In just a handful of films, Bob Odenkirk has quickly solidified himself as the everyman-hero of action cinema. Building on another franchise's duo of entries, director Ben Wheatley, himself no stranger to ballistic cinema, continues to promote Odenkirk as just a 'normal' guy put through extraordinary circumstances in their new film, Normal.
For Sheriff Ulysses (Odenkirk), his provisional posting to the quaint Midwestern American town of Normal was meant to be a welcome respite from both his marital woes and recent moral injuries in the line of duty. But when a botched bank robbery interrupts the municipality’s tranquil pace, a dark secret is inadvertently exposed, and Ulysses soon discovers that the town is anything but its namesake.
Magnolia Pictures will release Normal this Spring, and the official teaser trailer has arrived today. It spends the first half of its short run time setting up the idyllic town of Normal before everything goes to hell, guns spray hot lead, and knives swish through the air at their intended targets. Fans of blow-everything-up cinema should be pleased.
Our own Kurt caught Normal when it premiered at TIFF this September.
Sight gags, and I mean that quite literally in the form of winching eye trauma at both the knitting shop and the hardware store, are the tip of the iceberg on the creative action set-ups that abound for the remainder of the film, which I will not spoil. Suffice it to say, just as the town descends into violent chaos, the winter squall hits and cuts the power, and the rest of the Yakuza hop on a transatlantic flight.While Wheatley may not quite have the flair for entering and exiting frame and scene-transition comedy that Edgar Wright uses, his kind of Minnesota-nice Hot Fuzz excels in action set-ups and nasty pay-offs. Every townsperson (including a small but critical part by Lena Headey that brings a bit of weight to Ulysses's back-story) and nearly every building in town offers a location for violence that is well-staged, precise, and often, unexpectedly funny.
Don't miss Normal when it hits cinemas nationwide on April 17, 2026.
Directed by Ben WheatleyWritten by Derek KolstadProduced by Marc Provissiero, Bob Odenkirk, and Derek Kolstad in partnership with QWGmireExecutive Producers Molly C. Quinn, Matthew M. Welty, and Elan Gale, along with Josh Adler, Rhonda Baker, Carrie Wilkins, Glenn Feig, Matthew J. Anderson, Jared D. Underwood, Andrew C. Robinson, and Ellen RutterStarring Bob Odenkirk, Henry Winkler, and Lena HeadeyThe latest collaboration between Bob Odenkirk, JOHN WICK creator Derek Kolstad and NOBODY producer Marc Provissiero, director Ben Wheatley’s (FREE FIRE, HIGH RISE) kinetic neo-Western stars Odenkirk as an unassuming substitute sheriff with a troubled past who, after moving to a small, sleepy town, responds to a bank robbery and unknowingly uncovers something far more explosive.