Normal review: Bob Odenkirk is darkly hilarious in Ben Wheatleys action-packed comedy Western

Normal is an unexpected movie from Ben Wheatley. The British filmmaker made his name with bleak tales of murder, like Kill List, Sightseers, and High-Rise. Now, he's teaming with Nobody star Bob Odenkirk and screenwriter Derek Kolstad for a Western that's darkly funny, but arguably hopeful.

Fans of Nobody 1 & 2 will be glad to know that Kolstad makes sure that Odenkirk once more plays a seemingly average man, someone who can take a beating and dish one out. Wheatley fans might be stunned to see that his veer into the mainstream with Meg 2: The Trench was less a detour and more a new direction for a director who seems truly tickled to lighten up. (Maybe I was wrong about Meg 2?)

Don't mistake me. Like Wheatley's previous films, Normal will offer plenty of jaw-dropping violence with a macabre sense of humor. But the overall tone of this Midwestern crime comedy is more Coen Bros' O! Brother Where Art Thou than the Coen Bros' Fargo, which is to say, more madcap fun then menacing thrills.

Normal is a playful genre mash-up of Western and gangster movies.

Odenkirk stars as the audaciously named Ulysses Richardson, who is serving as the interim sheriff of a small town called Normal, Minnesota. Their last sheriff died, and until a new one can be elected, Ulysses is keeping the badge warm. Harboring guilt over a past misstep on the job, he's not looking to make waves. And at first, that seems easy enough, as the calls he gets are about two men aggressively haggling or a yarn seller's complaint about the consistency of color between skeins. That is, until the bank robbery. It's not just that two drifters committing armed robbery is a bigger to-do than the cops there tend to handle. It's that in messing with the bank, they're unknowingly messing with the yakuza.

That's a secret the audience is clued into with a brazenly violent opening sequence in Japan, involving self-mutilation as a form of penance before a glowering kingpin. The people of Normal have made a deal with the far-off crime syndicate to hold their money for a flashy fee. But when Ulysses uncovers this secret, the sweet small-town folk can't just let him walk away. And in a move that feels only slightly satirical, they're all armed to the teeth with guns, guns, guns. So, in the blink of an eye, Ulysses goes from trying to arrest the bank robbers (Reena Jolly and Brendan Fletcher) to teaming up with them to get out of town alive.

This plot line means Normal boasts plenty of action, including gun fights, chase scenes, and inventive battles — often with the bold style associated with gangster movies. But the core of the story is about a cowboy doubting his value. In baroque Westerns, the hero isn't a simple noble white hat. He's a man scarred by the fights he's lost and won. He wonders if the blood he's spilled is worth the peace he's achieved for his people. And feeling a bit of a black hat, he finds it difficult to connect to his community.

Normal neatly fits this concept into contemporary Minnesota, where Ulysses can handle small talk with the eccentrically Midwestern locals. But when it comes forging a deeper bond, he bristles. That is until he finds a fierce (and needed) bond with outsiders, like the aforementioned bank robbers and a local named Alex (Jess McLeod), alienated by the community because they are trans nonbinary.

Normal's politics are more playful than particular.

Kolstad's script touches on real issues in America, including the proliferation of gun violence, the economic devastation of small towns, the fear of foreign influence, and the harmful ostracization of trans people. However, the film refuses to staunchly pick a side between left or right. Normal is not here to preach to the U.S. about our problems. Instead, it's using these real issues to ground a film that's full of bonkers moments.

Mashable 101 Fan Fave: Nominate your favorite creators today.

While some have suggested the film's political ambiguity is cowardly, I found a surprising nuance there. We live in an age where the internet, its bubbles and algorithms, urge us all to believe we are one thing or the other. Endlessly, we are urged to choose a side, be it conservative or liberal, Cheetos or Oreos. It's a marketing ploy that's gotten wildly out of hand. Normal smoothly rejects such simple distinctions to explore the unexpected areas where its very different characters do have common ground. For instance, the inclusion of the trans character isn't signaled with much fanfare, but some simple visual clues and a lament about "small town" ways of thinking. That's all we need to know about this aspect of Alex's struggle, because while it is a part of their story, it is not all that defines them within Normal.

The greater focus is on a man who finds such binaries unhelpful, as what is right or wrong is often not black and white. Normal is a movie that has a deranged good time in the gray area. Its climax has fun with this moral ambiguity in a terrific way that is a mix of cynical and optimistic, yet deeply satisfying.

Bob Odenkirk is pitch-perfect in Normal.

There may be no American actor alive who better captures world-weary than Odenkirk. As Ulysses, he manages a warm but authoritative veneer when chatting with the locals (before they start trying to kill him). But in voiceover, his self-doubt reverberates as he wonders what purpose he has left in this world. He's got a badge and a gun, but he no longer knows what justice means. And Odenkirk knows how to make that moral uncertainty ache, even through a sequence where a beloved local gets turned into human gazpacho. His physicality in fight scenes reflects both reluctance and determination, a paradox that speaks to the very heart of this film: that we are all more than what we seem on the surface.

Lending stellar support is a crackling ensemble. Henry Winkler brings a sparkling charm as Normal's mayor, while Lena Headey brings a smoky, blue-collar swagger as a hot bartender. Billy MacLellan is terrifically silly as a dopey deputy, while McLeod stands strong as Ulysses' sidekick. Altogether — with a fleet of bit players who have real bite — they build an American town that is theatrically extreme and yet still achingly familiar.

With this strong cast and Kolstad's clever script, Wheatley delivers an action-comedy that is wildly entertaining, hilariously twisted, and ultimately shockingly feel-good.

Normal was reviewed out of SXSW. The film opens in theaters April 17.