The Automatik

Be true to your teeth or they will be false…to you.

I doubt there is a working actor today who could say he has played a crazy dentist more than once in his career, except Corbin Bernsen and Steve Martin. Novocaine is a wonderful black comedy that skewers the dental profession while expanding the oeuvre of film noir. Martin’s portrayal of the typical noir anti-hero (throwing it all away for really good sex with a really bad gal) is practically perfect, even down to the emotionless voice-overs and flashback sequences. Laura Dern is unrecognizable as a permanently chirpy and aerobicized dental hygienist. The always-lovely Helena Bonham Carter continues her Marla Singer (Fight Club) streak here as the unlikely seductress. Even resident psycho actor Elias Koteas makes an appearance as the brother (there’s ALWAYS a brother). Keep your eyes peeled for “Lance Phelps,” too. You’ll be pleasantly surprised and highly amused.
This is the kind of film David Lynch could make if he didn’t consistently squander his talent with non-sequitur excess. It’s sick and funny and even creepy. Closeups of teeth are creepy. X-rays of people eating are creepy. Oral surgery is creepy. The fascist stylings of dental offices are so obvious, I can’t believe I haven’t noticed them before. The gloves, the clear plastic face shields, and the ergonomically designed chairs are all here in their antiseptic horror. I’ve often wondered how dentists and other dental employees can stand sitting around all day looking into people’s open mouths, with their bad breath and fleshy pink tongues. And I think this is precisely what drives Dr. Frank Sangster into temporary insanity.

Despite the genre conventions of film noir though, Novocaine has a nice (and gruesome) twist and a pretty snappy ending. And this is probably the only other movie besides Germany, Pale Mother that exists which features someone willingly losing all their teeth.