Search - Novocaine on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Brief Nudity, Not For Children, Adult Humor, Profanity, Substance Abuse, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 2001 DVD Release: 04/23/2002 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 35 mins Studio: Live/Artisan Total Copies: 38 Genres: Comedy Drama, Black Comedy, Crime Comedy

In this darkly comic film noir from writer/director David Atkins, Steve Martin revisits dentistry -- an occupation he'd explored 15 years prior, in the camp musical Little Shop of Horrors. Novocaine casts Martin as a much more mild-mannered D.D.S., Dr. Frank Sangster. Engaged to a prim and delicate hygienist, Jean (Laura Dern), Sangster leads a placid, upper-middle class existence, save for the occasional visit from his deadbeat artist brother Harlan (Elias Koteas). But Sangster finds his life turned inside out from the moment the alluring Susan (Helena Bonham Carter) plops down in his reclining vinyl chair: Complaining about her molars, she's really more interested in the refrigerator of narcotics the good dentist keeps on hand for his patients in pain. Once they manage to get Sangster's guard down, Susan and her brother (Scott Caan) rob him blind -- and worse yet, frame him for the theft. When a dead body turns up in Sangster's sleek suburban home, he finds that clearing his name will be a difficult proposition indeed. Novocaine marks the directorial debut of screenwriter Atkins, who first made his mark with the script for Emir Kusturica's oddball cult favorite Arizona Dream (1993). ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Steve Martin - Dr. Frank Sangster
Helena Bonham Carter
Laura Dern - Jean Noble
Scott Caan - Duane

Steve Martin stars in the funny film noir dental thriller Novocaine. Artisan has put forth considerable effort on this 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. Featuring bright colors and even black levels, this transfer looks very well rendered with only the slightest amount of edge enhancement marring the image. The audio is featured in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround in English. This is an excellent soundtrack sporting lots of directional effects and some funky music by Danny Elfman and Steve Bartek. Also included on this disc are subtitles in English and French. This is a very nice edition of Novocaine that includes a vast array of special features, starting with a commentary track by director David Atkins. Atkins has a working knowledge of the production and story and throws out many entertaining anecdotes about the film. Two features -- "Getting the Shot" and "Bitten" -- give the viewer a working knowledge of both the film's production and dental forensics. "Bitten" is an especially neat featurette that includes interviews with dental forensic specialists discussing how to snatch dental records off of a mutilated corpse. "Getting the Shot" is a by-the-numbers eight-miunte promo spot for the film. Finally there are five rather uninteresting deleted scenes, two theatrical trailers for the film, "The Music of Novocaine" music sampler, some thin production notes, bonus trailers for Artisan movies, and some information on the film's cast and crew. ~ Patrick Naugle, All Movie Guide