Normal

• Directed by Ben Wheatley
• September 7, 2025 (TIFF) / April 17, 2026 (US)

A newly arrived interim sheriff must contend with a town-wide conspiracy after a botched bank robbery.

After the Nobody films, an action movie with Bob Odenkirk was an easy sell for me. The man is a surprisingly good action star. He sells the drama and the action by being an actor the gets you to feel for the character and root for them. Odenkirk is a genuine talent.

Bob Odenkirk plays Sheriff Ulysses (no last name given that I recall) working in the town of Normal, Minnesota after the passing of the town’s sheriff until they elect a new one. The movie almost immediately has him asking questions and poking around just because. There is very little introduction to the scenario or the people before things start. There is not enough time when Normal is just, well, normal. Ulysses is immediately suspicious of EVERYTHING.

Ulysses has some personal baggage he is dealing with that by the end he works through (sorta) but I am not sure how it connects to what all goes on in Normal. It provides a reason he is in Normal but not sure we really needed another since we already knew he was filling a slot until an election.

Ulysses is guided by the adage “Calm cleans messy.” He repeats it often with a levelheaded approach or actions fixing what goes wrong. Director Ben Wheatley makes it almost a theme of the film with hot heads always making things bad while even moderate cool fixes the day. It is like that for both hero and villain.

Lena Headey costars as a local bartender named Moira. Given her assorted credits I had some hopes for her character. The same for Henry Winkler as Mayor Kibner though only to get something different. Headey-as-Moira provides a moment for us to get an info dump on Ulysses’ background based on her insights as a bartender and then she ‘disappears’ from the movie. I assumed based on a scene earlier in the she might side with Ulysses, but it only vaguely alludes to part of the mystery with that possibly being accidental on the part of the creatives.

Winkler works well as do the other actors in creating authentic small-town characters. Having grown up in one myself, they often felt familiar with Kibner being immediately identifiable as a transplant that made themselves at home. Considering there is a conspiracy that goes sideways and guns become involved I had hoped to see Winkler spraying bullets but nope. Just one Rambo-esque bit of gunplay was all I wanted from the actor.

Characters that should be important in some fashion (other than the ones I just mentioned) either leave quickly or are rather minor. The bank robbers Lori (Reena Jolly) and Keith (Brendan Fletcher) while they do expose the plot exit the story to safety. The late Sheriff Gunderson’s daughter Alex (Jess McLeod) should not have been the center of the action but should have been more present.

That’s not to say I hated everything about Normal. I loved the action and the unusual setting for a hyper violent film. The addition of the yakuza was an excellent twist that logically explained why these people were so dedicated to covering it up. Their inclusion gave an excuse for a finale that was pure bonkers.

This is unapologetically fun. That fun comes from the near incompetence of this town of innocents that gave into greed. The action is exciting and over-the-top turning much of the story into an action comedy. Humor and necessary drama are balanced with the swings never getting extreme.

The dialogue was excellent and the character moments we got were good. There just wasn’t enough of the latter. The film was focused more on action scenes than it was on developing the scenario or those involved. You knew who was going to die once they showed up. There wasn’t much plot armor in this movie, but there were plenty of targets to be passed around. I needed more mystery and more depth.

It was a fun ride, but what comes down to is it wasn’t worthy of the movie theater. It was more of a streaming service movie. It was not what it could have or should have been given the talent and the foundation upon which it was built.

Normal is a good idea that’s a bit underdone. Odenkirk’s performance and great action choreography makes it an enjoyable film. I liked it but it needed a little more.