Normal

Normal. My parent’s favorite adjective when telling me how to act. But in the context of the new film, Normal is a fictional town in Minnesota where our hero, played by Bob Odenkirk, is hired as the interim Sheriff. However, it turns out that Normal isn’t that normal.

We quickly learn that the town has a secret and everyone in that town is willing to fight the temporary Sheriff to keep things the way they are. I like the premise of this film. The idea is great, but I felt like the execution was like me whenever I drive with a blindfold. It was all over the place. (If you’re wondering why I drive with the blindfold it’s the only way to keep 100% of the sun out of your eyes. Safety first!)

In a nutshell, do you remember in Hot Fuzz when Simon Pegg is fighting everyone in the town at the end of the movie? Normal was channeling that but without the comedy aspect of it. I feel like the comedy is what made that work. And if you don’t have the comedy, the action needs to be clean and on-point and I feel like it wasn’t quite there.

For example, there were too many “accidental” deaths. The type you see where someone trips and falls onto a knife, or something conveniently falls off the wall and kills someone when the good guy runs out of bullets. My opinion is you’re only allowed one of those per movie, otherwise leave that bit to Final Destination. (And screw you Final Destination! I still can’t drive behind a logging truck because of you!)

All that being said, Bob Odenkirk is an absolute boss. And if you can get past the points I bring up above, and are looking for a shoot em’ up that you don’t have to think much about, this might be worth the watch when it’s available on streaming. Therefore, we’re giving this our “Wait for Streaming” rating. Some may disagree, but that’s Normal.

🛶= Wait for Streaming