NORMAL LIFE
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
Normal Life (1996) 1/2 out of ***** - Cast: Ashley Judd, Luke Perry. Written by: Peg Haller and Bob Schneider. Directed by: John McNaughton. Running Time: 104 minutes.
With "Normal Life", Ashley Judd has now joined Debra Eisenstadt of "Oleanna" and Robin Wright of "Forrest Gump" as playing one of the most evil, despicable, frustratingly ridiculous and unsympathetic female characters in movie history. This is not a good accomplishment.
"Normal Life" is loosely based on true events. Hard to believe, but something vaguely similar to this actually happened somewhere in the history of mankind. Luke Perry stars as a rookie police officer who meets up with drug and alcohol addicted Ashley Judd in a bar. Somehow, the two fall in love and eventually get married. During this time, Perry starts to realize that the woman he loves is completely out of her mind. How do we know she's insane? Oh, she hides from her in-laws, argues completely irrational points with her husband, mutilates her body, plays russian roulette for kicks, and shows up to her father-in-law's funeral wearing roller skates.
What does Perry do to help the situation? Does he get her some counseling? Does he leave her? No. She has one day of rehab. That's it. Meanwhile, Perry is having confrontations with the police force because he won't go along with certain lies another officer is telling. Because Perry is so moralistic and ethical, he quits his job rather than betray his principles.
The couple was already experiencing financial difficulties, but now things get worse. Perry takes on odd jobs to make ends meet, and Judd just keeps spending more and more money on junk. Perry, completely ethical, ca
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