Brendan Fletcher, Bob Odenkirk and Reena Jolly in a scene from “Normal” (Magnolia Pictures) [AP Photo]
We’ve seen this setup before: a stranger drifts into a small, suspicious town and finds trouble waiting. Usually, the menace wears a badge. But in Ben Wheatley’s Normal, the outsider is the sheriff – and that small twist carries the film further than expected.
Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) arrives in snowbound Normal, Minnesota, to replace a recently deceased sheriff. Whether traveling substitute sheriffs exist is beside the point. Normal operates with a deliberately loose grip on reality, leaning into its oddball premise and emerging as a gory, offbeat thrill ride. It’s also Odenkirk’s most convincing turn yet as an action lead.
When Ulysses wakes in a modest motel, he feels like a man only marginally better off than Saul Goodman at his lowest. He calls his estranged wife and meets Deputy Mike Nelson (Billy MacLellan), who introduces him to town life. Odenkirk’s strength lies in playing worn-down men clinging to scraps of purpose. Ulysses isn’t chasing justice – he’s barely chasing anything. “Life’s a lot easier when you care a little less,” he shrugs, aiming simply to leave Normal as he found it.
Of course, Normal isn’t normal.
The town looks prosperous – suspiciously so. A banner boasts $16.8 million raised for an unspecified initiative. The police station is unusually well-armed. A hardware store hides a locked room. Even the local yarn shop doubles as an amateur surveillance hub. The late sheriff’s large home and murky death deepen the unease. Meanwhile, his transgender teenage child, Alex (Jess McLeod), exists uneasily on the margins, hinting at a community that tightly controls who belongs.
Ulysses’ detached approach clashes with a mayor (Henry Winkler) who prefers a “light touch.” That tension ignites when a botched bank robbery spirals into something stranger. What follows is less a standoff than a full unraveling, with deputies, officials and townspeople turning against the sheriff. Midwestern politeness evaporates fast, replaced by escalating violence.
Written by Derek Kolstad, creator of the John Wick franchise, Normal knowingly plays in familiar territory. There are nods to Fargo – even the former sheriff’s name, Gunderson, tips its hat – but Wheatley doesn’t aim for the Coens’ dark wit. Instead, he embraces something pulpier, closer to the stylized chaos of John Wick. The early appearance of the Japanese yakuza signals how far the film will stretch its premise.
As the story unfolds, Normal morphs into an exaggerated siege film, turning quiet streets into a battleground. Many twists are predictable, and the film occasionally lacks the scale to fully deliver. Still, it hardly matters. Odenkirk, mustached and armed with a shotgun, supplies enough presence to carry the mayhem.
Wheatley, whose recent work has veered between misfires and grindhouse excess, is in more comfortable territory here. He stages action with confidence, even if the story treads familiar ground. Like other small-town thrillers, Normal filters broader tensions through a local lens, suggesting authority can tilt toward order or menace depending on who holds it.
It may not reinvent the genre, but Normal doesn’t need to. It’s messy, violent and knowingly absurd – anchored by an unlikely action hero who makes exhaustion look dangerous.
[Abridged]
Jake Coyle, MDT/AP Film Writer
“Normal,” an Magnolia release opening in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong bloody violence and language. Running time: 90 minutes.
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