If Normal were an old-school Western, Bob Odenkirk’s Sheriff Ulysses would ride into town twirling his gun, eyes squinting as the locals watched him through clouds of dust and passing tumbleweed. Instead, Ulysses, the new sheriff in Normal, Minnesota, wields a mug of coffee and a rubber stamp behind his desk.
On snowy ride-alongs with an overly smiley deputy, the locals don’t watch him with suspicion so much as a kind of aggressive defensiveness. The mayor (Henry Winkler) is kind of a creep, and the previous sheriff’s death (he was found naked after a heart attack in the snow) raises an eyebrow, but overall the job doesn’t seem too bad.
That is, until the alarm at the station goes off. There’s a robbery in progress at the bank.
Ulysses is initially baffled when the deputies hesitate to respond, but he’s in for a bigger surprise when they finally do, guns blazing. You might say that Normal, Minnesota isn’t exactly normal.
Normal is the kind of action-thriller-comedy that, once it gets going (and yes, it takes a little time to get there), turns into nonstop, bloody carnage—the kind that’s equal parts gross and giggle-inducing. Don’t get too attached to any of the townsfolk. There’s a reason they were so guarded: they’re all armed, and more than willing to blow someone’s head off.
Many, many characters are dispensed of during the mayhem, and most barely make an impression. Ulysses and his small band of misfits inevitably become the pared-down focal point, though it’s a shame to see someone like Lena Headey appear prominently in the credits only to be wasted in both screen time and character development.
Normal is a generally fun, chaotic ride, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome at a lean 90 minutes. It may not be particularly memorable, but it does what it sets out to do: deliver an action film that plays its Western tropes straight while still embracing its own absurdity. It’s a perfectly solid, popcorn-munching good time.
Plus, who doesn’t enjoy seeing the grandma who runs the local yarn store choose violence?
