Novocaine is a 2001 film written and directed by David Atkins and starring Steve Martin, Laura Dern, Helena Bonham Carter, Lynne Thigpen and Elias Koteas.
The film was shot in the Chicago, Illinois area, during a limited 32-day schedule. The film received extra publicity during production and as its release approached because of an off-the-screen romance between Martin and Carter. According to the director:
Dr. Frank Sangster (Steve Martin) is a straight-laced dentist who because of one innocent lie, finds his tidy, prosperous life transformed into a comic quagmire of illicit sex, illegal drugs and inexplicable murder in this brilliantly offbeat, bitingly comedic film! Written by Thomas Nudi
