For a while now, the role of the “one man wrecking crew” who takes on a corrupt town, corporation or what have you has been the cinematic domain of Jason Statham.  As an established badass, we know that anybody who gets in his way are idiots who will soon be lying in a pool of their own blood.  Which is what makes Bob Odenkirk’s encroachment on Statham’s territory so interesting.  No one would ever mistake Odenkirk for Statham, who looks more like a kindly grandpa than a killing machine.  Odenkirk’s a square peg that’s wedged himself into the action/revenge genre hole, and the mismatch is what makes Normal so much fun.  Odenkirk may look like a kindly old man, but watch out when he gets riled up.

But first, some Japanese gangsters.  They aren’t identified as Yakuza until later, but their scene effectively sets the tone for the rest of the movie.  After henchmen manhandle a couple of screw-ups (for what, we don’t know), they’re given an ultimatum: either remove a finger and accept reassignment to Normal, Minnesota, or be killed.  This sets up a funny joke from one of the supplicants, but unfortunately the Big Boss isn’t in a laughing mood.  Good joke, though, the first of many.

Normal also happens to be where Ulysses Richardson (Odenkirk) is the Interim Sheriff.  The previous sheriff died suddenly, and Ulysses’ job is to keep the chair warm until the election in eight weeks.  The gig is perfect for Ulysses because it doesn’t require him to become attached to the locals.  At least, that was the idea.

Ulysses’ wry voice-over narration introduces us to Normal and its citizenry.  On the surface, Normal seems like any other small town.  Everyone has been infected with amusing small town quirks.  For instance, Deputy Mike Nelson (Billy MacLellan) sports a motorcycle jacket in the dead of winter, which makes loud creaking noises whenever he moves.  (Another good joke.)  Ulysses mentions (to us) that every incident boils down to people yelling at each other.  So he keeps the peace, completes his paperwork and lives out of the local motel.

Unfortunately for Ulysses, he’s too observant and curious to not notice things.  There’s a new city hall that cost $16.4 million.  When Deputy Mike says that the town really came together, Ulysses can barely hide his incredulity.  The entire town seems to be heavily armed as well.  The local diner, which is famous for its meatloaf, has mounted riffles on its walls.  (Another good line about whether they’re loaded.)  The hardware store has a locked cabinet filled with old fashioned “stump removers”.  Something’s not quite right about Normal, and Ulysses just can’t let it go.

At the wake for the former sheriff, Ulysses asks coroner Dr. Walter Vilie (David Lawrence Brown) how the former sheriff died.  He walked outside in his underwear in the dead of night and froze to death, Walter explains with a shrug.  He was a heavy drinker, so maybe that’s it.  Ulysses observes Deputy Blaine (Ryan Allen) prevent the deceased sheriff’s daughter Alex (Jess McLeod) from attending the services, which piques his curiosity even more.  When Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler) says a few words about the former sheriff, he describes him as an SOB, but he was our SOB.  Hmm.

The heroes in these movies always have something in their past that has driven them into seclusion.  For Ulysses, a troubling incident from his past wakes him up in a panic.  One morning, he spots a mischievous moose, then helps a non-local named Lori (Reena Jolly) get a snack from the vending machine.  Both she and her partner Keith (Brendan Fletcher) look anxious, so you know they’ll be causing trouble soon.

When Ulysses visits the bar to sample the legendary meatloaf, he’s befriended by Moira (Lena Headey) the barkeep.  This is when we learn what’s haunting his dreams.  There was a troubling accusation made against a friend and all-around good guy by his daughter.  Ulysses didn’t believe it, but a confrontation between the accuser and the accused proved fatal, making Ulysses question his life choices.

Things get serious when Lori and Keith rob the bank.  The alarm goes off at the police station, and deputies Mike and Blaine are nervous.  When everyone arrives at the bank, the two are suited up like they’re preparing for war.  Against their advice, Ulysses walks into the bank to try to calm things down.  “Calm cleans messy,” he advises them.  But Mike and Blaine open fire immediately after he enters the bank.

Innocent bystanders are killed in the melee, and Ulysses is confused at what’s happening.  Even Lori notices that Ulysses’ men are trying to kill him.  Turns out that the robbers should never have forced the bank manager to open the vault, which contains the Yakuza’s money.  The town sold its soul to gangsters, and now that Ulysses is wise to the situation, he must be eliminated as well.

If you think Ulysses and his two bank robber friends don’t stand a chance, guess again.  Ulysses takes the fight to the corrupt townspeople, and the results are (ahem) explosive.  Unfortunately, a snowstorm knocks out the town’s power, which means the Yakuza will be coming to verify their account balance.  So the question becomes, who will kill who?

Recommendation

Normal fully embraces its ridiculousness and is better for it.  The movie does pause briefly to acknowledge the desperate state of small town America and how that resulted in the town’s collective “desperate times call for desperate measures” frame of mind, but that’s all it offers in terms of a societal critique.  The filmmakers know that their movie is an incredibly violent action comedy filled with explosions, gunshots, gruesome deaths and silly jokes and proceed accordingly.  The movie is cynical, but it’s wickedly entertaining nonetheless.

This is not to say that a thorough explanation of how the citizens in the town of Normal came to choose corruption wouldn’t have been interesting.  However, Normal’s effectiveness is rooted in its complete lack of pretension.  The movie aims at being an entertaining B-movie and works on that level.  What you see is exactly what you get, and that was enough for me.

With his twinkling eyes, raspy voice, thinning hair and shuffling gait, Bob Odenkirk has emerged as one of the most unlikely action-comedy leading men in recent memory.  You would anticipate him pulling a Werther’s Original from his rumpled jacket pocket, not a stick of dynamite.  The success of his late-career journey into playing ass-kicking, grumpy old(er) men is due to how unexpected Odenkirk’s behavior is in these situations.  I’d like to see him tackle more serious roles than this, but until that happens he’s reliably funny in an ironic way.

The supporting cast is very good, but suffers from the film’s scant run time.  Excluding the end credits, the movie is only eighty minutes long.  Another ten minutes in the first act could have been devoted to fleshing out the town’s large cast of characters.  After Odenkirk, Henry Winkler is the most recognizable actor in the cast, but only gets a few minutes of screen time.  The movie hints at romance, or at least a hookup between Odenkirk and Lena Headley, but she’s only in two scenes.  The movie is very sympathetic towards the thieves played by Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher, but never gives them a backstory.  Only Jess McLeod gets the time to elaborate as the grieving daughter Alex.  The scenes between her and Odenkirk give the movie enough emotional weight to make it more than a guilty pleasure.

This is the third film I’ve seen from director Ben Wheatley, after Rebecca and Meg 2: The Trench.  Based on his filmography, he’s a journeyman director who apparently takes whatever gig comes next.  Interestingly, Normal has much in common with the Jason Statham vehicle he directed, where both are giddy for over-the-top scenes of violence.  Wheatley has a flair for shocking deaths, and this movie has at least a dozen that made me laugh out loud.  Much of this is due to screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who wrote the first three John Wick films and Odenkirk’s Nobody movies.  However, Wheatley brings visual flair to the chaos and the slaughter.  This is a rare steak kind of movie, but it has more style than it deserves.

Normal is a funny and unapologetically violent bloodbath of a movie.  It’s grounded by another winning turn by newfangled action movie hero Bob Odenkirk, who adequately fills the role of the unstoppable geezer with a sense of humor.  The movie is skimpy, but I enjoyed it for what it is.  Recommended.

Analysis

Bob Odenkirk was known for his comedic work for most of his career.  Then along came his role of Saul Goodman in Breaking Bad Season 2 (2009), a character that was a variation of his obnoxious morally-challenged characters.  He was mainly there as comic relief, with a touch of seriousness.  Better Call Saul (2015-2022) finally gave him the opportunity to flex his dramatic chops.  The character was a tragic clown, a man who decided he wanted to be better than his “Slippin Jimmy” reputation, only to be let down by his brother’s prejudice and his delusions of grandeur.  Over the course of the series, Odenkirk had shown that he could deliver a complex performance, but it was always drama with a chaser of comedy.  The talent was there to do the former, but the latter always kept things from getting too weighty.

There have been occasions when Odenkirk has done purely dramatic work.  His performances in Nebraska (2013), The Post (2017) and Little Women (2019) are examples of when he didn’t rely on being funny to win over the audience.  Odenkirk can play things totally straight, but his comfort zone remains in his ability to play up the irony of his characters.

The appeal of Odenkirk’s two Nobody films, and now Normal, is that they are primarily wink-wink affairs that aren’t intended to be taken seriously.  Odenkirk always lets us in on the joke, which is that he’s much more formidable than he appears.  We might think he’s old and a pushover, but once he gets angry, he’s a graying, remorseless killing machine like Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson.  Revenge will be his, just watch out for the spraying blood and flying body parts.

There are moments in Normal when I’m convinced Odenkirk would be convincing in a leading role of a dramatic film.  There are several moments in the film that showcase his sensitivity and empathy.  For example, the scene when he reveals his dark secret to Moira is moving because he conveys how damaged he is only through slight variations in his voice.  Odenkirk’s also very understanding when he sees Lori struggling with the vending machine.  Odenkirk conveys that Ulysses suspects something, but chooses to be kind and understanding in the hope that they won’t do something bad.  These scenes and others lead me to believe that Odenkirk can be more than the incongruous action movie hero he’s become, provided he gets the opportunity.

Odenkirk’s ability to straddle the line between drama and comedy reminds me of Robin Williams.  For the longest time, many only thought of Williams as a funnyman, even though he did well in the mostly dramatic Moscow on the Hudson (1984).  Awakenings (1990) was the first movie where he didn’t rely on his manic, rat-a-tat-tat comedic skills, but his work was overshadowed by Robert De Niro.  It wasn’t until Good Will Hunting (1997), twenty years after his first on-screen role, that people began to take his dramatic acting skills seriously.  Unfortunately, Williams’ serious acting roles dried up after 2002’s One Hour Photo and Insomnia, but he proved that he was more than a jokester.

Unfortunately, Odenkirk is 63 and doesn’t have that much time to wait for the opportunity to play serious roles.  Movies like Nobody and Normal are fun, but they only hint at the range that Odenkirk has.  He’s great at being droll and wry, but he needs to let go of his comedic crutch and do something bold.

Since Odenkirk’s been working in the revenge genre, I think he could pull off a Charles Bronson Death Wish level transformation.  (The scene in Normal where he recounts killing a guilty man who abused his own daughter triggered this comparison.)  Now that Denzel Washington is done with The Equalizer, maybe Odenkirk could take the character back to its TV roots, where an old white guy settles the scores.

Alternatively, Odenkirk could tap into his off-kilter sensibilities and play a psychopathic killer like Williams did in Insomnia, or an unsettling weirdo like in One Hour Photo.  With his roots in sketch comedy, Odenkirk can easily portray someone who is strange and threatening, a guy you can’t decide if you should be afraid of.  Regardless, I think Odenkirk should stop testing the dramatic waters and look for a leading role that allows him to go in that direction completely.  I think it would be a shame for him and his fans if he didn’t give it the old college try at least once.