Main Cast: Ashley Judd, Luke Perry, Bruce Young, Jim True, Dawn Maxey
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 101 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A seemingly ordinary couple jump the tracks into disaster in this drama based on a true story. Chris Anderson (Luke Perry) is a straight-arrow cop who meets Pam (Ashley Judd) after she's hurt in a barroom fight. He asks her to dance after helping to stop her bleeding, and it's love at first sight. While Chris plays by the rules, Pam likes to drink, smoke dope, spend money, and cause trouble, and while he wants to make her happy, her emotional instability makes this no easy task. After Chris is fired and takes a job as a security guard, he can no longer pay the bills that Pam is ringing up. He uses his knowledge of security systems to rob banks, and he discovers that he's good at it. Pam eventually finds out about Chris' sideline; the prospect of danger excites her sexually, and she insists on joining in for future robberies, goading him into a crime spree that leads to tragedy. While Normal Life was planned as a theatrical release, the film debuted on premium cable after disputes between the studio and director John McNaughton; despite this, the film earned positive reviews and a cult following. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
It's easy to understand why this dark and unrelenting psychological drama never made it into movie theaters, which seem to welcome fewer and fewer films with real bite onto their screens. Though not as gloomy as his breakthrough film, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, John McNaughton's look at a suburban marriage gone awry in the worst ways doesn't hold back. Give credit to Ashley Judd, a long way from playing victimized women in much more formulaic films, for letting out all the stops in her portrayal of Pam, the picture of amorality. Normal Life follows many of the conventions of film noir, with an honest man allowing himself to be sucked into a life of crime by a no-good woman, but it is also deliberately less polished than the best films of that genre. It has the immediacy of a documentary, and even if it weren't based on a true story, Normal Life feels like a feature article you'd read in the Sunday edition of your local paper under the headline "Local Cop Gone Bad." ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide
Penelope Milford - Adele Anderson; Diane Dorsey - Head Teller; Tony Fitzpatrick - New House Neighbor; Bryan McCann - Justice of the Peace; Tony Mockus, Jr. - F.B.I. Agent; Tom Towles - Frank Anderson; Kevin Hurley - Norman; Michael Skewes - Swift; Eric Young - Chris Lawyer
Credit
Steven A. Jones - Co-producer, Jacqueline St. Anne - Costume Designer, Jeanne Caliendo - First Assistant Director, John McNaughton - Director, Elena Maganini - Editor, Robert McNaughton - Composer (Music Score), Ken Hale - Composer (Music Score), Rick Paul - Production Designer, Jean de Segonzac - Cinematographer, Richard Maynard - Producer, John Saviano - Producer, Ron Ivan Staley - Recording, Nancy Fallace - Set Designer, Curt Frisk - Sound/Sound Designer, Rick LeFevour - Stunts, Peg Haller - Screenwriter, Bob Schneider - Screenwriter
Chris (Luke Perry), a young police officer, meets the attractive and sexy Pamela (Ashley Judd), and immediately falls in love with her. Even her drug and alcohol problems cannot affect his mad love for her, and they decide to marry. As the relationship continues, more problems arise. Their passionate love is accompanied by destructive fights, and Pam's emotional problems start to surface. She shows no respect for Chris's family members, who are very important to him. Pam is also manipulative and exploits Chris' love for her, leaving him to do all the chores and making him buy her expensive things until they are on the brink of bankruptcy.
Trouble escalates when Chris loses his job, after trouble with a fellow officer. To finance Pam's lifestyle, Chris decides to earn a living by robbing banks. Pam is fascinated of his bank heists and begs him to tag along. After having finally robbed enough banks to afford a house of their own, Chris decides to stop a life of crime, much to Pam's chagrin. Pam soon leaves Chris who quickly finds himself unable to live without her. Chris then agrees to start robbing banks again which proves to be fatal for the duo.
Reactions
Peter Sobczynski writes in his article "A Good Ashley Judd Film? Believe It or Not!": "[...] her single greatest performance-indeed, one of the strongest bits of film acting that you are ever likely to see-was in what probably remains the most obscure and least-seen film of her career, John McNaughton's 1996 masterpiece "Normal Life."[2]
James Berardinelli in his article on reelviews.net: "Luke Perry, giving the most convincing performance of his career to date, makes it clear how desperately, hopelessly smitten Chris is by his wild, troubled wife." And finally: "By depicting the sham of "normality", Normal Life reminds us how fictitious and unattainable the "American dream" can be."[3]
