I always love to be able to use the term "hidden gem" in my reviews, since those are the kind of movies I seek out most, and this Steve Martin vehicle totally qualifies. The plot is original. The ending is surprising. Steve Martin plays his character perfectly. I don't dislike Steve Martin, but this is the most I've ever liked him in a movie, since he usually can't seem to stop his "acting" from going too far over-the-top. I don't want to give anything about this unique film away, so I'll only say that this is simply a terrific mildly-black comedy, and I confidently rate it a solid ten.

A very, very fun little film. It's got a pretty simple noir story but it executes it so flawlessly. It's pretty quick paced, so you never lose interest, but it isn't quick enough to where it loses the audience. I've always enjoyed Steve Martin's comedic talents, but it was great to see him in a much more mellow role. Helena Bonham Carter was absolutely amazing, as always. It's pretty hard to make me fall in love with a drug addict, but she did exactly that. Easily the most, well only, adorable drug addict I've ever seen. Laura Dern is, of course, also great. In what I've come to expect from her, she becomes so immersed into her character that you don't even realize she's acting. Elias Koteas was very good as well. I also really loved the twist. It had a great, mysterious build up to it throughout the film, and was completely unpredictable. One of the rare times that I was genuinely shocked by a twist in a mystery. But, for some odd reason, they felt the need to completely spoon-feed you how everything happened...about 15 minutes after you know everything that happened. My only other complaint were the very gimmicky x-ray shots used throughout. They felt extremely unnecessary and really drew me out of the film. Other than those two things though, I really loved it. Just remarkably fun and easy to watch.

Steve Martin stars in an usual kind of movie and the expectations are failure, but this is not true and the movie is great. The story follows a dentist getting in deep troubles with a whore while he is married.Well, the movie has many merits. It has great thrills, great suspense moments and of course black humor which is something I liked a lot and I believe Novocaine wouldn't have been the same movie without it. It's just Martin and you connect him with humor and laughs and I really started respecting him as a comedian after watching his classic roles in The Jerk and The Lonely Guy. His acting is superb while his role is casual. More of those characters that are on the line between positive and negative, but after all interesting for the audience.The movie itself as I said is indeed something to remember and something fresh, mostly cause of the successful mixture between most entertain kind of movie genres and of course every day life drama scenes which are of course garbage, but the movie is not supposed to be a drama after all and this is why I close my eyes for the failed try of dramatic influence over the viewer.Rating:8/10

I seem to be part of the minority that liked this movie. Well, actually I just liked Elias Koteas and Kevin Bacon. The rest of the film did sort of frustrate me because it seemed like Steve Martin's problems were just so preventable, and he kept doing things to make the situation worse. But that aside, this film is worth renting just to see Elias Koteas sticking that camera thing down his pants. Hee hee. And Kevin Bacon is just laugh-out-loud funny; he's perfect for this part. I thought it was nice to see Steve Martin doing something not so family-friendly