Novocaine (2025) review

Born with a rare nervous system disorder (CIPA) that renders him unable to feel physical pain, assistant bank manager Nathan Caine (Jack Quaid) takes it upon himself to chase down robbers dressed up like Santa Claus - led by Simon Greenly (Ray Nicholson) - who escape with a lot of cash and take Nathan's "girlfriend" and teller Sherry (Amber Midthunder) as their hostage.  The setup is a little amusing at first, with Nathan afraid to eat solid foods and fastening tennis balls on the edges of his furniture, but the novelty of it wears thin around half-way through when it just becomes an exercise in non-stop masochism, as if he's a human Bobo doll: he's slammed in the back by a mace, an arrow is shot into his leg, his fingernails are ripped out, his arm is snapped in half, and so on.  The graphic nature of it tries to cover up the improbable occurrences written into the script ("help" always shows up right on time), although Nathan and Sherry being reacquainted after all that's happened is the biggest stretch of the imagination: sure you betrayed me and I killed your brother ... let's have pie!