Normal Isn’t Nobody 3. It’s What Happens When Hot Fuzz Moves to Minnesota and Meets the Yakuza

Normal Isn’t Nobody 3. It’s What Happens When Hot Fuzz Moves to Minnesota and Meets the Yakuza

An F’nAround Movie Review

There is absolutely nothing normal about Normal.

That should probably be obvious from the moment Bob Odenkirk wanders into a tiny Minnesota town where everybody is suspiciously friendly, the local government seems a little too interested in keeping things quiet, the police department appears considerably better armed than the population would justify, and eventually everybody seems perfectly comfortable trying to murder the new sheriff.

But if you sit down to watch Normal because you saw Bob Odenkirk holding a gun on the poster and thought, Oh cool, basically another Nobody, you’re only partially right.

The better description might be:

Take the laissez-faire, underestimated-ass-kicker energy of Nobody, drop him into the structure of Hot Fuzz, replace rural England with snow-covered Minnesota, replace the sinister small-town English conspiracy with a secret involving the Yakuza, sprinkle some Fargo over everything, and see how long Bob Odenkirk can survive.

That’s Normal.

And it is ridiculously fun.

Welcome to Normal, Minnesota. Please Ignore All the Guns.

Odenkirk plays Ulysses Richardson, a temporary sheriff arriving in Normal, Minnesota, looking for something approaching peace.

That doesn’t happen.

Ulysses is coming into the job carrying personal problems and some professional baggage, and initially he seems like exactly the sort of guy you’d expect to quietly finish a temporary assignment without turning the town into a war zone.

Then a bank robbery goes sideways.

And suddenly the sleepy little town starts looking considerably less sleepy.

The official synopsis is Ulysses discovers a dark secret after the robbery and eventually finding practically everyone trying to shoot him all before the Yakuza arrive. That is somehow both an accurate description and an understatement.

This is where the Hot Fuzz comparison becomes almost impossible to ignore.

Not because Normal copies Hot Fuzz. It doesn’t.

It’s because both movies understand how inherently funny it is to take an almost absurdly peaceful little community and gradually reveal that the tranquility isn’t accidental.

Something is maintaining it.

In Hot Fuzz, Nicholas Angel arrives in Sandford and discovers that the picturesque English village isn’t quite what the tourism brochure suggests.

In Normal, Ulysses arrives in Minnesota and discovers essentially the American version of:

Why the hell is everyone in this tiny town acting so weird?

Except instead of village fetes, garden competitions and “the greater good,” we’ve got bank money, firearms, bloodshed and the Yakuza.

It’s Hot Fuzz after several years of American inflation.

Bob Odenkirk Has Found the World’s Strangest Action-Movie Niche

Bob Odenkirk as an action star still shouldn’t work.

Which is precisely why it works.

Most action stars enter the room looking like they’re capable of killing everybody in it.

Odenkirk enters looking like he’s about to explain why your insurance claim was denied.

That’s the magic.

Audiences already know him from Bob Odenkirk’s career as Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, while Nobody transformed that ordinary-guy appearance into an action weapon.

But there’s an important distinction between Hutch Mansell and Ulysses.

Hutch’s entire gimmick in Nobody is that the boring suburban dad is secretly extraordinarily dangerous. He’s a former government assassin whose abilities have been sitting underneath the surface.

Normal doesn’t simply repeat that trick.

Even RogerEbert.com’s review points out that distinction: unlike the Nobody films, where Odenkirk’s supposedly ordinary suburban father has a hidden history as an elite killer, Ulysses is much closer to an actual ordinary man.

And that makes the violence funnier.

Ulysses doesn’t have to be John Wick.

He needs to survive long enough to figure out why an entire Minnesota town suddenly wants him dead.

There’s still a little of that Nobody laissez-faire attitude to him the increasingly exhausted sense that apparently we’re doing this now but Normal doesn’t require us to believe Ulysses has spent decades secretly developing the ability to murder 14 people with a stapler.

He’s capable.

He’s stubborn.

He’s resourceful.

And most importantly, he’s Bob Odenkirk.

Then Henry Winkler Shows Up

And whoever decided Henry Winkler needed to be the mayor of America’s least normal small town deserves credit.

Henry Winkler plays Mayor Kibner.

Yes.

The Fonz is the mayor.

For older audiences, Winkler will forever be Arthur “Fonzie” Fonzarelli from Happy Days. More recently, an entirely different generation knows him as acting teacher Gene Cousineau in Barry, a role that demonstrated just how good Winkler remains when comedy and something darker are happening simultaneously.

That makes him perfect here.

There’s something inherently wonderful about seeing one of television’s most lovable personalities occupying the political center of a town where practically nothing should be taken at face value.

And Cersei Lannister Is Pouring Drinks

Then there’s Lena Headey as Moira.

Most viewers will immediately recognize Headey as Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones. Movie audiences also know her as Queen Gorgo from 300.

Here she’s the bartender Ulysses befriends.

And if you’ve watched enough movies, you already understand an important rule:

When Cersei Lannister is standing behind the bar in a town where everyone is behaving strangely, you should probably pay attention.

The supporting cast includes Ryan Allen as Deputy Blaine Anderson, Billy MacLellan as Deputy Mike Nelson, Reena Jolly as Lori, Brendan Fletcher as Keith, Peter Shinkoda as Joe and Jess McLeod as Alex. Fletcher will be familiar to some viewers from Violent Night, while Shinkoda has appeared in projects including Daredevil and The Predator.

It’s an intentionally eclectic cast, and that works because Normal is essentially populated by people who constantly make you wonder:

Is this person harmless, completely insane, or about to shoot somebody?

Sometimes the answer is all three.

The John Wick DNA Isn’t Accidental

The action pedigree here isn’t something we’re imagining.

Normal is directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Derek Kolstad, with the story developed by Kolstad and Odenkirk. Kolstad also created John Wick and wrote Nobody. Magnolia itself markets Normal as coming from the creators of John Wick and Nobody.

That explains why the violence has that particular combination of choreography, absurdity and dark humor.

But director Ben Wheatley pushes it somewhere stranger.

Rather than building another mythology of assassins, gold coins and underground organizations, Normal traps the audience inside an increasingly ridiculous small-town mystery.

That’s the smartest decision the movie makes.

Because we don’t really need another Nobody.

We already have Nobody.

What we apparently did need was Nobody Goes to Minnesota and Accidentally Finds American Hot Fuzz.

Hot Fuzz, But Make It Minnesota

The similarities become especially entertaining when you look at the basic architecture.

An outsider law-enforcement officer arrives in an idyllic little community.

Everyone seems friendly.

Almost too friendly.

Something isn’t right.

The deeper the cop investigates, the more the supposedly harmless citizens become involved.

The pleasant little town gradually transforms into an armed nightmare.

Then all hell breaks loose.

That’s Hot Fuzz.

And it’s also remarkably close to the engine underneath Normal.

The difference is cultural.

Hot Fuzz weaponized the absurdity of the idyllic English village.

Normal weaponizes the mythology of the quiet American Midwest.

Snow.

Small businesses.

Local cops.

The friendly bartender.

The mayor everybody knows.

The bank.

People who probably know what you ordered for breakfast before you do.

And, naturally:

The Yakuza.

Because Minnesota.

The film even carries some unmistakable Fargo energy. The Associated Press similarly noted the Midwestern setting, exaggerated violence and Coen-brothers flavor surrounding the movie.

But Normal isn’t trying to become Fargo either.

It just understands the same fundamental joke:

Extreme violence becomes strangely funny when everybody committing it sounds like they should also be reminding you that there’s hotdish in the refrigerator.

Ninety Minutes Is Exactly What This Movie Needs

Another thing Normal gets right?

It doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The movie runs roughly 90 minutes.

Thank you.

Not every action movie needs to become a 147-minute exploration of childhood trauma, international criminal governance and the metaphysical consequences of punching somebody through a window.

Sometimes we can simply establish:

Bob Odenkirk.

Minnesota.

Bank robbery.

Something is very wrong.

Yakuza.

Everybody has guns.

Go.

And Normal goes.

It’s Stupid. That’s a Compliment.

The movie currently sits at 77% from critics and 76% from verified audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, which feels remarkably appropriate. The critical consensus essentially describes it as ridiculous, violent entertainment powered by Odenkirk and Wheatley’s carnage.

That’s exactly the lane.

Normal isn’t asking you to analyze the socioeconomic implications of Yakuza monetary policy in rural Minnesota.

Although, knowing us at F’nAround, give us another week.

It’s asking you to accept an increasingly insane premise and enjoy watching Bob Odenkirk navigate it.

And sometimes that’s enough.

Actually, sometimes that’s exactly what movies are supposed to be.

The F’nAround Verdict

If you liked Nobody, you’re probably going to enjoy Normal.

But don’t walk into it expecting Hutch Mansell 2.0.

Think of Odenkirk’s Nobody persona as the starting ingredient rather than the finished product.

Take away the super-assassin mythology.

Keep the exhausted middle-aged-guy-who-has-had-enough energy.

Add the escalating small-town conspiracy structure of Hot Fuzz.

Trade Sandford, Gloucestershire for Normal, Minnesota.

Trade “the greater good” for a Yakuza-connected secret.

Throw in some Fargo Midwestern absurdity.

Add Henry Winkler.

Put Cersei Lannister behind the bar.

Give practically everybody a firearm.

Shake violently.

Serve immediately.

That’s Normal.

It isn’t particularly normal.

It isn’t particularly subtle.

And it absolutely doesn’t need to be.

F’nAround Rating:

Come for Bob Odenkirk doing his Nobody thing.

Stay because somehow American Hot Fuzz with the Yakuza in Minnesota turns out to be a movie concept we didn’t know we needed.