Novocaine (film)
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| Novocaine | |
|---|---|
 Novocaine film poster |
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| Directed by | David Atkins |
| Produced by | Paul Mones, Daniel M. Rosenberg |
| Written by | David Atkins, Paul Felopulos |
| Starring | Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, Laura Dern |
| Distributed by | Artisan Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | 8 September 2001 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ~ US$6,000,000 |
| IMDb profile | |
Novocaine is a 2001 film written and directed by David Atkins and starring Steve Martin, Laura Dern, Helena Bonham Carter, Lynne Thigpen and Elias Koteas.
The film was shot in the Chicago, Illinois area, during a limited 32-day schedule. The film received extra publicity during production and as its release approached because of an off-the-screen romance between Martin and Carter. According to the director:
- "It helped the film. The positive energy you feel on the screen between the two of them was nicely enhanced by what was going on off the screen."
- Tagline: Crime is not only done by criminals.
[edit] Synopsis
The movie starts out fairly weird with shots of "jaws in action" (talking, eating etc.). Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is a prosperous dentist with a loving hygenist-fianceé, Jean (Laura Dern). After an exhibit of his life running smoothly, Susan Ivey (Helena Bonham Carter) shows up with a tooth in need of a root canal. He gives her some Ibuprofen for the pain but she claims that she is allergic. She asks for a prescription for the addictive pain-killer, Demerol and surprisingly, she gets a prescription for 5 tablets and an appointment for 7:30 A.M.
Later in the day, a pharmacist calls Dr. Sangster and asks him to verify if he had prescribed Demerol for Susan Ivey (not mentioning the amount). After Susan left the pharmacist, he said that "50 tabs is way over the limit." He doesn't tell the pharmacist that she changed the amount.
The next day, Susan arrives for her appointment at 7:30 P.M. and seduces the doctor into getting drunk and having sex with her.
Apparently, some time during the night, Susan steals all of Dr. Sangster's narcotics because the next day, there is a man at the office from the Drug Enforcement Agency talking about an 18 year old who drove a car off a cliff under the influence of Dr. Sangster's bottle of cocaine hydrochloride. The man from the DEA wants to see Frank's narcotics supply, but knowing they had none left, he told them that they had been used up. The man from the DEA then wants to see the empty containers in 3 days or Dr. Sangster would get arrested.
That night he goes over to Susan's house and asks for the empty containers where he said he would call the police if he didn't get the containers. He is once again seduced into having sex with her.
The next day at the office, there is Susan's brother, Duane Ivey (Scott Caan) having a violent scene, saying: "Stay the fuck away from my sister" and "I don't appreciate your threats". Duane ends the conversation with, "If I ever see you again, I swear to god I will make you pay."
That night, he goes to Susan's hotel room and sees someone in the bed and starts to talk to the nameless person. After the person wakes up, he sees that it is Duane who tries to strangle him. Dr. Sangster takes his scissors off of Duane's desk and stabs him in the hand. When Frank arrives home with Jean, he sees Duane dead on the floor. After the police arrive and depart, Frank tells Jean about the whole ordeal.
Awhile later, Frank is arrested for the murder of Duane Ivey because of his teeth marks that Jean put there after Jean killed Duane. After he breaks free, all of Chicago is on the look out for him. He comes to his office in the night and found out that Jean killed his brother who was lying on the dentist chair. He realized that he had to start over. He pulls out his dead brothers teeth, then pulls out his teeth and puts them into a mould. He super-glues the mould into his brother's mouth and starts a fire. He and Susan, now friends, go to France to live happily ever after in a little cottage on the country side.
Meanwhile, everybody thinks Frank Sangster is dead because the teeth were found in the fire and the fire-proof camera caught Jean on tape shooting Harlan (who everybody thinks is Frank) in the head. She ends up going to prison for life.
[edit] External links and references
- Novocaine at the Internet Movie Database
- Tooth and nail, a December 2001 story and interview with the director
