Why is “Novocaine” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “strong bloody violence, grisly images, and language throughout.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene, kissing and flirting, partial nudity, several people killed by gunfire, many injuries caused by knives, arrows and guns, a man’s hand is badly burned by frying oil, a couple of car chases end in crashes, many fights, discussions of a person not able to feel pain and the dangers of the condition, several arguments and nearly 60 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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A mild mannered bank assistant manager (Jack Quaid) with a genetic disorder that renders him unable to feel pain, finds himself on a quest to save the woman he loves (Amber Midthunder) after she is taken hostage during a deadly bank robbery. Also with Ray Nicholson, Jacob Batalon, Betty Gabriel, Matt Walsh, Conrad Kemp, Evan Hengst, Craig Jackson and Lou Beatty Jr.. Directed by Dan Berk & Robert Olsen. [Running Time: 1:50]

Novocaine SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A woman straddles a man’s lap and kisses him; she asks him if he can feel that as she thrusts briefly, she opens her shirt and we see her bralette, cleavage and bare abdomen (we see cutting scars on her abdomen). A man wakes up in bed shirtless and smiles when he finds a note from a woman on his nightstand (sex is implied). A man and a woman kiss in a prison visitation room and a guard tells them to stop, saying that this is not a conjugal visit. A woman caresses a man’s knee tenderly.
► A woman asks a man to go to an art exhibit. A woman asks a man to lunch and he eventually accepts. A man admires a woman when she comes into a room and seems smitten.
► A woman opens a man’s shirt to reveal his bare chest, abdomen and a large tattoo. A woman wears a low-cut dress that reveals cleavage. A picture in an art exhibit shows a woman wearing a deeply cut top that reveals cleavage and bare abdomen; another picture shows a man wearing a loose-fitting wrap around his waist and we see his bare chest and abdomen. A man’s pants are seen around his ankles when another man bandages wounds on his thighs.

Novocaine VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – Three men dressed in Santa Claus suits enter a bank and shoot into the ceiling demanding the combination to a vault and threatening people with guns; one man is held at gunpoint, punched and beaten with a gun before being shot (we see blood pool on the floor and hole in his forehead), a woman is struck in the face and another man is struck a few times and falls to the floor unconscious. Men with guns exit a bank with a hostage and shoot many armed police officers (they fall to the ground and we see one with blood pouring from a bullet wound).
► A man steals a police cruiser and an officer’s gun and chases bank robbers that shoot at him; he crashes the car into construction equipment blocking a road and chases a robber on foot into an alley where they fight and one man shoots at the other, they go into a restaurant kitchen where they continue to fight with one man touching a scalding frying pan, one man throwing food and vegetables at the other, one man reaching into fry oil to retrieve a gun (we see his badly burned flesh), one man is thrown around and slammed onto counters and against refrigerators, one man throws a knife at the other and it bounces off a protective vest he is wearing, and one man is shot in the head splattering blood on the ceiling (he falls back dead, blood pools under his head on the floor, the other man vomits on the floor and we see goo).
► Two men argue and fight, one man is punched several times, another man holds a large knife and when he falls later his is stabbed in the side by the knife and he pulls it out yelling, the other man hits him several times using a mannequin arm, he is thrown into a glass wall and the glass shatters, and he presses his fists into the shards of glass and uses them to hit the other man in the face and eyes blinding him (we see a lot of blood and glass shards in the one man’s hands and the other man’s face and eyes). A man stabs another man through the chin with the exposed bone from his broken arm; we see the bone inside the other man’s mouth and he falls dead.
► A man speeds through streets in an ambulance and a woman chases him swerving through streets; a man in the back of the ambulance uses a shock paddle machine to zap the driver, causing him to crash the ambulance and it tips on its side; the two men fight in the back of the vehicle and then outside where one man holds tubing across the other man’s throat and the other man slashes the man’s leg with a scalpel, they continue fighting with heavy punches landing and one man snaps the other man’s arm (we see the bone exposed and hand dangling at the wrist. A woman shoots at a man, they fight, he slams her into a pile of bricks, she hits him with bricks and scratches his eyes with her nails, she presses a finger into a bloody bullet wound and he tries to strangle her. A man holds a gun to a woman’s head and prepares to shoot her, but he is shot in the back and falls to the floor. A man is shot in the neck and we see blood pour from the wound (we understand that he dies), and a woman is shot in the side (we see blood ooze). The driver of an ambulance is shot and another man is shot while running away.
► Two men fight with punches and strikes with a wood plank; another man throws one man a large knife and it cuts through the man’s hand (we see the blade through the hand and blood) and he uses the blade (still in his hand) to stab the man in the foot; the other man sprays bear mace in the man’s face and he yells and stumbles through the room, falls, and is stabbed through the head with an arrow (blood gushes). A man tortures another man for information twisting an arrow in his leg and he yells, the man uses pliers to remove a few of the man’s nails and we see blood as the nails pull away; the man retrieves a knife and prepares to cut the other man’s eyes out, but he is struck in the back by another person using a plank of wood. A man is punched hard in the face and kicked in the head when he is on the ground, his attacker drags him under a car on a lift, lowers it and the tire presses against his head.
► A man walks through a booby-trapped house and is struck in the back by a spiked ball, shot through the leg with an arrow, snared in a trap and pulled into the air by a rope around his ankle, and another man is struck in the head by something that swings from the ceiling. A man has a bullet wound in his arm and we see him cut it open with a box cutter and pull the bullet out using a pair of pliers (we see blood and hear squishing). A man uses a tattoo gun to tattoo over a swastika on another man’s neck, and then tattoos information on his own hand. A man breaks his own thumb to remove a handcuff (we see it snap and he snaps it back into place after).
► Two men drink shots of ghost pepper sauce and one man gags and coughs. A man spills hot coffee on his hand and we see reddened flesh on his hand. A woman opens her shirt and we see cutting scars on her abdomen. A woman opens a man’s shirt to reveal a large tattoo and he says that he did it himself. A man has a tattoo of a swastika on his neck. A man bandages two wounds on another man’s thighs from an arrow strike (we see some blood). A man on a moped is chased by police, he stops and is held at gunpoint, he’s pushed to the ground and handcuffed. A man plays a video game and we see his character die in flames.
► Two men argue about a third man not returning yet. A man and a woman argue. A man says that he cannot eat solid food because he could bite his tongue off and he would not feel any pain. A man says that he stepped on a nail once and didn’t realize it until his shoe filled with blood. A man approaches another man in a bar and says, “I thought you’d be dead by now.” A man talks to another man about the man’s wife having died and that he may need to foreclose on his business if he can’t pay his loan. A man with a full body cast, stitches on his neck and a skin graft on his hand is seen in the hospital. A woman talks about being in therapy and that people in the group are cutters or have attempted suicide. A “Don’t Tread on Me” flag hangs on a wall. A sign reads, “God created man and guns made them equal.”
► A mounted moose’s head hangs on a wall. A man sets an alarm to remind him to urinate in regular intervals or his “bladder might explode.” A man listens to an inspirational tape while stuck in a traffic jam and drivers around him honk. A man prepares and drinks a green smoothie.

Novocaine LANGUAGE 10

 – About 58 F-words and its derivatives, 31 scatological terms, 6 anatomical terms, 9 mild obscenities, name-calling (Renaissance man, genius, prepper, impossible, idiot, sadistic, bud, loser, Wile E. [F-word deleted] Coyote), exclamations (wow, oh wow, whatever, what do you have to lose, oh come on, what in the Sam hill), 3 religious profanities (GD), 25 religious exclamations (e.g. oh my [F-word deleted] God, Jesus, sweet Jesus, I swear to God, oh God, oh my God, Holy [scatological term deleted], God created man and guns made them equal). | profanity glossary |

Novocaine SUBSTANCE USE

 – A man jabs himself with an EpiPen in a couple of scenes and says that it has adrenaline that will revive him. People drink in a bar, a man drinks from a flask, and a police detective says it’s a bad week to stop drinking (although he admits he hasn’t stopped drinking).

Novocaine DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Genetic disorders, confidence, foster care, bullying.

Novocaine MESSAGE

 – Fighting for someone you love is worth it.