Went a gala screening of NORMAL, the new Ben Wheatley film, last night. It’s an enjoyably quirky little action/comedy/crime caper, written by Derek Kolstad and shares a lot of DNA with his previous work on John Wick and Nobody, and also shares it’s star – Bob Odenkirk – with this one.
I guess it could be described as a dumber, noisier, high-octane version of Fargo (though more like TV show than the movie). And while it was a bit silly, there were few moments in it where I didn’t have a big goofy grin on my face from the sheer amount of fun I was having with it. Bob Odenkirk is always a very watchable lead, and his amiable gruffness carries the film well, with enough commitment to his character to paper over any wobbles in plot logic or tone.
Looks nice too – gun fights in the snow look very cool. And the score by Harry Gregson-Williams lends a suitably Tony-scott-esque sense of Hollywood action epic grandeur to the proceeedings.
The Q&A afterwards, with Ben Wheatley, Bob Odenkirk and Billy MacLellen, was pretty entertaining too. Ben talked through some of the production hijinks they faced, shooting in some pretty extreme conditions. And using a fake Moose prop 🙂
Anyway, it’s a fun movie. Not a classic, but a solid 6 out of 10, and well worth watching after a couple of beers!
