Normal
Reeling from martial woes and a shooting which haunts his dreams, Sheriff Ulysses Richardson (Bob Odenkirk, "Nobody") is relieved to get assigned to a small town in Wisconsin, but when he's suddenly called to respond to a violent bank robbery, Ulysses discovers that the misleadingly named municipality is anything but "Normal."
Laura's Review: B
"Nobody" and "John Wick" screenwriter Derek Kolstad serves up a modern Western that plays like the last act of the John Wick "Ballerina" spinoff crossed with "Fargo," but while its action tropes are familiar, director Ben Wheatley stages them with flair and Odenkirk embodies the threat of a man with nothing left to lose.
The film opens with an Osaka set prologue where a Yakuza boss demands three men chop off their own finger to prove worthiness. Only two of them succeed, the third beheaded with a sword, and for their loyalty are sent to Normal, Minnesota. And it is there that we meet Ulysses awakening in a nondescript motel and leaving a message for his wife Penny who doesn't answer, a daily occurrence. He's picked up by cheerfully chatty Deputy Mike Nelson (Billy MacLellan, "Nobody") who introduces him at the station as the eight week interim Sheriff until the town votes in a new one. Normal's Sheriff Gunderson just passed away in odd circumstances no one seems to be questioning and Deputy Blaine Anderson (Ryan Allen) makes it clear he believes the job should be his.
At first things do seem pretty normal. A man is at the station irate over a neighbor blocking in his truck. There is a disagreement over pricing at a hardware store that is becoming physical and Mary Beth (Megan MacArton), the local proprietor of a yarn shop, calls the cops because she received mauve yarn instead of the pink she ordered. The meatloaf at Ernie's is as good as its reputation and Ernie's bartender Moira (Lena Headey, HBO's 'Game of Thrones') provides the Sheriff a compassionate ear, as bartenders do. But after attending a service for Gunderson at the man's house, Ulysses begins to be courted by Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler) for the permanent position. And things are beginning to get really strange.
Noting several pictures of Gunderson with his daughter Alex (Jess McLeod, TV's 'The Audacity') in the man's office, Ulysses will look out the window to see Blaine sending her away outside. Later, he'll find Alex drunk in her truck holding a gun on the side of the road and lock her up at the station for safekeeping, a move that will prove fruitful. He'll also discover Normal's police armory stocked for a terrorist attack, including packages of C4. Then, after a panicked response when an alarm goes off for the town's bank, Ulysses' own deputies begin shooting at him when he approaches it. Soon it will become apparent that the entire town is on their side and the Sheriff will end up teaming up with the inept bank robbers, Lori (Reena Jolly, "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"), who he'd met with her dog back at the motel, and Keith (Brendan Fletcher). Notably, those two Yakuzas are inside the bank in security uniforms and the bank vault is piled high with gold bars.
Wheatley really delivers with one on one action between the Sheriff and the various businesspeople we've met and gunfights on the streets of Normal that escalate to automatic weapons and sticks of dynamite. More than once, he makes Rube Goldberg proud. And seeing as how the entire last act is set during a blizzard, cinematographer Armando Salles (TV's 'Ozark') keeps everything spatially clear amidst whipping snow. The soundtrack is studded with classic selections from Ernie's jukebox, 45's seen dropping into place before the needle drops. Kolstad's screenplay may leave some plotlines dangling, but his characters are shaded just enough to make an entertaining package and a better vehicle for Odenkirk than "Nobody."
Magnolia releases "Normal" in theaters on 4/17/26.
