When it comes to TIFF’s Midnight Madness, I’m never walking in expecting a masterpiece. The appeal is in the energy. Whether it’s a surreal comedy, a genuinely scary horror flick, a high-voltage action thriller, or just a genre romp that thrives more on crowd reactions than airtight plotting. A strong story is a bonus, sure, but not the selling point. So when I settled in for my second Midnight Madness screening, Ben Wheatley’s latest feature, Normal, I was just hoping for a wild action comedy with Bob Odenkirk at the center. On that level, Normal absolutely delivered.
We follow Ulysses (Bob Odenkirk) come to the sleepy town of Normal, Minnesota to serve as the temporary sheriff after the passing of the original sheriff. After an explosive bank robbery, it leads Ulysses to find that a criminal underground reaches throughout the entire town of Normal.
Normal is a textbook slow-burn action film. The first 45 minutes are all set up. We meet Ulysses and get a feel for the town of Normal. Ulysses isn’t the kind of action role we’ve seen from Bob Odenkirk before. He’s just the local sheriff: sharp-eyed, steady with a gun, but hardly a top-tier fighter. And Normal itself feels like any small Midwestern town, half of it fading away while the other half clings to everyday life. That drawn-out first half can test your patience as you’re waiting for the sparks to fly, but once the bank robbery goes sideways, the movie finally kicks into the action mode you’ve been craving.
The second that bank robbery kicks off, Normal shifts into a full-throttle action comedy. Fast, funny, and wildly inventive. From shootouts tearing through the town streets to bare-knuckle brawls in a greasy diner kitchen, the set pieces are pure spectacle filled with creative kills, gleeful blood splatter, and the kind of over-the-top mayhem you can’t help but grin at. The fights are tense and ridiculous in equal measure, and the Midnight Madness crowd ate up every beat, cheering, gasping, and laughing along the way. It takes its time to get there, but once the action lands, you’re locked into the ride. And with Bob Odenkirk at the center, you can trust it’s going to be a good time.
Is Normal perfect? No, but is it a good time? Hell yes. It delivers pure, uncomplicated fun: a crowd-pleasing, blood-soaked ride that knows exactly what it is and never pretends otherwise. Sometimes that’s all you need, a film that hits hard, makes you laugh, and leaves you grinning on the way out.
My Rating: B
Leave a Reply