You might wonder if you’re watching the wrong movie during the prologue to Ben Wheatley’s Normal. The setting is Japan, three Yakuza are being reprimanded by their boss, and blood is splattering against the walls. Then you recall the screenwriter and remember Derek Kolstad has spent the past decade inside the “world of John Wick“––its flagship series, Ballerina, and spiritual sibling Nobody. The allusions to hardcore crime making its way across the Pacific into tiny Normal, Minnesota suddenly make a lot more sense.
This is very much a Kolstad film––unsurprising when Wheatley has alternated gun-for-hire pictures with his more niche genre originals. Think of it as Hot Fuzz put through that very stylized John Wick action filter, the twist being that its Nicholas Angel is fine doing nothing. Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk, who also earns a co-story credit) used to be a gung-ho law enforcer back in the day, but now he’s happy to simply stamp papers and keep the seat warm as an on-call interim sheriff.
Our introduction to his latest post is thus intriguing––he’s still good enough to spot the weirdness. The friendly smiles and pleasantries creep him out and the “problems” that arise always seem to be hiding something (a locked safe at the hardware store with a cryptic description or the yarn shop purveyor having a police radio on her counter). Ulysses sees it and processes it all, but he can’t bring himself to care. He’d rather leave big decisions and sweeping crackdowns to whomever is elected in eight weeks. He’s just passing through.
So are Lori (Reena Jolly) and Keith (Brendan Fletcher). The difference is that they have ambitions to create chaos by targeting this sleepy town of genial eccentrics as a prime spot for a bank robbery. That’s when everything changes: this police department is neither trained nor experienced enough to handle such a scenario, despite inexplicably possessing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of military-grade equipment. It’s also when we reunite with Peter Shinkoda’s Joe from the beginning as the pieces start falling into place.
I don’t want to say too much more, plot-wise, because the action and comedy that follows lands better if you’re unsure of the full scope. And since there isn’t much else to the film beyond the entertainment borne from those timed revelations, one should be able to experience them purely. Normal is 30 minutes of set-up and an hour of consequences. Characters exist to provide the former and, in most cases, enjoy a gnarly death during the latter. Though there’s also a ticking clock, it’s less about creating suspense than another explosive gag.
The fun is therefore in the cast and the fact that their small-town hospitality is genuine, despite some also having the potential to light-up a brick-and-mortar business with machine-gun fire. Among them: Billy MacLellan’s squeaky leather-jacket-wearing deputy looking forward to a potluck funeral spread; Henry Winkler’s smarmy mayor acting more like a salesman than a government official; Lena Headey’s jaded bartender Moira; Ryan Allen’s sheriff hopeful Deputy Blaine; and Jess McLeod’s troubled wild card (and newly made orphan) Alex.
How do they interact with Ulysses, each other, and the town’s secret? How does their desire to uphold their duty to an unseen benefactor adjust their reactions when impulse takes control? And, when all is said and done, how does Normal itself move forward into the future? Can it? All we know for certain is that Ulysses must get back in the saddle for this place to have a shot––this circus unfolding during a power-loss snowstorm means there’s no communication in or out. Either they kill each other, Yakuza comes to kill them, or a solution is found.
While Normal doesn’t deliver anything you haven’t seen before rife with convenience (a ton of kills occur by gruesomely funny happenstance despite an intent for murder setting these “accidents” in motion), it’s still a memorable ride for those who have already been lapping up Kolstad’s antics. All the familial drama and trauma baked into Ulysses and Alex’s lives? It doesn’t amount to much more than color (and voiceover context). In the end, the draw is big-city carnage meeting homemade meatloaf; towns don’t run on bake sales.
Normal premiered at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
The post TIFF Review: Normal Gives Ben Wheatley and Bob Odenkirk a Suitable John Wick Spin first appeared on The Film Stage.
