Normal

by Mike McGranaghan

If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that a movie town called Normal will be anything but normal. In the case of the straightforwardly named Normal, the town is located in Minnesota. On the surface, it’s a quaint little place where everybody knows everybody else and life is pretty laid back. There is something weird about the fact that the town somehow ponied up $15 million for a restoration project, though. Where would a mere 1,000 people get such cash?

That question is asked by Ulysses Richardson (Bob Odenkirk). He’s the interim sheriff, brought in to keep things steady following the unexpected – and, frankly, kind of suspicious – death of the previous sheriff. Ulysses has a single goal, which is to “leave the town exactly how I found it.” In other words, to not work very hard during his eight-week tenure. That becomes impossible once he realizes Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler) is orchestrating something fishy among Normal’s residents. And it only takes a bank robbery to bring the dark secret to light.

Bob Odenkirk became an unlikely cinematic action hero with 2021’s Nobody and its 2025 sequel. Although he does have to do his fair share of brawling here, Ulysses often relies on his brains to get by. Lobbing sticks of dynamite proves to be just as effective as whipping out a gun or punching somebody in the face. Odenkirk understands the material is intentionally on the broad side, so he makes the smart choice to play the character straight. Doing this underlines the movie’s biggest, shrewdest joke – that Ulysses utterly fails in his quest to do nothing for eight weeks. If he wanted to laze about, he picked the wrong town.

Derek Kolstad’s screenplay, based on a story he conceived with Odenkirk, introduces us to colorful locals who seem too, well, normal to be real. The film would have been stronger had we been able to spend more time with them prior to chaos commencing, but it’s still funny to see them reveal their true colors. Once the town’s secret becomes apparent, their Midwestern cheeriness evolves into something else. The concept is far-fetched, yet it allows for devious humor and a lot of wild, violent mayhem.

Director Ben Wheatley (Kill List) stages the action with a fast pace and a gloriously over-the-top style. The demise of a particular character is so divinely gruesome that it made me laugh out loud. (They had it coming.) He also keeps the small-town feel front and center, adding an extra layer of comedy. You wouldn’t expect to see violent shenanigans of this nature taking place in a folksy burg like Normal.

The movie doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a bloody action-comedy. As that sort of lightweight entertainment, it works. Normal is consistently amusing, and Bob Odenkirk is a delight as the sheriff who wants to do nothing and ends up having to do everything. If John Wick and Fargo spawned, this would be the result.

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