Novocaine
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 14, 2025 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 38 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
17
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinThom ErnstMar 11, 2025
A raucous, non-stop, full-throttle slapstick comedy that makes an episode of The Three Stooges seem like a production of Swan Lake. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMar 17, 2025
Directors Dan Berk and Robert Olsen take this dumb-clever, fake-movie-science idea and run with it as hard and as fast as they can in one straight direction, using Nate’s condition as an excuse for pure, unchecked mayhem. Read full review
80
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiMar 8, 2025
Jack Quaid was born for a role like this. The actor’s unassuming cheerfulness provides the perfect comedic counterpoint to the film’s increasingly absurd gross-out action gags. Read full review
80
LooperAudrey FoxMar 8, 2025
Novocaine is packed full of inventive action set pieces that are alternately gruesome, goofy, and sometimes even both at once. It may not be for everyone, but it kind of feels like the gold standard for this very specific brand of action comedy. Read full review
80
IGNLena WilsonMar 8, 2025
Novocaine offers more depth than its gimmicky “man who feels no pain” premise may lead you to believe. This movie breathes new life into old ideas, with an original hero buoyed by the charm of Jack Quaid and a heroine who ably beats the damsel-in-distress allegations. Novocaine is smart, but not so self-aware that it’s likely to alienate anybody; sharp, but not without feeling. Read full review
80
SlashfilmBill BriaMar 8, 2025
Novocaine is a delightful and surprisingly relatable hoot. If too many over-stylized, gleefully immature action movies have been a particular pain in your ass lately, then consider Novocaine your analgesic. Read full review
80
ColliderJeff EwingMar 8, 2025
It’s a gory, bonkers action-comedy premise anchored by a set of strong performances and a surprisingly poignant meet-cute, making for a wildly memorable action outing. Read full review
80
Screen RantRachel LaBonteMar 8, 2025
Between the humor and Quaid's performance, there's so much fun to be had here that it's easy to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckMar 8, 2025
The numerous fight scenes, which often lapse into extreme gore, are as amusing as they are exciting. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comPeyton RobinsonMar 14, 2025
Berk and Olsen accomplish a formidable action-comedy, one that puts their horror roots in neon lights and sense of humor on equal display. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMark MeszorosMar 13, 2025
Novocaine wins with violence and personality. It’s simply fun to hang out with Nate. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithMar 14, 2025
The almost nonstop fighting and Mr. Quaid’s low-key charm are enough to make the movie a serviceable action offering. Moreover, the script, though focused on wacky spasms of violence, has a strong human element at its core. Read full review
70
We Got This CoveredDemi PhillipsMar 13, 2025
Jack Quaid proves yet again that there's always room for a new kind of hero. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBrandon YuMar 13, 2025
The violent comedy works most of all through Quaid, who is natural and nimble in embodying the funny paradox of a nebbishy hero who just won’t go down. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzMar 11, 2025
Mostly “Novocaine” is just fun. And mostly, that’s enough. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperMar 12, 2025
Despite the stylish direction from the duo of Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and winning performances by Jack Quaid and Amber Midthunder, “Novocaine” sputters to the finish line. Read full review
63
The Associated PressLindsey BahrMar 12, 2025
Novocaine also kind of overstays its welcome, stretching on too long with too many endings. Still, it’s an easy, if not entirely painless, watch. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliMar 11, 2025
As it is, this is a painless experience but lacks the qualities to make it a true pleasure. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineRocco T. ThompsonMar 8, 2025
We’re used to heroes who can take a licking and keep on ticking, but Novocaine takes action-movie invulnerability to brutal comic extremes. Read full review
60
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Radheyan SimonpillaiMay 9, 2025
It helps that Quaid is so good at landing every punchline, if not punch. His Nathan may not have any sense of pain, but Quaid gives him a great sense of humour. Read full review
60
Time OutWhelan BarzeyMar 26, 2025
‘Painful to watch’ isn’t often a term of praise, but this action-comedy about a man who loses the ability to feel physical discomfort channels its unusual, nerve-numbing premise into a fun and oddly romantic ride. Read full review
60
EmpireJohn NugentMar 25, 2025
A largely painless viewing experience — but it could have been far more pleasurable. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerMar 12, 2025
Novocaine belongs to the same cinemasochistic tradition as movies like Evil Dead II and Crank, where the audience is invited to derive twisted pleasure from watching a heroic leading man get the crap beaten out of him in inventive ways. It’s not as good as those movies. But on its own terms, it’s painless enough. Pleasurable even. Read full review
60
VarietyPeter DebrugeMar 9, 2025
In Novocaine, it’s the romance that keeps us going, more than whatever sadistic delight the co-directors take in poking Nathan full of holes, treating him like some kind of Looney Tunes character. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubMatt SchimkowitzMar 12, 2025
Despite the high concept, Novocaine feels as risk-averse as its protagonist, afraid to go full-on action-comedy or veer hard into torture porn. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandMar 8, 2025
The film makes a great case for Quaid as action hero, Midthunder as romantic charmer, and Berk and Olson as being ready to step out of their horror-centric background. Read full review
55
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMar 13, 2025
In trying to have it both ways, it succeeds in neither, in the process stranding its charming leading man in a saga that needed to be either goofier or more gruesome. Read full review
55
Paste MagazineJesse HassengerMar 12, 2025
Novocaine starts with a premise that is Crank-like in its absurdity, deepens it with feeling, and then rams full speed ahead through a litany of stupidities. Read full review
55
The Film VerdictAlonso DuraldeMar 8, 2025
At nearly every juncture, the filmmakers display a lack of nerve, exercising restraint precisely when restraint is anathema to their goals. They’re cautious rather than crazed. Read full review
50
Little White LiesHannah StrongApr 1, 2025
Beyond the creative stunt choreography, Novocaine doesn’t leave much of an impression full stop, and its saccharine ending relegates it to a category of films with intriguing premises that end up ultimately forgettable. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesAmy NicholsonMar 14, 2025
The unwieldy action rom-com Novocaine makes a convincing argument that its lead, Jack Quaid, can do it all: woo the girl, shoot the goon and tickle the audience. The movie itself has a harder time, screwing its three genres together so awkwardly that it tends to limp. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 12, 2025
By the end of Novocaine, it’s as if the filmmakers — who have talent, and who are now off and running in a commercial sense — forgot how their movie started: with Quaid and Midthunder getting the material and the screen time needed to hook an audience’s interest, before the jocular sadism commenced in earnest. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonMar 11, 2025
Novocaine is a numbing experience that’s best seen on cable at 3 a.m., preferably after you’ve numbed yourself with the vice of your choice. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonMar 10, 2025
There is a sweet romantic comedy action that sometimes emerges in this bone crunching, bloody spectacle, but only occasionally does it surface. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeyApr 11, 2025
Novocaine may not be based on any pre-existing IP – no comic book or game, say. But that’s not much to crow about, because few flights of the imagination have lately felt lower in altitude. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeMar 12, 2025
There’s also not really enough fun here, the repetitive nature of the fight scenes – quip, laugh, injury, wince – growing tired fast. Read full review
38
Movie NationRoger MooreMar 14, 2025
Thrillers live on tension and rising suspense. This one discards suspense too early. And action comedies are, by design, fast and furious. This one, while serving up some serioulsy gory action and splatter film laughs, can’t get out of its own way. Read full review
37
Washington PostJen YamatoMar 12, 2025
Even with a gimmick engineered to orchestrate endless bursts of Looney Tunes-style hyperviolence, “Novocaine” lives up to its name, all right — a tedious action-comedy so numbingly bland, you feel the pain of its 110-minute run time even as its protagonist can’t feel a thing. Read full review
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