Steve Martin is my idol. He's smart, funny, cultured. It's not like I want to be in a relationship with him or anything (though I do think it's cool that he dated feminist photographer Cindy Sherman), but if he ever wanted to adopt me, I would sit my parents down for a long talk.
It's not just movies. Mr. Martin writes some of the best Shouts and Murmurs for The New Yorker this side of Jack Handey. \Shopgirl"" was a nice, quick read. I agree that ""The Downer Channel"" had a rough start, but there was the seed of something special there that should have been given a chance. And there's a reason for a ""Best of Steve Martin"" ""Saturday Night Live"" special.
The thing about Steve Martin is that all the different things he writes or acts in are, at best, genius and, at worst, still pretty damn solid. I'm a firm believer in solid films. It is all entertainment, after all. I'm too opposed to change in life to see a life-changing movie every week.
There are his great films: ""The Jerk,"" ""Planes, Trains and Automobiles,"" ""L.A. Story."" There are his successful solid movies: ""All of Me,"" ""Parenthood,"" ""My Blue Heaven."" There are great movies that he guests in: ""The Muppet Movie,"" ""Little Shop of Horrors,"" ""The Spanish Prisoner,"" ""Joe Gould's Secret."" And there are the solid films that few watch: ""Pennies from Heaven,"" ""Mixed Nuts,"" ""A Simple Twist of Fate.""
His latest film, ""Novocaine,"" falls into that last category. It's not so much a disappointment as it is just all right. I can see why he chose it, but I also wonder why it wasn't better.
It is a play on film noir, in which Martin plays a dentist. He falls for his patient, played by Helena Bonham Carter, even though he knows she is scamming him for drugs. Director David Atkins penned the story of a tiny lie as it snowballs into a murder case and beyond.
Despite its high potential as a dark comedy, ""Novocaine"" never really breaks out of simply being solid. Martin seems honest in his portrayal of a man just wanting to escape his scheduled life and move to a ch??teau in France. But that's just a move from dull to dull. The destructive conflict in between is the interesting part, and that's not all that interesting. Its plot twists aren't that special in a genre based on plot twists.
The comedy is smart, but almost too subtle to even be considered comedy. Laura Dern, playing Martin's dental hygienist fianc??e, hams it up for the only big laughs. But are laughs from a hammed-up performance worth it?
I don't mean to sound overly critical. ""Novocaine"" was still a fine movie. It's just hard not to have high expectations for your idol. It's also hard to write a review of a mediocre film, when you hope someday to shake the hand of its star and tell him he's inspired you.
Suggestions in looking for other Steve Martin films: Please go to the Internet Movie Data Base, www.imdb.com, look up Steve Martin's filmography and start watching.
