Normal (2026)

 

"Normal” is anything but that, it is in fact an archaic violent comedy that makes us laugh at the stupidity of greedy rural residents and the odd Midwestern weather of Wisconsin. Bob Odenkirk continues to play quirky men of mild demeanor who can demonstrate steely resolve when necessary. While never reaching the heights of “Nobody”, “Normal" does manage to be relatively entertaining and fulfill our desire for violence as entertainment.

Odenkirk stars as a law enforcement official, taking temporary assignments after his marriage seemingly broke up over his longtime law enforcement job. We will of course get slightly more detail toward the end of the film to reveal what went wrong, but just know that Sheriff Ulysses is simply trying to keep things in the style to which they were when he shows up. He is taking a job to be the interim Sheriff of a town in Wisconsin called Normal, and of course the town turns out to be normal... Abby normal , that is.

I was surprised at the start of the movie with a lengthy introduction scene featuring Yakuza. What the heck does this have to do with an American rural community?  Well we will discover that soon enough, let's just say the setup serves just to demonstrate the ruthlessness of the Yakuza, and that will become a subject of interest to everybody in the film later on.

Odenkirk comes across as a peacekeeper with a hands-off approach to law enforcement questions. So when suspicious activity breaks out, he tends to calm the situation long enough to walk away from it. Ultimately however there's going to be a situation that he can't walk away from and that's when the fireworks start. As the old saying goes" trust no one". Eventually the film plays out like a more criminalized version of Hot Fuzz. The goal here is not the greater good but the greater gelt.

The sheriff becomes a one-man Army standing up for Law and Order in the face of insane odds and over the top violence. But there is a lot of humor along the way. Henry Winkler gets a chance to play a character who's a bit of an ass, but still maintains some personal charm. We discover again, that what we find on the surface is not always what is there. Let's just say, when the bullets and RPGs start to interact there will be plenty of mess to clean up and characters that you will be satisfied to see get a little cut down to size.

Maybe it's not a great thing that violence is being used to generate humor and death is manufactured for laugh, but dadgummit that's exactly what happens in a very successful way.