‘Normal’ review: Bob Odenkirk is hilarious in Ben Wheatley’s action-packed Western comedy

Common an unexpected film from Ben Wheatley. The British filmmaker made his name with dark murder stories, such as Kill List, Spectators, again High-Rise. Now, you are cooperating with him There is no star Bob Odenkirk and screenwriter Derek Kolstad in a funny, but undeniably hopeful Western.

Followers of No 1 & 2 you’ll be happy to know that Kolstad makes sure Odenkirk once again plays a seemingly normal man, someone who can take a hit and take one out. Wheatley fans may be surprised to see his entry into the mainstream Meg 2: The ditch it was not deviant and it was a new direction for the director who seems to be tickled to be free. (Maybe I was wrong about that Meg 2?)

Don’t disturb me. Like Wheatley’s previous films, Common will provide a lot of jaw-dropping violence with great humor. But the overall tone of this Midwestern crime comedy is more than the Coen Bros’ Oh! Brother Where are you than the Coen Bros’ Fargo, that is, more madcap fun and more dangerous stuff.

Common is a playful hybrid of Western and gangster movies.

Odenkirk stars as Ulysses Richardson, who works as the part-time sheriff of a small town called Normal, Minnesota. Their last sheriff is dead, and until a new one is chosen, Ulysses keeps the badge warm. He’s harboring guilt over a past mistake at work, and he’s not looking to make waves. And at first, that seems easy enough, since the calls he gets are about two abusive men or a yarn salesman’s complaint about color consistency between skeins. That is, until the bank is robbed. It’s not just that two drifters holding an armed robbery is a bigger thing to do than the police are there. That in arguing with the bank, they are arguing with the future.

That’s the secret the audience is introduced to in Japan’s brutally violent opening act, which involves cutting oneself as a form of penitence before a flamboyant king. The people of Normal have made a deal with a distant criminal group to get their money for cheap money. But when Ulysses reveals this secret, the townspeople cannot let him go. And in a move that sounds just a little cynical, they’re all armed to the teeth with guns, guns, guns. So, in an instant, Ulysses goes from trying to arrest the bank robbers (Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher) to working with them to get out of town alive.

This plot line says Common it has a lot of action, including gunfights, chase scenes, and fictional battles – often in the bold style associated with gangster movies. But the core of the story is about a cowboy who questions his worth. In baroque Westerns, the hero is not a noble white hat. He is a man with the scars of a defeated battle again won. He wonders if the blood he shed is worth the peace he has won for his people. And feeling a little black hat, he finds it difficult to connect to his community.

Common fits the concept perfectly in present-day Minnesota, where Ulysses can hold small talk with the common Midwestern locals. But when it comes to building a deep bond, he trembles. That is until he finds a strong (and necessary) bond with outsiders, like the aforementioned bank robbers and a local named Alex (Jess McLeod), who are alienated from society because they are nonbinary.

CommonPolitics plays more than anything else.

Bob Odenkirk and Jess McLeod co-star in “Normal.”
Credit: Magnolia Pictures

Kolstad’s writing touches on real issues in America, including the rise of gun violence, the economic decline of small towns, fears of foreign influence, and the dangerous discrimination against trans people. However, the film firmly refuses to choose a side between left or right. Common he is not here to preach to the US about our problems. Instead, it uses these real issues to make a film full of bonkers moments.

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While some have suggested that the film’s political ambiguity is cowardly, I found a surprising difference there. We live in an age where the Internet, its bubbles and algorithms, encourage us all to believe that we are one thing or another. Incessantly, we are urged to choose a side, be it violent or liberal, Cheetos or Oreos. It’s a marketing strategy that has gone wild. Common it deftly rejects such simplistic distinctions to explore unexpected places where its vastly different characters share common ground. For example, the inclusion of a changing character is not marked with much love, but simple visual references and cries about “small town” ways of thinking. That’s all we need to know about this aspect of Alex’s struggle, because while it’s part of their story, it’s not everything that defines them internally. Common.

The focus is on the person who finds such guns useless, as what is right or wrong is often not black and white. Common a film with a good time lost in a gray area. Its climax revels in this terrifying moral ambiguity that is a mix of cynicism and optimism, but deeply satisfying.

Bob Odenkirk is a great host Common.

Lena Headey and Bob Odenkirk in “Normal.”
Credit: Magnolia Pictures

There may not be an American actor alive who captures a world weary better than Odenkirk. Like Ulysses, he carries a warm but authoritative veneer when he talks to the locals (before they start trying to kill him). But with the sound of the voice, his doubts are repeated as he wonders why he left this world. He has a badge and a gun, but he doesn’t know what justice means. And Odenkirk knows how to do that moral uncertainty, even in a sequence where a beloved landscape is turned into human gazpacho. His physicality in the fight scenes shows both doubt and determination, a paradox that speaks to the heart of the film: that we are all more than meets the eye.

The stellar support it lends is a cracking combination. Henry Winkler brings radiant charm as the mayor of Normal, while Lena Headey brings a smoky, blue-eyed swagger as the hot bartender. Billy MacLellan is terrifyingly stupid as the dopey deputy, and McLeod stands strong as Ulysses’ sidekick. All in all – with an array of young actors with real bite – they create an American city that is theatrically extreme and yet not well known.

With this strong cast and Kolstad’s brilliant script, Wheatley delivers a comedy that’s wildly entertaining, insanely twisted, and shockingly good.

Common reviewed outside of SXSW. The film opens in theaters on April 17.