IMDb user comments for
Normal Life (1996)

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17 comments in total

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7 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Good performances & well plotted, 16 October 2001
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

The film starts with the FBI arresting Luke Perry during a car robbery and tracks back to two years prior. It is at this point that Perry first meets Ashley Judd and his life begins to change. Essentially he becomes trapped by his love with a woman that is clearly no good for him - leading to fights, crime and his eventual capture.

Perry takes a huge leap away from his 90210 posterboy image with a good haunted performance as the man forced to live outside his small-town "normal life" by Judd's desire for more excitement than a small town can give.

Ashley Judd is excellent as Pam, constantly riddled with suffering and inconsistency as she flies around emotionally, cuts herself with knives and puts guns to her head and only finds peace when taking drugs, spending money or stealing. The only criticism is that she is required to be nude almost once every ten minutes - this doesn't develop her character and made me think that the director wanted to have it there to satisfy the men in the audience, it almost like she was being exploited.

Overall the film is well plotted and makes Perry's change almost believable - however his final change doesn't totally make sense. That said it's a pretty emotional ride that doesn't let you get bored at any point, is well acted and well scripted. All through the film you can't help but feel sad for Perry as he is henpecked, corrupted and ultimately tormented by Judd's childish alluring Pam.

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6 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Movie, but Could Be Better with a Simple Modification in the Screenplay, 23 March 2008

Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

When the honest and idealistic policeman Chris Anderson (Luke Perry) meets the gorgeous and sexy, but alcoholic and drug addicted Pam (Ashley Judd) in a bar, they date and have great sex. Chris immediately falls in love for Pam and marries her, but the reckless and emotionally unbalanced wife brings troubles to his relationship with his family and spends her credit card in futilities, leading the couple to financial problems. When Chris loses his job in the police department, he concludes that they are insolvent and decides to heist banks to resolve their financial issues.

I have just watched "Normal Life" for the second time and my opinion remains the same: it is a great movie, but could be better with a simple modification in the screenplay. In the beginning of the story, the fate of Chris and Pam is unnecessarily disclosed, and the viewer watches the film knowing that the FBI and the police arrest Chris and chase Pam and consequently breaking the tension or the imagination of the viewer. Ashley Judd astonishingly sexy and Luke Perry have great performances and chemistry in this modern Bonnie and Clyde story apparently based on true events. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Fronteiras do Crime" ("Borders of the Crime")

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Illogical Love, 2 April 2007

Author: CMUltra (collectormanultra@yahoo.com) from US and Japan

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Normal Life is simply about the illogical love Chris (Luke Perry) has for Pam (Ashley Judd).

From the love-at-first-sight moment you know his attraction is there but, other than the physical appeal, you can't understand why. The first time he sees her, she's drunk and having a fight with what seems to be her boyfriend. She smashes a glass and cuts her hand. She's definitely attractive (Judd always is) so Chris overlooks her odd behavior and plays the knight in shining armor role as he tends to her cut.

The attraction is immediately so strong that he tracks her down at her workplace to see her again. He's a cop. When he sees her the second time she's sitting in her car outside her job smoking pot. He overlooks this as well and they go to an isolated area to lie in the grass and look at the stars. She's heavy into astronomy.

She initiates sex with him and, during the intercourse, he innocently says she's "crazy." She goes berserk, breaks off the copulation, runs screaming to her car and very nearly runs him over. He explains that he meant nothing bad by the comment and, once again, accepts her behavior.

This is the theme that continues. No matter what Pam does, Chris loves her. He's not blind. He recognizes Pam's attitudinal deficiencies and points them out to her. He struggles to help her change and become a better person. But when she doesn't change he must either leave her or change himself to fit her life. He does the latter.

Chris is not only a cop when the movie begins but also a straight arrow. He does not condone cutting corners, or police brutality. However he ignores his strict code of ethics when he finds Pam smoking pot the first time. That lets us know right away that, while he will try to change her, he is willing to sacrifice all of his personal standards to be with her. By the end of the movie he is a bank robber and a murderer.

Normal Life is a neat snapshot of what folks like Chris go through when they allow another person to become the end-all, be-all of their life. They begin to define their own life by the other person. They do not have the strength to let go. Some glimpses of Chris' parents are given but it is incomplete. We do not know if the family is truly dysfunctional or if there are difficulties exacerbated by his father's illness.

Perry was enjoyable as Chris. He played the character with a realistic edge. Chris was typically reserved and soft-spoken but Perry made it clear that there was high tension underneath.

Judd (one of my favorite actresses) was not so adept with Pam. In order to portray hysteria I think you have to go there, otherwise the acting is painfully obvious. That's what I saw here. In other scenes she did fine as she took Pam along the edge of a normal life. When Pam needed to turn on the charm, Judd excelled. The further Pam went the other direction, the more the performance suffered.

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5 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A decent, modern "Bonnie and Clyde", 29 October 1998

Author: John Nestor

I must admit that seeing 90210's Luke Perry in Normal Life's leading role did not inspire me, but after watching this film I was pleasantly surprised. The foreshadowing scene at the very start of the film gives a sense of foreboding doom that pervades the rest of the story. Pam (Ashley Judd) is a woman torn between living on the edge and having a normal, storybook life. Chris (Luke Perry) longs for such a life, but also seems to be excited by Pam's wild side. He goes from cop to bank robber in a first successful, but then futile attempt to make things right, which only seems to excite Pam more. Eventually their luck runs out, and the inevitable ensues. The last 15 minutes of this film are the best part with some surprising twists right near the end.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Well drawn characters of a hopelessly incompatible couple., 30 August 2004

Author: raymond-15 from Australia

An incompatible couple try to find a normal life. Differences of opinion constantly lead to outbursts of anger and threats of ending the partnership. Pam (Ashley Judd) is an irresponsible woman who makes up for the lack of excitement in her life by indulging in drugs and alcohol. She is certainly not content to be a housewife. Policeman Chris (Luke Perry) on the other hand is a level-headed husband who pampers her in every material way. He is soon in dreadful debt.

The turbulent life-style of these two main characters occupy the screen most of the time and we feel there is no hope for either of them. Indeed their incompatibility is enough to put one totally off marriage. Their shouting matches are quite savage and somewhat depressing.

When Chris resigns from the police force and discovers a new way to riches and living life to the full, excitement takes over and the characters are fired with a new enthusiasm. Pam insists she be a part of this new game and for a time she becomes a new woman.

The characters are well drawn, the car chases quite exciting. This change of mood spices up their sex lives clearly depicted in a series of bedroom scenes.

The final sequences are dramatic and exciting so stay with the film to the end. The old saying that "Crime does not pay" is clearly delivered and understood.

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4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Ashley Judd's best performance since "Ruby in Paradise", 19 June 2000
Author: Bothan from Birmingham, Alabama

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

***SPOILER WARNING***

There is a theory about misguided, abused women that some men seem to have, the idea that with a little patience and understanding that he can somehow be just exactly the savior she needs.

That would apply to Chris Anderson (Luke Perry), who meets such a woman in a bar one night after she has a fight with her boyfriend. Her name is Pam (Ashley Judd) and she cuts herself but he asks her to dance anyway. They fall in love, move in together and get married. He is so obsessed by her that we sense that he would do anything to make her happy.

This is not an easy task since Pam is not always a pleasant person. She is a hateful manic-depressive, who has had suicide attempts, drinks too much and dreams of falling through a black hole. She is always seeming to want to push Chris' button just to see how much he can take. The role of savior seems to keep him from strangling her. He will stick this out no matter what.

He loses his job as a police officer and eventually turns to robbing banks in order to fulfill her needs (namely spending his money hand over fist) and his own. She is excited about the idea that he has turned to crime. Finally, he has found something that makes her happy.

The movie was directed by John McNaughton who specializes in films about people drawn to the other side of the law. He made the far darker `Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer' but in both films we see people who for one reason or another must commit crimes, not for the money but for the need to do so.

The movie is nothing without the performance of Ashley Judd who does a complete turn around from her equally great performance in `Ruby in Paradise'. There she was a sweet woman looking to be independent. Here, (in a role many actresses would have turned down), she plays a rather nasty, disturbed woman who found a puppet who is willing to dance for her.

Rating: ***1/2 (of four)

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
., 25 August 2007

Author: kaliphornia_dreemin from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I thought this was a great movie. Regardless of Luke Perry looking like he isn't much of a tough guy in most of his roles, he's still a pretty good actor. Ashley Judd is a phenomenal actress and was perfect, as usual, in her role.

For being a fact-based story, I was glad to see that it wasn't Hollywood-ed up, for lack of a better word. I just wish that when they make movies like this, they get more detailed about it so that the viewers can understand how being in love could drive someone to do what these two people did.

Anyway, I think people will enjoy this, if only for the fact that Mrs. Judd is unclothed through much of the movie...lol

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
No Redeeming Qualities, 19 June 2008

Author: Chris Mercurio from United States

I'm surprised to see so many positive reviews for this movie. This is the first movie I've seen in a while with no redeeming qualities. It's a shame that I caught this yesterday afternoon on TV. I wasted time watching this garbage when I could've just watched something else.

The protagonist of the story is Chris Anderson portrayed by Luke Perry. Anderson is a good cop and overall a good guy. One night he meets a young attractive blonde in a bar. Always a great place to find the girl of your dreams. She's screaming and cursing (what a dream) at some guy who was lucky enough to get out of there. Anderson on the other hand isn't so lucky. He approaches the woman who has cut her hand from a broken glass. Anderson plays the knight in shining armor and helps her. They have a slow dance and she tells him her name is Pam. From the start, Anderson should've known there was something up with this dame. Don't get me wrong, Ashley Judd is a beautiful woman, blonde or brunette. But once you get to know Pam you'll wish you didn't. Anderson drops Pam off home and he decides to see her again. The more the movie goes on, Anderson gets to know Pam and the movie makes less and less sense.

Pam's behavior gets more and more neurotic and you realize along with Anderson that Pam is damaged goods. But for some reason, he loves her and wants to help her. Chris ends up asking Pam to be his wife.

He never really does help her. He just keeps beating a dead horse. Our idealistic cop turns into a complete idiot. He takes someone who is mentally ill and completely out of it. He thinks that by marrying her and making her his wife that is going to help her. Not only does Chris do nothing about her illness, he also turns a blind eye while she does drugs and drinks. As the marriage goes on, Pam gets sicker and Chris gets dumber. Pam goes to the store to buy a special telescope to view an eclipse. Instead she comes home with a knife. Instead of being worried he's angry that she spent $500. He comes home one night and sees that she has cut herself all over. His solution is to buy her a dog. Whenever Chris has Pam around his family it is obvious that she doesn't know how to interact with people. Chris gets mad and yells at her. When Anderson's father dies he tells Pam to get a dress and make sure that she's there. Pam shows up at the funeral parlor dressed like she's ready to go roller blading. Still Chris does absolutely nothing to help her. This is the woman in trouble that he was going to save and he doesn't have a clue.

The couple have financial trouble and they are barely able to live in the shack they're in. Chris loses his job as a cop and we are never told why. Later Pam loses her job because of her drug use. Chris comes home to find Pam with a gun to her head. By now, Anderson has to be a complete idiot to not see that his wife is suicidal. What does he do? He continues to leave her alone and tends to their money problems by becoming a bank robber. Like I said, as the movie goes on it makes less and less sense. There is even a ludicrous ending. Why bother to continue? This movie is very difficult to watch. Whoever made this has to be either crazy or just stupid. Poor Ashley Judd, who has a great body, is stuck shedding her clothes for no good reason. I've never seen a movie with such unnecessary nudity. Ashley Judd is filmed naked in many scenes just for the sake of being shown naked. Whoever made this movie must have something wrong with them.

I'm sorry I ever saw this movie. I hope I never come across it again. I almost didn't even want to waste my time writing a review, but I figured others should be warned. Don't even waste your time on this garbage. Ashley Judd fans especially should stay clear of this. The very talented and very attractive Ashley Judd is wasted. Actually, she is exploited. Luke Perry fans should stay clear of this too. Sometimes it looked like he was giving a decent performance when he was yelling, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was really yelling because he was sorry he got stuck making such a horrible and worthless movie. Stay clear of this trash.

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
good movie, 3 October 2007

Author: (paulartman@gmx.com) from sacramento, ca

I always like being surprised by films I've never heard of or come across and this one is a very good way to pass the time.

Luke perry was very good in one of his first "grown up roles" as a by the book cop who becomes obsessed with a clearly deranged ashley judd who does a good impression of a young angelina jolie. If you're a Judd fan, you'll be pleased to know there's several topless shots of said lady.

Tittle-tattle aside, this is a very entertaining movie to watch, it doesn't spend ages on building up characters but gives you all you need to know with the minimum of fuss which allows time for the film to progress nicely.

There are a few plot holes and there wont be any awards for acting but this was a decent enough thriller that should be checked out.

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1 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Strange and ultimately unsatisfying, 27 April 1999

Author: Sean Gallagher (naes@cgocable.net) from Oakville, Ont. Canada

I don't know why, but I haven't been able to get into the films of director John McNaughton. Of the films of his I've seen(HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, MAD DOG AND GLORY, WILD THINGS, and this), I can see obvious talent, but for some reason he hasn't put it all together for me(HENRY, the best of those, was tighter, but had some problems). At least here, I can detail what went wrong for me. For one, there were too many shouting matches(someone ought to tell actors that yelling is not the only way to express anger). For another, I've never really liked Luke Perry, and he runs the gamut of expressions here from A to B. Ashley Judd is quite good here, giving an intuitive performance, and never quite answering what's wrong with her character, but letting us guess for ourselves(of course, she's a drug addict and alcoholic, but there seems to be more to it). And the details of this supposedly true story seem fascinating. I just wish it added up to more.

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