Novocaine

Driven by a conspiracy of preposterous complexity, this black comedy serves up mock-noirish downward-spiral drivel about a dull dentist (Steve Martin, who was so much more lively as a sadistic DDS in Little Shop of Horrors) whose too-perfect life is upended when he flips for a junkie femme fatale patient (Helena Bonham Carter). Before the audience can say "spit," he's framed for murder and on the run. This over-written film never really gets off the ground because first-time writer-director David Atkins fails to sell prosaic, affluent, middle-aged Martin's unexplored and unexplained desires--the movie slogs forward without any emotional credibility through an increasingly far-fetched series of p(l)otholes, sporting truly twisted twists and a suspension-of-disbelief conclusion, before appending an insultingly hackneyed and sunshiny epilogue. In fact, there's just so much wrong with Novocaine that it hurts like a root canal to see such talented actors wasted in it. Not recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a 10-minute "making of," a 10-minute mini-doc on forensic dentistry, director's commentary, and deleted scenes.] (R. Blackwelder)