The man who coined the phrase “Life is pain” never met Nathan Caine. Nate is afflicted with an extremely rare genetic disorder called “congenital insensitivity to pain analgesia” that makes him incapable of feeling any sort of pain.

Quaid's leading role in Novocaine feels like a natural continuation of these genre-bent everymen. He plays Nathan Caine, a mild-mannered assistant bank manager who has congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis (CIPA), a genetic disorder that impacts his nervous system to the point that he can't feel pain or temperature.