Don't listen to the negative reviews

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

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.

You could see it and enjoy it for no other reason than to watch Kevin Bacon as an actor preparing for a role. The man knows how to play parody. Even in a small (and uncredited) appearance he does amazing things.The rest of the movie is not bad, but predictable and unexciting. Steve Martin does a good job taking on a different kind of comedic role, less broad, and with a darker edge, but the movie doesn't support him. It takes itself too seriously to really laugh at, and it's too silly to take it seriously.Without giving anything away, the initial plot devices that get the story moving do not seem motivated by the characters. In particular, Steve Martin's character's actions early on are not behaviors I can really believe, but once it's done, the plot is underway, and you have no choice but to accept it or immediately take the movie out of the machine and return it to the video store.Scott Caan fans will also appreciate his presence. He was good.Bacon rules!

Not much else to say. Carter is miscast and totally unbelievable as a "skank" drug addict with whom Martin falls in love. There is absolutely no chemistry between them. The rest of the movie is similarly misguided and empty-headed. Dern and Koteas basically sleep-walk through their roles (except for an over-the-top outburst by Dern at the climax of the movie.) I was quite surprised to discover that there is a "Special Edition" of the DVD, since the plain, old movie does not seem worth making into anything special. As I feared, the additional material on the DVD (including the deleted scenes) adds nothing to your enjoyment of the film. Not funny and definitely not worth renting. Go rent a real film noir instead.

Just seen by me on cable,and having read in the film mag that Steve Martin led the cast,I expected a funny film, or at the least, an interesting one.I was wrong. And all this picture does is suggest that some of the people who control feature films are a bunch of selfish, perverse and greedy egotists.Apart from 'Royal Tenenbaums' which for me is one of the unfunniest movies of all time, "Novacaine" comes very close to out-ranking it.The plot: Dentist has a female drug addict patient whom he fancies, leading to a whole series of bizarre and ridiculous events, mainly because of her addiction.Not only is the female lead totally mis-cast,most sane people would not, nor could not, in the context of the way this film is made, find anything remotely funny about drug addiction, quite apart from the nonsensical killings and unnecessary violence in this picture.I got the impression that whoever wrote and directed this film has no idea whether to create a comedy or a drama, as from my perspective it was neither........ just a total mess; looking to me like it was made up as it went along, wholly uneven,lacking any merit, humour or sense, and the actors much of the time suggest they are ad-libbing with mostly half-hearted performances. 1 out of 10.