A few years ago, the idea of Bob Odenkirk in an action role was novel. Now there are enough of them to get them mixed up. Part of the problem is that “Normal” sounds a lot like 2021’s “Nobody,” the movie that launched this latest chapter in Odenkirk’s career; both evoke the sense of averageness that’s at the core of the “Better Call Saul” actor’s persona in these films, which play on the contrast between their mild-mannered protagonists and their hyperviolent actions.
Further confusing things is the fact that “Normal” shares a screenwriter with both “Nobody” and “Nobody 2.” Derek Kolstad also wrote the first three films in the “John Wick” series, another action franchise predicated on what happens when a seemingly unassuming man is pushed to his limit. The difference there is that Keanu Reeves is unflappable, while Odenkirk has a sputtering quality to him that adds a comedic layer to his bloody lash-outs.
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Kolstad’s script for “Normal” emphasizes the comedy, paying both implicit and explicit homage to Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Fargo” in setting up its vision of a Minnesota town that’s managed to thrive while its neighbors are rusting away. “Normal” has fun with the trappings of wholesome small-town Americana, casting Henry Winkler as the gladhanding mayor and establishing locations like a knitting-supply shop and a soda fountain in Normal, Minnesota (population 1,890). Will those same places later serve as ironic backdrops for bloody shootouts? Do moose shit on icy roads?
Odenkirk stars as the mononymous Ulysses, provisional sheriff of Normal, a self-proclaimed “midwife with a gun” who’s there to rubber stamp paperwork until his six-week contract is up and he can move on to the next town in need of a calming force during a period of change. Ulysses’ nomadic lifestyle is explained with a quintessential sad-middle-aged-man divorce backstory, overlaid with a politically charged bit of lore about Ulysses’ guilt over not believing a woman who came to him to report a sexual assault at his last job.
Those both come back around, as does another subplot about Alex (Jess McLeod), the estranged child of the recently deceased former sheriff who was not invited to the funeral, but comes home anyway. That particular storyline feels very current, touching on issues surrounding trans people, military service, and armed self-defense. “Normal” is not overly preachy on this front, perhaps because there’s no time to pause for a lecture once the action begins.
No one would hear it over the explosions, anyway. Director Ben Wheatley — who, frankly, has had an off few years — returns to the bullet-crazed mode of his 2016 film “Free Fire” here, spraying the screen with automatic weapons until most of the town is lying dead on the sidewalk. Wheatley mixes the constant sounds of gunfire and dynamite extremely loud in the mix, accentuating their impact by having bodies fly across rooms and ricochet off of walls after being blasted with ammunition the length and thickness of a soda can. The sound does much of the work in action sequences obscured by blinding snowstorms and flashing emergency lights, punctuated by creative acts of accidental self-harm that save our protagonists from certain death more than once.
The jokes continue once “Normal” shifts from intermittently successful small-town quirk to nonstop heavy artillery. Some of these are payoff for setups that were established before townsfolk started pinging around Main Street like pinballs. Others are new, building on a genuinely fresh and funny revelation that explains not only a cold open involving yakuza gangsters half a world away in Osaka, but also why this quaint town is sitting on a stash of weaponry big enough to overthrow the governments of several small nations.
There’s a twisted wit to the setup here, as Kolstad takes real trends in American life — economic stagnation, rising tribalism, gun fetishism — and follows them to their corrupt, violent end points. These people have lost their minds in recognizable, if extreme, ways: The town bar and grill is lined with what looks like hundreds of guns, covering every inch of available space. When Ulysses asks if they’re loaded, the server replies with a big, beaming smile: “It wouldn’t be much fun if they weren’t.” She then recommends the pie.
“Normal’s” tendency not to overplay its satire works in its favor, which makes the obviousness of some of the more earnest dialogue very puzzling. It’s not clear if it’s meant to be a parody of action-hero clichés when Odenkirk juts out his jaw and says he’s “tired of running away” before the film’s last stand, or if he’s just a funny guy doing his best with some very corny dialogue. “Normal” is a mixed bag in this way, at least as far as comedy goes. The action is very consistent, in that it’s consistently pummeling.
“Normal” is breathlessly paced, at least once the shooting starts. Alliances shift, quips fly like the ever-present bullets, and if there is a pause, it’s done for comedic effect. This is entertaining, but also has a numbing effect: When the climactic fight arrives, it doesn’t feel any different from the dozen violent set pieces that came before it, and it too passes so quickly that we don’t quite realize that it’s over until the credits begin to roll. Like a firecracker with a long fuse, “Normal” builds up, burns fast, makes a big noise, and then it’s gone.
Grade: B-
“Normal” premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.
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