back on the big screen with Novocaine, an action comedy that, based on the trailer, promised fun, heart, and the right amount of silly. And to be fair, it does deliver on some of those promises, mostly due to Quaid’s charismatic performance and some visually entertaining action sequences. But strip those away, and what you’re left with is a script so full of plot holes I’m surprised it stayed afloat at the box office.

Surprisingly, it has done well financially, pulling in decent returns on its $18 million budget, and the general reception seems... weirdly positive? I’ll admit, I went in hopeful. I really like Jack Quaid, he was fantastic in Companion (which I also reviewed and really enjoyed), and here again, he brings genuine charm and personality to a role that frankly doesn’t deserve him. Because despite the charisma, this film doesn’t hold together.

I’m honestly conflicted. The movie isn’t bad per se. I laughed, I was entertained in moments, but I also sat there baffled as the plot unraveled with the logic of an AI-generated fever dream.

Let’s recap.

The concept: an ordinary guy gets thrust into a superhero-esque scenario when the girl he likes is kidnapped during a bank robbery. The twist? He has a rare genetic condition that prevents him from feeling any pain.

Sounds promising, right? And the setup isn’t terrible. Jack’s character, Nathan Caine, is a timid assistant bank manager, terrified of his condition to the point that he survives on smoothies out of fear of biting his own tongue off. He’s had a longtime crush on a colleague, Sherry, but he’s too shy to act—until one day, they share lunch, go on a date, and spend the night together.

It’s a sweet buildup. But it’s also rushed. Because the very next morning, a group of robbers dressed as Santa Claus storms the bank, kidnaps Sherry, and suddenly Nathan goes full Jason Bourne. I’m sorry—but what? After one date? The film tries to sell this massive burst of confidence and reckless heroism with zero emotional grounding. It feels like a complete personality transplant.

From there, it just spirals.

Nathan steals a police car, launches into a wild chase, and suddenly seems to know exactly how to investigate a high-level crime as if he’s had FBI training offscreen. He reaches out to an online gaming buddy we were briefly introduced to earlier on, confesses everything to him (because sure, why not), and somehow manages to stay two steps ahead of both the criminals and the cops.

Speaking of the cops: we’re given two cliché-ridden officers; the hardened badass who has a soft spot for Nathan, and the lazy one who can’t be bothered. Neither has depth, and both feel like cardboard cutouts from a sitcom that didn’t make it past pilot season.

Yes, the comedy works at times. The film milks the “can’t feel pain” gimmick for all it’s worth, and some of those scenes are genuinely hilarious. But good comedy doesn’t excuse incoherence.

[Spoiler Zone]

Let’s talk about that twist. Turns out Sherry was in on the kidnapping all along. She’s the sister of the lead robber, Simon, and helped orchestrate the whole thing. But when it all goes south, she suddenly decides she’s out, without any real motivation or conflict. When Nathan ends up killing Simon, Sherry doesn’t show any remorse or emotion. Her brother just died, and she shrugs it off like someone cancelled dinner plans.

And then (because this movie really said “logic who?”) Nathan, having killed three people, ends up in a hospital bed, where a cop drops by and basically says, “You saved a fellow officer, so we’ll call it even. House arrest for you, white boy.” Sherry ends up in jail, sure—but only for her part in the robbery. She didn’t kill anyone, but she’s the one who goes down hardest.

And Nathan? He walks away emotionally unscathed, like someone who just beat a video game. He’s completely unaffected by all the violence he’s committed. It’s unsettling, not just for his character, but for the tone of the movie overall. Like—hello? Can we address anything that just happened?

This isn’t a bad movie. It’s got all the ingredients for a fun, if mindless, action comedy. But the plot is riddled with holes, the motivations are laughably thin, and the emotional payoff is nonexistent. Jack Quaid carries this as best as he can—and if you’re a fan of his, you’ll probably still enjoy watching him do his thing. But the script does him no favors.

If you're willing to switch your brain off and ignore all the internal logic, you'll probably have a good time. But if you’re someone who expects characters to act like human beings and stories to make even a lick of sense… well, prepare to yell at your screen.

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