Novocaine (#661)


The second of my weekend movies was described as an action, comedy, mystery, thriller. The mystery designation is easily explained: The mystery is why it was made. The comedy? The ridiculous premise. An unpretentious, mild-mannered hero has a rare disease which makes him impervious to pain, so he goes through the movie getting beat up, kicked, stabbed, shot and otherwise maimed, and he doesn't feel a thing. In fact, when he is shot in the arm he probes the wound with a knife and is able to extract the bullet by himself. He does all these things because he's trying to rescue his girlfriend, whom he adores. who has been abducted. In my opinion, she isn't worth what he subjects himself to. Bottom line? It's a very silly movie, but there are some funny scenes that allow you to survive the nearly two hour farce. I'm not certain that producer and director thought they were making a comedy--or did they? Another reason it's described as a mystery to me is why critics (82%) and audiences (87%) gave Novocaine a thumbs up. 


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