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Bob Odenkirk stars in Normal
Photo: Magnolia Pictures

Normal
Directed by Ben Wheatley
Rated R
17 April 2026
#NormalMovie

The new Normal is subpar.

Park Better!

The basic concept of Normal calls to mind much better movies and shows, particularly Fargo and Twin Peaks. They make the quirkiness Normal seems desperate for (or should be) look so easy.

In Normal, a world-weary, do-nothing guy, Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk), is hired to be the interim sheriff in the wake of the strange death of Normal County’s long-time long arm of the law.

Ulysses, a former sheriff with a back story, notes the simple life and people in the titular small town in the middle of Minnesota’s nowhere (filmed on location in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). But they’re plenty bland (yeah, they’re actually too normal) and most lack the quirkiness that would make this material come to life. There’s an older woman who runs a yarn shop, but the “Yarn Lady” is no match for the “Tree Lady.”

Everything seems so normal when Ulysses arrives to keep the peace for eight weeks, in the runup to an election for the permanent replacement. He notes how the town’s population has dwindled – as has happened in so many American small towns – particularly during the past several years. His goal is to leave Normal exactly the way he found it. (Good luck with that.)

It’s all fine and dandy during those opening minutes. It appears Ulysses might very well be a much better, more interesting character than Hutch, the toughie Odenkirk played in Nobody and its sequel, so aptly dubbed Nobody 2.

But then – unfortunately – the story (co-conceived by Odenkirk and Derek Kolstad) settles in and the mayhem begins.

Moose on the Loose

As the action ramps up, it’s clear nothing is the least bit normal in Normal, population 1,890. But instead of surprise and delight, another Kolstad production comes to mind. The far superior (and criminally overlooked) Ballerina, from Kolstad’s wonderful world of Wick, John Wick.

This time, instead of encountering a quaint Austrian village full of assassins, the action moves the same concept to Normal, then waters it down. By the time Normal runs its course, the biggest problem is nobody is particularly great at what they do. The villains aren’t as menacing as they start out to be. And the town folk aren’t as intimidating, skillful or funny as they need to be. Pick one. Any one. Have them excel at being something abnormal.

As for the villains… Wait for it... It’s the Yakuza coming in hot from Osaka, Japan.

They have curious business interests in Normal, all tied to holding their ill-gotten gains in a safe place and away from the prying eyes and hands of the IRS.

It’s a silly storyline in which most of the town’s bought into a scheme in which Normal holds the exorbitant funds and the citizens – the remaining citizens, that is – get a percentage of the action as a service charge.

Calm Cleans Messy

Some effort is made to make Ulysses a compelling, sympathetic character. But that hook turns into one of the movie’s many downfalls. Ulysses is haunted by something in his past, but the big reveal is puzzling. It would’ve likely been much more impactful if his situation had been reversed (he says a girl shoots her abusive father right in front of him, but it turns out he killed the guy and it’s troubled him ever since). So, he’s been sitting on the sidelines, watching life go by for far too many years, giving him that “do nothing” reputation.

With a big showdown looming between the Yakuza and Ulysses (supplemented by townsfolk in a really disappointing storyline pivot), Kolstad and Odenkirk lean in more and more on shock value.

It starts by hearing nice guy Henry Winkler drop “F”-bombs as the mayor. And no. Those “F”-bombs aren’t “Fonzie.”

Then it escalates. Dramatically.

The violence quickly goes grisly and at points it borders on a level of gruesome more fitting for a horror movie. But some of it’s also funny. Brutally funny.

That includes the mayor’s jaw-dropping fate. And there’s a hardware store owner who’s constantly – conspicuously – chomping on a nail. Sure enough – give it some time – and that nail winds up somewhere it doesn’t belong. It’s not pretty. Of course, all the rifles adorning the walls of a bar are loaded. Of course that’s a joke. And, of course, those rifles fire off in what’s supposed to be a hilarious moment in an ultra-violent climax that plays out as strangely slapdash and packing virtually no impact after all the desensitizing gruesomeness that precedes it.

Throw in a thread involving two bank robbers (desperate, but amiable and with some sort of heart) who kick off the whole series of events that brings the Yakuza to Normal and the movie crumbles into nothing more than a lot of disjointed ideas that don’t add up.

Even so, in a move that’s perfectly normal for Hollywood, the end tees up a sequel, with Ulysses having packed up and moved to Placid Shores, Texas.

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.