Normal (2025)
Actor Bob Odenkirk became an unlikely action hero in Nobody and its sequel, Nobody 2. Because of the modest success of those movies, we now have Normal, a truly terrible action-comedy.
Odenkirk plays Sheriff Ulysses, an interim sheriff in the small town of Normal, MN, following the death of the previous lawman. The residents of the town, including the mayor (Henry Winkler), seem harmlessly quirky but that all changes during a bank robbery when they all turn against the new substitute sheriff. In the bank, Ulysses discovers a huge stash of gold bars and military-grade firepower, which is all tied to the yakuza. Ulysses and the two out-of-town back robbers (Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher) must blast their way out of there if they want to live.
The screenplay by Nobody and John Wick scribe Derek Kolstad is clumsy in both its set up and revelations. When we first see the cache of weapons, it is brushed off in a mundane way, making it obvious to the audience that something fishy is going on. Maybe make a clever joke about why the weapons are there to throw off the audience? As for the townsfolk, they are equally dull and annoyingly offbeat.
What could have been clever is the voice-over narration by Ulysses used to set up his character and events. The narration is presented as a phone message to his estranged wife, but it just sounds like Odenkirk is reading a flowery monologue. Other than that, Odenkirk is good in the lead role.
Director Ben Wheatley (Kill List, Free Fire, Meg 2: The Trench) can't decide on a consistent tone. Is he making a sharp fish-out-of-water comedy like George Roy Hill's Funny Farm or a gore-splattering action flick like Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive? It doesn't matter, because Wheatley fails at both.
The extreme
violence here comes off as ugly instead of funny. However, if your bucket list
includes seeing "The Fonz" explode on screen, then Normal is the movie
for you.
