5 Best Movies To Watch Before Novocaine, Jack Quaid’s New Action Movie

Jack Quaid’s upcoming action movie Novocaine releases soon, and there are some clever fusions of action and comedy that are worth checking out for those who want a taste of what to expect. As seen in Novocaine’s official trailer, the movie follows Jack Quaid as a protagonist who uses his rare inability to experience physical pain as an advantage in hunting down the villains endangering his girlfriend.

Out of all the upcoming movies in 2025, Novocaine is hard to rank in terms of general anticipation. The movie should definitely appeal to action fans who enjoy more comedic outings such as Nobody and Love Hurts, but action comedy isn’t a genre that’s traditionally delivered quality on a very consistent basis. For those with high hopes for Novocaine, all it takes to get a taste of what to expect is a look at past works by the directors, cast, and production studios behind the movie.

5

Body (2015)

Directed By Dan Berk And Robert Olsen

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Body

NR

Drama

Thriller

Horror

Release Date

January 25, 2015

Runtime

75 minutes

Cast

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  • Headhsot Of Alexandra Turshen

    Alexandra Turshen

    Cali

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    Helen Rogers

    Holly

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    Lauren Molina

    Mel

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    Larry Fessenden

    Arthur

Body, released in 2015, follows three young women whose night takes a perilous turn after they break into an apparently unoccupied mansion. As their actions lead to unforeseen consequences, the trio finds themselves entangled in a series of increasingly dangerous events.

Director

Robert Olsen

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The directorial debut by Novocaine filmmakers Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, Body lacks the comedic elements of Jack Quaid’s upcoming action movie but proves they can craft a compelling thriller. Body combines plot elements of Suicide Kings and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The film follows three girls who accidentally paralyze a man while partying at a house they aren’t supposed to be visiting and who must hide his presence while trying to keep their roles in his paralysis and ultimate death a secret from the police.

Jack Quaid in Companion and Novocaine

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Body received slightly less than middling reviews from critics, but it still showcases a bit of what audiences might expect from Novocaine. The movie puts a strong emphasis on character development rather than twists and thrills alone. This is something the directors will hopefully continue doing if they wish for Jack Quaid’s character to stand out from other action heroes on the basis of more than just his superpower.

4

Lift (2024)

Directed By F. Gary Gray

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Lift

PG-13

Action

Comedy

Crime

Release Date

January 10, 2024

Runtime

107 minutes

Cast

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Lift is a high-stakes action thriller centered on an international heist crew led by Cyrus Whitaker. The team embarks on a daring mission to steal $500 million in gold from a passenger plane flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet. Released on January 10, 2024.

Director

F. Gary Gray

Writers

Daniel Kunka

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A heist comedy by the same director as Friday, Straight Outta Compton, and The Fate of the Furious, Netflix movie Lift features Novocaine’s Jacob Batalon in an ensemble cast that also includes Kevin Hart, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Billy Magnussen. The movie’s critical reception suffered a bit from a middle act that feels more like an episode of Leverage than a $100 million movie, but Lift’s intriguing opening heists and closing action scenes deliver much the same quality of comedy and adrenaline-fueled excitement viewers might expect from Novocaine.

Jacob Batalon’s role in Lift is extremely front-loaded, so anyone watching the film specifically for his performance will want to pay the most attention to the movie’s initial heist scenes and the immediate aftermath thereof.

Batalon’s role in Lift is much smaller than the role he likely plays in Novocaine, but he nonetheless showcases the same comedic charm as seen in movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming. Although its critical reviews don’t suggest it becoming anyone’s personal favorite, Lift’s layering of multiple heists at once and its cast’s undeniable charm make it more than suitable for at least a one-time viewing on a rainy day. More importantly, Lift feels tonally very similar to what Novocaine is trying to accomplish.

3

American Ultra (2015)

Directed By Nima Nourizadeh

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American Ultra

R

Action

Comedy

ScreenRant logo

5/10

Release Date

August 19, 2015

Runtime

95 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Bill Pullman

    Bill Pullman

  • Headshot Of Jesse Eisenberg

    Jesse Eisenberg

Released in 2015, American Ultra is an action comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Walter Goggins, Topher Grace, and Connie Britton. The film centers on Mike Howell (Eisenberg), a stoner who discovers he is actually a skilled secret agent for the CIA. American Ultra received mixed reviews upon release and only made a few million dollars at the box office.

Director

Nima Nourizadeh

Writers

Max Landis

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Before Novocaine production company Circle Management + Production rebranded, they worked on movies such as American Ultra under the studio name Circle of Confusion. American Ultra features Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart in what initially seems like a stoner comedy until Eisenberg’s Mike is revealed to be a sleeper secret agent. While the movie appears at first glance similar to Nobody or Love Hurts in its focus on a seemingly normal protagonist with a shocking past, American Ultra more closely resembles Novocaine in the sense of its hero feeling like a fish out of water thrown into a hyper-violent adventure.

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Despite American Ultra’s commercial failure, the movie’s more positive reviews found its mashup of comedy and action effective. Some of those on the fence about the film might be particularly swayed upon learning that Stephen King, whose adaptation The Monkey received critical acclaim this year, is among the film’s more notable fans. It’s a solid premise for a movie, and reflects the action/comedy fusion that’s clearly at the heart of Novacaine.

2

Villains (2019)

Directed By Dan Berk And Robert Olsen

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Villains

R

Horror

Comedy

Drama

Release Date

September 20, 2019

Runtime

90 Minutes

Cast

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Villains is a dark comedy thriller directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen. The film stars Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe as a pair of amateur criminals who break into a suburban home, only to discover a disturbing secret held by the homeowners, played by Jeffrey Donovan and Kyra Sedgwick. This encounter leads to a tense and twisted face-off with chilling consequences.

Director

Dan Berk, Robert Olsen

Writers

Dan Berk, Robert Olsen

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The most well-received film by Novocaine’s directors has been Villains, which largely received praise for its strong leading performances by Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe. Villains effectively blends comedy and suspense in an off-the-wall story of two criminals who find a kidnapped girl while on the lam. They pair risk an easy getaway to save her from her dangerous parents, a pair of antagonists played against type by TV stars Kyra Sedgwick and Jeffrey Donovan.

Films Directed By Dan Berk & Robert Olsen

Year Of Release

Body

2015

Stake Land II

2016

Villains

2019

Significant Other

2022

Novacaine

2025

Although Villains did receive a small handful of less positive reviews for occasional scenes in which its genres felt unbalanced, the movie demonstrates just how much Berk and Olsen have evolved as directors since the release of Body. There’s a clever sense of dark comedy throughout the film, highlighting a more successful genre blend. Assuming that evolution continues with Novocaine, a single viewing of Villains should offer a promising outlook for what the directors’ new action flick has in store for audiences.

1

Logan Lucky (2017)

Directed By Steven Soderbergh

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Logan Lucky

PG-13

Crime

Action

Comedy

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8/10

9/10

Release Date

August 18, 2017

Runtime

118 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Channing Tatum

    Channing Tatum

  • Headshot Of Adam Driver

    Adam Driver

Logan Lucky is a comedy-heist film by Steven Soderbergh, the director behind the Ocean’s Eleven series. The Logans are a blue-collar family from the hills of West Virginia, and their clan has been famous for its bad luck for nearly 90 years. But the conniving Jimmy Logan decides it’s time to turn the family’s luck around, and with a bit of help from his friends, the “Redneck Robbers,” he plans to steal $14 million from the Charlotte Motor Speedway on the busiest race day of the year.

Director

Steven Soderbergh

Writers

Jules Asner

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Steven Soderbergh’s best heist film since Ocean’s Eleven is 2017’s Logan Lucky, which features Novocaine’s Jack Quaid as Daniel Craig’s brother in a star-studded cast including Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Hilary Swank, and Sebastian Stan. Despite his relatively minor role in Logan Lucky’s cast, Jack Quaid more than proves his ability to play a comedic character in a film with high stakes, an ability he’s expected to more fully showcase in Novocaine. Quaid plays one of the conspirators in the heist, a doofus who provides solid comic support.

More than anything, Logan Lucky shines as a film that manages to prove highly enjoyable regardless of the viewer’s particular interest in crime comedies. The movie’s offbeat characters and uniquely crafted heist moments leading up to Logan Lucky’s ending all make for a thrilling and endlessly laugh-inducing ride. If Novocaine can achieve even half of Logan Lucky’s charm, it could easily rise to become one of the best action comedies of the year.

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Novocaine Official Poster

Novocaine

Action

Thriller

ScreenRant logo

8/10

Release Date

March 14, 2025

Runtime

110 Minutes

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Amber Midthunder In The World Premiere Of Shout! Studios `On Sacred Ground`

    Amber Midthunder

  • Headshot Of Jack Quaid In The 2024 Astra TV Awards

    Jack Quaid

Jack Quaid stars as Nathan Caine, a bank executive with congenital insensitivity to pain. When his girlfriend is kidnapped during a bank robbery, his rare condition becomes his greatest asset in a daring rescue mission.

Director

Dan Berk, Robert Olsen

Writers

Lars Jacobson

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