Novocaine: When a Rare Disease Becomes the Recipe for a Fun Time at the Movies
Jack Quaid plays Nathan Caine, an introverted assistant bank manager who has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis or CIPA. This means Nathan Caine can’t feel pain, earning him the nickname ‘Novocaine’ from middle school bullies who must’ve realized that a kid who can’t feel pain made for a great punching bag. CIPA happens to be a real, if rare, condition that afflicts about 1 in 25,000 births, and it’s even rarer to see in adults because, as Nathan explains it, the life expectancy of people who can’t hear nature’s way of telling you when something’s wrong tends to be very short. When his co-worker and secret crush Sherry (Amber Midthunder) hears about CIPA, she remarks, “Oh my God, you’re a superhero!,” but Nathan quickly corrects her, “It’s not a super power.”
And it’s not. At all. Everyone’s favorite sidekick Jacob Batalon, who plays Nathan’s online friend and, uh, sidekick Roscoe, reminds him, “You’re not Wolverine.” Nathan can’t feel pain, but he gets injured just like everyone else and is even at more risk than the rest of us. This is what makes Novocaine such a terrific film. It portrays CIPA as a real, life-threatening condition and goes to great lengths to show how Nathan has survived to adulthood, which is basically childproofing his own home to such great lengths, including blending his meals into slush to minimize chewing and accidentally biting off his own tongue. CIPA isn’t a superpower, but in the case of Novocaine, it probably comes in handy when your office crush gets kidnapped by bank robbers, and you need to rescue her.
Jack Quaid as Nathan Caine in 'Novocaine'
Nathan isn’t Wolverine, or the Punisher, or anyone at all who can fight or shoot guns. If anything, Novocaine makes it pretty clear that if anyone with CIPA pursued any sort of life-threatening career or even played contact sports, they would very quickly end up in the hospital or the morgue. So Nathan sitting behind his childproofed office desk is pretty much the reality for someone with CIPA, and when he goes off in pursuit of some really scary, violent, and heavily armed robbers, the result is hilarious, awkward, uncomfortable, and cringe-worthy.
Quaid, the son of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan, has always acknowledged his nepo baby status, but the man has shown he’s got what it takes, and while Novocaine is no John Wick, the one thing that should be on everyone’s mind should be: why isn’t Jack Quaid in more films? The star of The Boys doesn’t exude an action-star attitude or a mysterious or menacing aura. Rather, it’s the opposite: Quaid is a lanky, awkward boy-next-door reminiscent of '90s Hugh Grant, more suited for romcoms than action films. That’s why Novocaine works so well: it’s actually a romcom in disguise.
Amber Midthunder took down a Predator all by herself in 2022’s Prey, but she needs rescuing this time around, and Nathan Caine is the best she’s got. There are twists in this film that keep it from being stale, and having a hero who doesn’t really know how to fight but knows how to take a beating is the special sauce that makes Novocaine so entertaining. Seeing Nathan get injured makes you wince, but you can’t look away, either; it’s like watching Dr. Pimple Popper but where the satisfaction of emptying an abscess is replaced by the, ‘Hell yeah!’ of seeing Nathan take down a bad guy.
Amber Midthunder as Sherry, Nathan's co-worker and secret crush
Sherry and Nathan are an odd couple that actually works because the film spends almost a full third of the story into developing their relationship. It lays the groundwork for everything that happens by properly establishing Nathan’s medical condition, Sherry’s relatively new employment status, Nathan’s introverted nature, and their unlikely but actually believable chemistry. Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen take the time to build up the story so that when the shit finally hits the fan, we’re all in on Nathan Caine.
Unlike other Hollywood portrayals of medical conditions, which can be egregious and problematic, particularly when it comes to mental disorders, Novocaine’s use of CIPA is respectful, even reverential. Sure, it’s also the source of almost every visual gag in the film, but it never lets audiences forget that Nathan can very well die. When Nathan feels his body slow down because of the injuries he’s accrued, he shoots up with some adrenaline and manages to push himself just a little more. He’s not Wolverine, alright, but he’s definitely the Energizer Bunny who just keeps going and going. Novocaine stretches the limits of plausibility, sure, but even the Energizer Bunny has to run out of battery at some point, and when it finally does happen, it all concludes in a very satisfying way.
There hasn't quite been an action film like Novocaine, not in the age of Dwayne Johnson, who actually reportedly has it in his contracts that his characters can’t die, or since the likes of Steven Seagal, who swats away opponents like flies. Novocaine is arguably closest to the original Die Hard, undoubtedly one of Berk’s and Olsen’s inspirations, where John McClane gets all banged up in a way action heroes of the time never did. In fact, when Nathan smashes his hands against broken glass as a form of makeshift brass knuckles, it feels like a direct homage to McClane’s glass-shard-ridden feet.
Nathan Caine’s CIPA might be a one-movie conceit that can’t be turned into a franchise, but Quaid and Midthunder are bona fide stars and deserve to be in more projects. Novocaine is a truly fun ride with an unlikely hero who has an unlikely not-superpower featuring some really creative and funny action sequences. If they manage to find a way to make a sequel with Nathan and Sherry, it will probably be even more outrageous and fun. Just don’t expect one anytime soon because after all Nathan goes through in Novocaine, it should take a pretty long time before he’s up and running again. I mean, he’s not Wolverine.
