Normal

Call me stupid, but I did not get the point of this movie. As I am about to watch the Carrie-Anne Moss "videography" I kind of had to go through this one. ..and this is a tough I can tell.

Although there are quite interesting scenes - whether it is some nude scene (which are quite authentic) - this movie seemed not to come to an end. This is about regret, hope, affairs, pain, .. just too much of everything for me but nothing done the right (intense) way as it should be. The scenes are just to short and too much seesaw as one could get into it. It is as if the director wanted to put just everything in - whether it fits or not..

The plot could be told told in two sentences.. The story is nothing new.. There are many "side"plots which seem so go no where, that cross each other from time to time what made me lose the thread and finally the interest in this movie. The camera is very shaky in some scenes..

anyhow I like the actors but this is - to sum it up - neither fish nor fowl. Maybe you like it - or understand it - then tell me please ;)

This film is actually for the beginners. Beginner everything. Beginner cine-goer, beginner observer, beginner lover, beginner recuperating person. It did not tell me anything I already did not know. But I liked the style of representation in this film. Similar situations do happen in real life, though sometimes much less predictable, much more pivotal, and beyond redemption. There is, however, no point in making a film on what is the worst that could happen. It makes all the more sense to show while on your way to the last stand, at the edge of loneliness, what it is that you would cling on to or let go of. Sometimes that thing is within your reach, sometimes it is not. Sometimes it is well-deserved, sometimes it is just a matter of chance. This film looks into some such characteristic cases.

Pretty much everyone in this film did what they had been asked of, I think. That was not much of a challenge. They are making more films like these nowadays, so probably it will not leave any deep impression for the days to come. But still, watching it just once will not be an utterly disappointing or revolting experience. You can raise questions, of course. But as you will soon realize, the answer to most questions is "It was never really meant to be a masterpiece or anything." And that pretty much sums it up!

Catherine (Carrie-Anne Moss) is still suffering after her 16 year old son died in a car crash. Dale (Andrew Airlie) is her frustrated husband. Jordie (Kevin Zegers) just got out of juvenile detention after crashing a stolen car. Carl (Michael Riley) is his angry father. Walt (Callum Keith Rennie) is a guilt-ridden college professor with an autistic brother Dennis. They are all connected by one incident as each has to search for normal.

There are some good acting here. I really like Carrie-Anne Moss. However it's just a tough movie to keep watching. It is a depressing movie to begin with but the three separate story lines make it disjointed and more difficult. It's never going to be a summer popcorn movie, but it's a little tougher than I even anticipated. The movie needs a few more connections with these stories. That's where the drama could truly explode exponentially. This could be even better if this movie is about Jordie, Catherine and Walt meeting and dealing with each other. It happens eventually but I would want this to be the entire movie. It happens a little too late.

This movie isn't exactly a barrel of laughs and moves at a snails pace. Would I watch it again? Not a chance although it was OK because of the acting. With gratuitous sex scenes and too many scenes that went absolutely nowhere, 'Normal' is quite a hard watch as the viewer keeps expecting some massive event to happen. Guess what? It doesn't.

A major problem is that the vast majority of the characters are totally unlikeable which is always a problem and the pace of the film which is just way too slow. When it finally ended I felt nothing at all and was glad that it had finished to be honest. Completely mediocre.

Beware, don't watch this if you're depressed or wanting some entertainment! We're introduced to an interesting gallery in the start of the movie, and the actors are doing their job. Great cast, but that's about all. It's sort of annoying that we don't clay understand if the main event in the film, the loss of a teenager, already has happened or not. Carrie Anne Moss, which is great as always, finally makes us think it's happened.

And that sums up my main problem with this movie. I think you really need to get the whole story to get to feel the tragedy. When we finally understand, after 13 minutes, it's almost too late. How is a loss that long time ago able to be so profound on so many? The mother is feeling she didn't know her lost son that well, And then the other son still living is as unloved as can be!!!

It's also told in a for me a bit too depressive way. There's nothing positive to too see for the first half an hour. Tragic human lives, and I both Moss and Kevin Zegers difficult to like. And the people keep insulting each other on a too large scale for me to believe in. Even the persons on you think you'll like ends up beeping unlikeable. And if that's not enough, people here which don't like each other ends up having sex. Is it the times? That also makes it more difficult to identify with the main characters.

And then when you expect the film to take off, nothing simply happens. It feels like a kind of a disjointed story. The actors are not to blame, and not so much the instruction either, I think. They all do a good job. The manuscript is probably the main problem.

Sorry to see such a good cast go to waste in a film like this. The persons are not only insulting each other, the filmmakers are insulting us viewers. Go rather see the great film "The dead girl" by Karen Moncrieff, which is also based on a similar idea, but much more gripping told and well done.