US Edition
Bob Odenkirk Survived the Worst and Came Out the Other Side an Action Hero
Bob Odenkirk’s sheriff uncovers a townwide conspiracy and faces the yakuza as Magnolia opens the genre-bending film on about 2,000 screens.
- On Friday, the neo-noir film 'Normal' hits theaters, starring actor Bob Odenkirk as Ulysses, a principled small-town sheriff taking a temporary posting in a sleepy corner of Minnesota called Normal.
- Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by 'John Wick' creator Derek Kolstad, the genre-scrambling film establishes itself as a modern-day Western noding to 'Fargo' territory while inverting genre standards with a loose hold on reality.
- Upon arriving in the quaint town of 1,890 residents, Ulysses stumbles into a mystery involving his dead predecessor and suspiciously well-armed locals sitting on enormous wealth, eventually facing the Japanese Yakuza.
- Continuing his unexpected turn to action after the sleeper hit 'Nobody' franchise, Odenkirk portrays a clumsy regular guy aiming for grounded performance rather than invincibility following his 2021 heart incident.
- Distributor Magnolia is giving the film its biggest theatrical push to date, opening on approximately 2,000 screens, with the Motion Picture Association rating the movie R for strong bloody violence and language.
16 Articles
16 Articles
Movie Review: Bob Odenkirk’s sheriff is new to town in the gory thriller ‘Normal’
Over the years, we’ve seen countless characters wander into corrupt small towns and become entrapped by the locals. Usually, the mean face of these movies is the town sheriff. The best recent example: Don Johnson’s crooked lawman in 2024’s “Rebel…
Movie Review: Bob Odenkirk's sheriff is new to town in the gory thriller 'Normal' - The Morning Sun
Over the years, we’ve seen countless characters wander into corrupt small towns and become entrapped by the locals. Usually, the mean face of these movies is the town sheriff. The best recent example: Don Johnson’s crooked lawman in 2024’s “Rebel Ridge.” But in Ben Wheatley’s “Normal,” the good guy drifting into town IS the sheriff. Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) has come to Normal, Minnesota, in the dead of winter to fill in for the town’s recently dec…
‘Normal’ Review: The Jokes — and the Bullets — Fly Freely in Bob Odenkirk’s Latest Action-Hero Role
Editor’s note: This review was originally published during the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Magnolia Pictures releases “Normal” in theaters starting April 17, 2026. A few years ago, the idea of Bob Odenkirk in an action role was novel. Now there are enough of them to get them mixed up. Part of the problem is that “Normal” sounds a lot like 2021’s “Nobody,” the movie that launched this latest chapter in Odenkirk’s career; both evoke …
Bob Odenkirk as the new sheriff in a small town with a big secret in a humorous, bloody neo-Western.
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