“Normal”: Bob Odenkirk & Derek Kolstad On Building A Genre-Swerving Action Oddity Independently, ‘John Wick’ Exits, & ‘The Room’ Remake [The Discourse Podcast]

Bob Odenkirk playing a small-town interim sheriff squaring off against the Yakuza is not a sentence that should make sense, let alone sell a movie. It sounds like a dare, or the kind of idea you giggle at before moving on. And yet, “ Normal ” takes that slightly absurd premise and treats it with just enough sincerity, grit, and tonal whiplash to make you lean in instead of check out ( read our review ). The film, starring Bob Odenkirk (“ Better Call Saul ,” “ Nobody ”) and written by Derek Kolstad — the screenwriting architect behind all the “ John Wick ” films— follows a small-town sheriff named Ulysses who finds himself pulled into a spiraling situation involving organized crime, buried history, and a small, quiet town that’s about to get a lot louder. READ MORE: ‘Balls Up’: Mark Wahlberg, Paul Walter Hauser and Peter Farrelly Go All-In On R-Rated Chaos, ‘Transformers,’ ‘Resident Evil’, ‘I Play Rocky,’ Marvel and More [The Discourse Podcast] It works because “Normal” doesn’t behave like a single movie. It slyly shapeshifts. A dry, slightly offbeat character piece suddenly turns tense and violent, then veers into dark comedy, a thriller, and back again. The movie wants you to feel those shifts, to adjust in real time, preferably with a crowd that’s hooting and hollering right alongside you.

You can listen to “Normal”: Bob Odenkirk & Derek Kolstad On Building A Genre-Swerving Action Oddity Independently, ‘John Wick’ Exits, & ‘The Room’ Remake [The Discourse Podcast] online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

“Normal”: Bob Odenkirk & Derek Kolstad On Building A Genre-Swerving Action Oddity Independently, ‘John Wick’ Exits, & ‘The Room’ Remake [The Discourse Podcast] is an episode from The Playlist Podcast Network by The Playlist.

This episode is 00:20:00 long.

This episode was published on Apr 16, 2026.

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