Normal

If you can imagine a firearm kill, an explosion, or a knife-fight, chances are that Wheathely has packed into Normal— so bountiful are the action confrontations with various configurations of characters.

Sure, there is a subplot or two that feels a bit uncooked, but it’s easy to forgive because the movie is brisk and wickedly fun. Like its affable hero, Normal is impossible to ignore and proof that when Odenkirk takes on an action role, things are anything but normal.

As long as Odenkirk’s grumpy sheriff has his coffee and mustache intact, he is the key to finding the perfect balance. No matter how many blows the film and he take, the joy in seeing him swing freely makes it all good, family fun.

While Normal doesn’t deliver anything you haven’t seen before rife with convenience (a ton of kills occur by gruesomely funny happenstance despite an intent for murder setting these “accidents” in motion), it’s still a memorable ride for those who have already been lapping up Kolstad’s antics.

Handling it all with a detached, shrugging sense of doom, Odenkirk proves the right man for the job at hand in both of the film’s two tonally separate halves, and he’s supported by a colorful cast.

As Normal barrels toward its conclusion, it’s easy to look past the way it glosses over in-depth characterization.

Wheatley’s hyperbolic set pieces feel perfunctory rather than euphoric or hilariously bombastic.