Editor’s Note: This review originally ran as part of our coverage of the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, and we’re re-publishing it today as part of the film’s wider release. The party truly never stops! Check out our full TIFF 2025 coverage, revisit our official curtain-raiser, and look back at the complete Vanyaland coverage archives from past TIFF editions.
Some actors have bizarre success with similarly-named movies. Paul Newman had Hud, Hombre, and Harper (that last one even had its title changed as a kind of box-office good luck charm), and now, not counting direct sequels, Bob Odenkirk is one “No-“ title away from equaling the feat. Ben Wheatley’s Normal shares a lot of DNA with the Nobody movies — it originated from an idea by John Wick co-creator Derek Kolstad, who also wrote the first of Odenkirk’s action outings — and has a similar tone, merging high-concept story with shockingly bloody action and Saul Goodman’s slightly troubled deadpan. It drags a bit through its prologue and weepier character arcs, especially when superimposed with the black-hearted comedy that works so well. Still, Odenkirk and Wheatley’s steady work push it over the top.
Three traits distinguish it from those features. The first is the setting, a small town called Normal, Minnesota, which barely has a population in the four digits and, when the interim sheriff Ulysses (Odenkirk) arrives, is doing surprisingly well. Apart from the somewhat mysterious death of their last lawman, the town’s raking in a suspicious amount of dough for a new city hall, a fact the mayor (Henry Winkler) takes great pride in. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of million-dollar business going on in the town — at least on the surface. But all that changes when two bumbling bank robbers manage to get past two Japanese security guards and into the town’s safe, which is stocked to high heaven with gold bars, cash, and illegal arms. Turns out the guards are Yakuza, and the mob has decided to use the town as a safe house while lining the pockets of the townspeople.
Second is the nature of Odenkirk’s character, which is a perfect fit for him, including the ‘stache he rocks. Ulysses is not a he-man hitman waiting for a mid-life crisis waiting to shine: he’s a sheriff who, following a bad choice back when he was a properly elected local official in his hometown, decided to hit the road and do temp policing jobs. It’s not like he could do much else, anyhow, and he’s keen to spend his days letting things slide, taking a lighter touch than others might. That, in fact, is why the town liked him for the role, as his hands-off attitude meant he wasn’t going to catch on. Problem is, he picked a bad moment to catch a conscience, and discovers it when his nerdy deputies (Billy McLellan and Ryan Allen) shoot at him when he simply tries to negotiate with the bank robbers even before he opens the door to the branch. So, he decides to fight his way out of the bank with the thieves, against what turns out to be the entire town. Everyone, it seems, was in on the deal, and each of them wants a piece of the new sheriff for revealing their secret and drawing the ire of the Yakuza bosses, who are on their way to Normal in a private plane, making sure their goods are still in place.
Finally, there’s the action, which, although not as flashy as the shootouts and fistfights in the Nobody films, has the Wheatley-brand blackly comedic extremity to it. Folks explode, old ladies come out with double-barreled shotguns, and a town dinner turns into a Rube Goldberg machine of fuck-ups for one particularly unlucky VIP. It’s less grounded in messy biology than Free Fire, where the shoot-em-up had a realism absurdly undercutting its gun-toting fantasy, but it gets the job done. The work, aside from entertainment, is prime fodder for Odenkirk’s jokes. The humor’s very well done — McLellan’s squeaky leather jacket (a custom, non-regulation one that he bought in advance of becoming a motorcycle cop) is a subtle bit of sound design that pays off in a good gag during the shootout — and all in all, it’s really what makes Normal a better-than-average actioner. But, really, all I’m trying to figure out is if the next Odenkirk movie will be called Nowhere, No Way, or just flat-out No.