Normal – Review

Opening in Osaka, Japan, Yakuza show their honor by removing fingers, until one chickens out. It doesn’t work out for him. A trail of funds however leads to… Normal, Minnesota. Normal is celebrating 152 years since the railway came to town. Woo! Also, winter storms are in town. Ulysses Richardson (Odenkirk) is in also visiting, as Normal was in need of a Sheriff. The former Sheriff Gundersen passed the last week. Certainly no mystery there.

He is acting as temp in the half-abandoned civilization, just for eight weeks until a new permanent law man is elected. He hopes to leave the town just how he found it. Deputy Mike Nelson (MacLellan) drives him from the motel to the office in the morning, in his tight jacket.

It is a close-knit town, what is left of it, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t problems. Good thing Deputy Blaine Anderson (Allen) brought the donuts. So, everything seems… by the books, eh. Good people, small problems and nothing to see here. But hey, the armory at the station sure is large. As the laid-back Richardson settles into his temporary role, the town continues to show it how Normal it really is.

Normal may not blow you away since most of its parts have been seen before, but they are all still pretty okay. Even if the film is a bit standard and by the numbers, there is fun to be had with its atmosphere of dark comedy snark on top of its action thrills. Characters featuring frenetic small-town exaggeration are layered in over the general criminal story the film is slowly revealing, which gives it a Midwest vibe.

Odenkirk fits slow-rolling lawman well, Headey gets to be a bit chill for once, and most of the Normal citizens have fun with their parts. The script could have punched the twists and turns up a notch or two to really be superior, but it brings enough to warrant a viewing story wise.