Novocaine (in theaters)

“Novocaine” doesn’t really satisfy as an action movie, but it’s great if you’re looking for a really violent romantic comedy.

Though it does a terrible job portraying the medical condition that serves as the movie’s hook, it’s hard to get too mad at it. Jack Quaid gives the main character an overwhelming likability that pervades the rest of the movie, an oddball sweetness that isn’t dimmed by the violence. It also keeps the often dark humor funny instead of bleak, and lets the emotional moments really shine. Though it also takes some of the punch out of the action scenes, it’s a relatively small price to pay.

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Quaid plays Nathan Caine, a mild-mannered bank employee with a medical condition that makes him incapable of feeling pain. Worry keeps him from risking anything in his life, but when the girl he likes gets kidnapped he goes after her himself. He doesn’t know how to fight, but when you can’t feel pain it opens up a lot of options.

Quaid is perfectly capable of playing a creep, as he just recently proved in this year’s “Companion,” but here he channels every bit of Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan’s romcom charm. Caine is a sweet, hapless nerd, whether he’s trying solid food for the first time or trying to break into a bad guy’s house. When he does get violent, you can feel how desperately he’s trying to save the woman he loves.

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Luckily, the movie is smart enough to make sure we’re invested. The first chunk of the movie is dedicated solely to the romance, with Amber Midthunder doing an excellent job as his love interest Sherry. Attentive viewers might be left with some questions from this section, but a mid-film plot twist makes everything make perfect sense.

Yes, there’s a lot more blood splatter than your average romcom. But that just keeps things interesting.

Grade: Three stars

The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie (in theaters)

Looney Tunes are back, baby.

“The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie” is by far the best full-length Looney Tunes movie ever released. (“Coyote vs. Acme,” we hardly knew you.) The classic duo of Daffy Duck and Porky Pig shine in the appropriately madcap adventure, which balances silliness and heart the way their best adventures do. The animation is beautiful, the jokes are creative, and nothing feels cheap. If you’re a Looney Tunes fan, this is the movie you’ve been waiting for.

The movie starts with a farmer finding Daffy and Porky as babies, adopting them both and surviving their wacky childhoods. When he leaves the story, an adult Porky and Daffy have to go through several adventures to try and save their family home. In the middle of all this, they stumble across an alien invasion and have to save the world from gum-chewing zombies as well.

“The Day the Earth Blew Up” is a great mix of both old and new Looney Tunes, bringing back the characters’ early zaniness but still having plenty of heart. Both Daffy and Porky have the personalities and visual styles they did in old cartoons (Daffy is no longer perpetual second fiddle to Bugs Bunny) but their relationship is far sweeter. They drive each other crazy, but they also clearly care about each other.

You’ll end up caring about them just as much. Whether you’ve loved these characters for years or are meeting them for the first time, “The Day the Earth Blew Up” makes it clear there’s still plenty of life left in the Looney Tunes.

Grade: Three stars

Jenniffer Wardell is an award-winning movie critic and member of the Denver Film Critics Society. Find her on Twitter at @wardellwriter or drop her a line at themovieguruslc@gmail.com.