neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Novocaine
	David Atkins Steve Martin, Laura Dern, Helena Bonham Carter, Scott Caan, Kevin Bacon 2001		Icon-of-wackiness Steve Martin ("Bowfinger") plays it straighter than usual in this noir-ish, chaotic dark comedy, even if his character — successful, emotionally repressed dentist Frank Sangster — spends most of the film getting bent by circumstance, temptation and his own newly unleashed appetites. Comfortably numb in their suburban Midwest enclave, Frank and his clean-freak dental-hygienist fiancee (Laura Dern of "Wild at Heart") get their uneventful lives rattled when a sexy new patient, played by Helena Bonham Carter ("Planet of the Apes"), seduces the dentist during an after-hours appointment. The wanton woman has an agenda — and a hotheaded brother (Scott Caan) who is volatile to the point of dangerous psychosis. Before long, Frank is embroiled in a drug scam that will jeopardize his career, marriage plans and health. The cast, especially Carter, is up to first-time writer/director David Atkins' clutter of tones. Still, the whole deal doesn't quite congeal. With Kevin Bacon in a jocular cameo role.