Normal
What’s it rated? R
When? 2025
Where’s it showing? HBO Max
Directed by Ben Wheatley (Meg 2: The Trench, Free Fire, Kill List) from Derek Kolstad’s script based on a story co-written with star Bob Odenkirk, Normal follows an interim sheriff, Ulysses (Odenkirk), of the fictional town of Normal, Minnesota. After a botched bank robbery, Ulysses discovers the town’s bank is safeguarding a huge stash of gold, cash, and weapons belonging to a yakuza crime syndicate.
Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler) offers to cut Ulysses in on the town’s sweet deal with the yakuza, but he refuses, and now the town’s deputies want Ulysses dead, and the yakuza are on their way to protect their interests.
If you’ve enjoyed Odenkirk’s other forays into roles as an unlikely action hero—Nobody (2021) and Nobody 2 (2025), both penned by Kolstad, who also wrote the John Wick franchise—you’ll know what to expect.
Ulysses is just trying to do his job, keep his head down, and not ruffle any feathers, but instead he’s forced into combat mayhem as he struggles to survive. It’s certainly not as surprising or satisfying as Nobody, but Odenkirk is likeable with a hangdog everyman vibe and commendable moral core. Plus, he’s funny. (91 min.)
This article appears in August 27 – September 3, 2026.
