Movie Review: NORMAL

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: April 21st, 2026 / 09:04 AM

Rating: R
Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, Lena Headey, Jess McLeod, Ryan Allen, Billy MacLellan, Reena Jolly, Brendan Fletcher, Peter Shinkoda, Brian Kawakami, Takahiro Inoue
Writer: Derek Kolstad, story by Derek Kolstad & Bob Odenkirk
Director: Ben Wheatley
Distributor: Magnolia
Release Date: April 17, 2026

NORMAL is set primarily in the (fictional) title Minnesota small town, although it opens in Osaka, Japan. The local Oyabun (the yakuza equivalent of a Mafia don, played by Takahiro Inoue) is very displeased with three of his underlings. The two (Peter Shinkoda and Brian Kawakami) who survive the meeting are told they can redeem themselves by taking care of a certain matter.

Three weeks later, we enter Normal with Ulysses Richardson (Bob Odenkirk). Since the previous sheriff died unexpectedly of a combination of heart attack and hypothermia, Ulysses has been hired for an eight-week stint as sheriff until a town election can be held to permanently fill the position.

Ulysses leaves long phone messages for his estranged wife Penny. (Ulysses, Penelope, we get it: he’s on an odyssey.) These serve as voiceovers for the audience and let us know that Ulysses used to be regular law enforcement. Now he’s taking these temporary nomadic gigs. He’s depressed, pining for Penny, but unsure if he can settle with her back home or settle at all anywhere after a tragic incident left him unmoored.

At first, NORMAL seems to mostly live up to its name. The residents are cheery but not overly so – they are closer to, well, normal than their counterparts in, say, FARGO – and most folks are welcoming.

Ulysses notes that some of the official buildings are more impressive than one might expect in a place like Normal but otherwise doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

And so, we wait for the other shoe to drop. It does, with a series of great big bloody bangs that involve massive amounts of guns, explosives and other anti-personnel equipment.

Director Ben Wheatley is known for quirky, black comedy action (and horror), and demonstrates his chops with choreographing mayhem, from one-on-one to almost battle sequences.

The screenplay by Derek Kolstad, from a story he crafted with actor Odenkirk, is adept at creating a toppling dominoes effect, where little ripples wind up causing huge eruptions.

There are some pleasing subplots, one involving the sheriff’s adult child (an affecting Jess McLeod) and another involving a pair of likable miscreants (Reena Jolly, Brendan Fletcher) who are new in town. Henry Winkler and Lena Headey have some strong moments as, respectively, the town mayor and a knowledgeable bartender.

Odenkirk provides the sense of a solid moral center and he’s an easy focal point all the way through.

However, Ulysses doesn’t have the background that Odenkirk’s Hutch Mansell had in the NOBODY movies (also written/co-written by Kolstad), where the character used to be a black ops guy. Ulysses really was a regular sheriff, so while we go with the flow in NORMAL, his skills seem somewhat abruptly acquired.

For that matter, a lot of action films start humorous and get darker as they get gorier. In NORMAL, the mood is slightly wistful at the beginning and then become progressively more outrageous. This results in a tone that is a little off-kilter, though not so much that it overpowers the entire enterprise.

Fans of the genre, Odenkirk, unlikely weapons, and/or NOBODY may have a few reservations, but should basically have a good time with NORMAL.

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