At the Movies: 'Novocaine'

By Sheila Norman-Culp
Associated Press Writer

"Novocaine," an Artisan Entertainment release, is rated R for sexually explicit scenes and some barroom violence. Running time: 95 minutes.

When it's not the one you want.

Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is the classic, overly controlled dentist in "Novocaine," a wry, often hilarious black comedy about a man who has no idea how deeply he's yearning for change until the seductive, mysterious Susan (Helena Bonham Carter) sashays into his life.

"I didn't belong here, with the schedules and cavities and appointments," he muses between patients. "I was supposed to be somewhere else."

Frank has his life in order — a lovely home, a thriving dental practice, a curvaceous hygienist (Laura Dern) for a fiancee. What more could a man ask for?

Oh, maybe passion, spontaneity, the little surprises that give life meaning.

So Frank wants change — and gets it. As his attraction to Susan morphs into an obsession, he cannot stop himself from being drawn into her searing flame. He begins lying to police and to his fiancee, even when it's clear this tempestuous patient may be cleaning out his drug supply.

"Lying is a lot like tooth decay," he notes. "One small lie and everything unravels from there."

Is Susan a waifish lost soul, dominated by her violent, drug-abusing brother? Or is she a cunning sexual predator, setting her sights on a wealthy, naive dentist with a cupboard full of narcotics?

When the bodies begin turning up, Frank is the main suspect — and the race to find out whodunit is on.

Written and directed by David Atkins, "Novocaine" zeros in on the funny bone with the accuracy of a well-placed needle. Murder is serious stuff, but giggles abound with Martin, even when he plays his uptight dentist straight up.

When threatened, Frank grabs a large bronzed tooth in self-defense. He hides under a bed, only to have a fat cop sit down. He finds all sorts of ways to distract an elderly patient while trying to retrieve a pair of red panties.

Kevin Bacon also has a sidesplitting cameo as a self-obsessed actor trying to "get into character" as a police detective. "Did you sleep with her?" he asks the dentist, who in fact did.

Stylishly clever X-ray shots match action scenes from the movie with dental metaphors, to great effect.

"Just like a cavity, the lies were deepening and the rot is spreading," Frank observes as his world caves in around him. The camera highlights a skeleton's jaw and fast-forwards to accelerate the decay.

Dern is deliciously repressed as a dental hygienist with very odd stuffed animals. Elias Koteas turns in a menacing performance as Frank's wayward brother Harlan. But the camera belongs to Bonham Carter, so perfectly ragged in her druggy, grifter chic. With a thin film of sweat on her pale brow, day-old makeup and a chronic inability to tell the truth, she makes sure that Susan is not a sympathetic character.

That makes Frank's choice in women even more shocking, but fits perfectly with the movie's theme: Who knows what lurks beneath the surface?