{"id":1337,"date":"2024-07-26T19:20:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-26T19:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2024-10-14T00:42:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T04:42:37","slug":"normal-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/26\/normal-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Normal Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Normal Life <\/strong>(1996)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fine Line\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (scenes of violence, self-destructive behavior, sexuality, nudity, drug and alcohol use, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John McNaughton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peg Haller and Bob Schneider\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Robert McNaughton and Ken Hale\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jean de Segonzac\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 25, 1996 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Luke Perry, Ashley Judd, Bruce A. Young, Jim True, Penelope Milford, Edmund Wyson, Kate Walsh, Tom Towles, Michael Skewes, Scott Cummins, Kevin Mukherji.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $22,891 (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0One of the biggest cinematic injustices of the 90s was Fine Line\u2019s decision not to release the crime drama Normal Life<\/strong> theatrically, the result of a dispute with director John McNaughton (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer). It premiered on HBO instead, a move that usually indicates the movie in question wasn\u2019t deemed worthy of a theatrical release by its parent studio. Selling it off to cable stings a lot less than spending millions on marketing a movie only to see it go ignored by the public.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The problem is that movies that premiere on cable tend to be overlooked by serious film fans. It\u2019s likely that Normal Life<\/strong> would have slipped into obscurity had it not been for all the good notices it received from critics. I don\u2019t know how it would have fared at theaters if widely released; I can only say that I think it\u2019s a great film.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Although Normal Life<\/strong> is characterized as a crime drama, I prefer to think of it as a doomed love story about two people who shouldn\u2019t be together. We\u2019ve probably all known somebody that gets involved in a relationship with somebody with deep psychological problems who ultimately alienates everybody with his\/her erratic or irrational behavior. Such relationships are consuming. We can only stand by and watch helplessly as our friend, relative, co-worker or whoever loses him\/herself in this person. Sometimes our friend comes to his\/her senses and gets out it. Other times, they don\u2019t and the consequences are dire. Normal Life<\/strong>, loosely based on a real-life case, is definitely a worst case scenario.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Chris (the late Perry in his finest performance) is basically a decent person. He\u2019s a cop in the western suburbs of Chicago, a place defined by shopping centers, fast food restaurants and non-descript houses. He doesn\u2019t get on with his fellow officers because of his perceived arrogance. Pam (Judd, Ruby in Paradise), a factory worker and astronomy buff, is bipolar, suicidal and self-medicates with pot and booze. She shuts out the rest of the world by listening to metal on her Walkman. They meet one night in a bar when he witnesses her arguing with a guy and smashing a glass on the table. He comes over, tends to her cut hand and asks her to dance. She says she doesn\u2019t know how. He says he doesn\u2019t either. They hit the dance floor with her hand help up in the air. It\u2019s the start of an unhealthy relationship.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Things move quickly and before they know it, Chris and Pam are married. Their marriage is beset with problems mainly of Pam\u2019s doing. She\u2019s inconsiderate of her husband\u2019s feelings. She\u2019s rude to his parents and friends. She spends like crazy, a habit that doesn\u2019t change after he loses his job. When he tries to talk to her about it, she shuts down. Something in Chris\u2019 psychological makeup compels him to put up with all her BS- the self-destructiveness, substance abuse, suicide attempts and embarrassing behavior like showing up for a funeral in shorts and in-line skates. He loves her and wants to make her happy by giving her everything she wants but they are heavily in debt and in danger of losing their home. He finally resorts to robbing banks and discovers he has a real knack for it. Soon they\u2019re not only out of debt, he\u2019s able to start his own business, a used book store. Pam eventually finds out how he\u2019s earning a living and wants in on the action.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It would too simplistic to describe Normal Life<\/strong> as a less frenetic version of Natural Born Killers. It would also be inaccurate. For one thing, Chris and Pam aren\u2019t sociopaths like Mickey and Mallory. Their crime spree is motivated more by financial necessity than a general hatred of humanity. They\u2019re not criminals per se, they become criminals because circumstances leave them with no other choice.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The brilliant thing about Normal Life<\/strong> is how it depicts the American dream of normalcy as an unattainable illusion. There is no such thing as a \u201cnormal life\u201d in a society set up for everybody but the privileged to fail. Look what happens to an intelligent, moralistic man like Chris when he refuses to go against his principles in defending a fellow officer who crosses the line with a handcuffed arrestee. Taking all of this in, you understand why Chris resorts to illegal measures to stay afloat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I never thought I\u2019d ever say this about a cast member of 90210 but Perry delivers a brilliant performance as Chris, a good man turned bad for the love of a damaged woman he wants to save from herself. Did I say love? It\u2019s really more of an addiction. When Pam threatens to divorce him, he freaks out. Judd also turns in a great performance as Pam, a seriously disturbed woman who tells Chris on their first date about her dream of falling into a black hole so her image is forever imprinted on its event horizon. I dare say that this is Judd\u2019s finest performance as well. The chemistry between the two actors is, at once, mercurial in their characters\u2019 interactions and symbiotic in how they feed off each other.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Normal Life<\/strong> is also a best for McNaughton. That is, it\u2019s his best film since Henry which similarly dealt with a disturbed person drawing others into his web of madness. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s good or bad that McNaughton has such a deep understanding of criminal pathology, but it sure makes for a fascinating albeit disturbing viewing experience. It\u2019s a foregone conclusion that Normal Life<\/strong> will end in tragedy. A love story such as that of Chris and Pam can end only one way and it isn\u2019t happily ever after. The final moments are a raw and desperate expression of true love unlike anything since Romeo and Juliet only in this case the young, star-crossed lovers are bank robbers.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Normal Life (1996)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fine Line\/Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 102 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (scenes of violence, self-destructive behavior, sexuality, nudity, drug and alcohol use, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: John McNaughton\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Peg Haller and Bob Schneider\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Robert McNaughton and Ken Hale\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Jean de Segonzac\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 25, 1996 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Luke Perry, Ashley Judd, Bruce A. Young, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Normal-Life-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1934,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1337\/revisions\/1934"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}