Everything’s Normal in the Town of Normal

Sometimes simple pleasures are all you need. By this point we’re deep into the transition period for Bob Odenkirk, taking him from working comedian (Mr. Show with Bob and David), through his dramatic phase (Breaking Bad and Better Call) to, now, what we can consider his late-era, “let’s be an action star” phase. Older gentlemen becoming action stars is a trend that Liam Neeson (Taken, The Grey) helped to popularize, and then the release of John Wick really cemented it. Every aging star wanted their own action franchise, and Hollywood was all too happy to let it happen if it meant another John WickStarted as a tale of redemption and then revenge (in that order), the John Wick series has grown to be a adynamic, reliable action series that doesn't skimp on the hard hits and gun-toting thrills, elevating Keanu Reeves as one of the greatest action stars ever. series.

Most actors trying to get their Wick on, though, didn’t find my success. Audiences didn’t really seem to care about past-their-prime actors doing action unless it was Liam Neeson. Or, as it turned out, Odenkirk, as his John Wick-style action film, Nobody, did pretty well for itself. The film made $57.5 Mil on a $16 Mil budget, which is a solid enough return that studio 87North greenlit a further adventure. It seemed like Odenkirk’s action franchise was at hand.

Sadly, audiences are now showing their same level of interest in Odenkirk being an action star as they have for so many others before. Nobody 2 came and went with little fanfare, making a much lower $43 Mil on an inflated $25 Mil budget (the fact that the story feels very similar to the first film doesn’t help). And then when another actioner starring Odenkirk was announced, it too written by Nobody and Nobody 2 writer Derek Kolstad, it felt like audiences tuned out. Normal came and went and no one seemed to care, making only $6 Mil on a less than $20 Mil budget. Which is a pity because while the film isn’t Odenkirk’s best work, it is filled with enough simple pleasures to delight action-comedy fans.

Odenkirk stars as Sheriff Ulysses, a fill-in Sheriff running a stint in Normal, MN, after their previous Sheriff, Gunderson, died. Ulysses is just there to fill time, a laid back guy who wants to do his time for the few weeks he’s in Normal, and then move on to his next temporary assignment. He doesn’t want to make waves, doesn’t want to engage. He’s just there to keep a seat warm until the town officially elects their new Sheriff. Unfortunately for Ulysses, Normal isn’t, well, normal.

As it turns out, the town secretly hosts a money laundering operation for the Yakuza. This is revealed when two bank robbers, Lori (Reena Jolly) and Keith (Brendan Fletcher), try to roll the Normal bank. They only get two grand from the tills, so they demand to be let into the vault, and that sets off the alarms at the Sheriff’s station. The officers, including Ulysses, roll out, but the second Ulysses says he wants to talk to the robbers instead of just shooting them, they turn on him. Now he’s stuck in the town, with every officer, and every townsperson, against him, all of them wanting him, and the two hapless bank robbers, dead. All because he could mess up the sweet deal they have with the Yakuza.

Deep down, Normal is a very silly film. It’s one part Fargo, one part Nobody, all topped with a sprinkling of Tarantino-esque plotting. It’s the kind of film that would have played really well about twenty years ago, doing a small run in theaters before finding a loving cult following on home video and basic cable. Unfortunately for Normal, that kind of audience doesn’t really exist anymore, so the film, which is enjoyably dumb, likely won’t ever get the audience it actually deserves. Its weird mix of North country charm, action adventure, and fast-talking comedy wouldn’t draw people in before, and I’m not certain the film will do any better on streaming before it disappears into the vaults.

Odenkirk is the real strength of the film. Ulysses gives the actor a lot to play with as he’s a troubled guy (he had a very bad incident a few years back on the job and it darkened his whole world view) who just wants to get the job done. He’s affable, but dark, funny, but also gloomy. There’s a lot of layers to the character, and Odenkirk is a solid actor who knows how to bring all those aspects to life. Plus, as we saw with Nobody, Odenkirk is pretty dependable as an action hero as well. All of those elements work together to make Ulysses into a solid lead for the film.

I think part of the struggle for the film is that it doesn’t quite know how to commit to its story. The movie has a very silly, pulpy, grindhouse premise, with the Yakuza functionally taking over this town, but it doesn’t quite reach the heights it could if it were to really commit. The premise could lead to action sequences to rival Kill Bill, alongside comedy at the level of Hot Fuzz, but it’s not quite able to get there. It feels like a pale imitation of those films, not quite silly enough or bloody enough to get where it needs to be.

But at the same time, the film could have been far more serious and that would have worked, too. A version of this movie using a local crime family buying the loyalty of the town, wouldn’t have required the silly twists and turns the Yakuza plotting required. Instead it would feel more down home, more local, like a real riff on a Fargo-style story, one that could exist over in that television series. Good guy forced to battle local bad guys over a potential pot of stolen money has its own pulpy charms that could work, and Odenkirk has the grizzled look to make it work. But the film resides in a middle ground that doesn’t work on either front.

Which isn’t entirely bad because what we have here is fitfully amusing. It’s a low-key fun film that can be enjoyed without requiring you to turn on your brain. One act is Ulysses learning the town. The second act is the big action sequence as Ulysses has to fight the town. And then the third act brings the Yakuza in and the movie pivots again. It’s not formulaic, and its various acts do work well enough. Even if all of those elements don’t come together well, they still entertain well enough that anyone watching it on streaming will probably have a good time.

But it was never going to be a hit. This isn’t the kind of movie that will draw big audiences or make a lot of money at the Box Office. This is a sleeper cult hit, something for that DVD bin, or to pull off a rental shelf, or see on HBO late at night. It’s a film released in the wrong era, a comedy-action film better suited to the late 1990s and early 2000s than the market we have now. Which sucks because despite its flaws, Normal is fun. It’s not an award winner, but it has just enough here to entertain for an hour and a half. And sometimes that’s all you need.