Idealistic and compassionate cop Chris Anderson (an excellent performance by Luke Perry) marries the beautiful and alluring, but extremely troubled, unstable, selfish, and self-destructive Pam (superbly played with gut-wrenching anguish by Ashley Judd). When Pam's constant spending puts them in a severe financial hole, Chris resorts to robbing banks in order to pay off their mounting bills. Director John McNaughton, working from a sharp and incisive script by Peg Haller and Bob Schneider, expertly explores the grim underside of an extremely dysfunctional love gone seriously awry, the dangers of falling for and becoming involved with the wrong person, and how a bad person can have a profound toxic effect on another basically descent person while firmly grounding the bleak, despairing, and nihilistic story in a totally plausible everyday suburbanite reality. The two leads both do sterling work: Perry's Chris makes for a touching and sympathetic protagonist as he does everything he can to make the incredibly messed-up Pam happy while Judd brings a castic humor, raw energy, and fierce intensity to Pam that positively bursts off the screen. Moreover, there are sound supporting turns by Jim True-Frost as Chris' loyal friend Mike, Dawn Maxey as Pam's smitten lesbian coworker Eva, Kate Walsh as Chris' concerned sister Cindy, Michael Skewes as the antagonistic Officer Swift, and Tom Towles as Chris' sickly dad Frank. The uncompromisingly downbeat ending packs a powerful emotional gut punch. Both Jean de Segonzac's polished cinematography and the moody score by McNaughton and Ken Hale are up to speed. A real bang-up sleeper of a grim and haunting movie.

Not a terrible movie. The title is ironic. Luke Perry and wife Ashley Judd lead anything but a normal life. He's a diligent cop and she works in some sort of electronic assembly plant. The problem is that she becomes erratic. She starts boozing it up and taking drugs. She gets moody. She goes on wild spending sprees and gets them into terrible debt, while the distracted Luke Perry is so absorbed by her that he alienates his partners and is finally fired. She shows up late at work and is truculent with her boss and after a period in rehab she's cashiered as well. Perry and Judd have furious arguments over expenses in their modest apartment. What they have going for them is her occasional lucid periods and a tendency to rut like two chimpanzees in heat. In the print I just saw, some of the more lurid glandular encounters were cut, as were some scenes of self mutilation, and that's too bad because here the nature of the sex actually plays a part in the story.

Well, they have individual interests as well. Judd is a feverishly rapt amateur astronomer and Perry would just love to open his own book store. Perry has a bearded friend with whom he takes friendly motorcycle rides, and Judd has a lesbian friend from work. That's about it for this unhappy couple.

In order to get them out of debt and to keep them together, Perry takes to holding up banks. As an ex-cop he knows how to do it. He fibs to Judd and tells her that he's putting in overtime as a security guard. When she improbably discovers his real source of income, she's not at all shocked. She finds it exciting. She's overjoyed and is finally able to achieve orgasm with Perry.

At her insistence, Perry takes her along on his next heist, but she's so elated she shoots a row of holes in the ceiling before he manages to yank her through the bank's door.

By this time it's clear that Judd is a Class A bipolar. She's right out of DSM IV-R. She's glum and given to cutting herself all over. The next minute she's wildly gleeful or sometimes irritable over nothing. Her judgment is impaired. Compared to Luke Perry, though, she's a chrome dome. He's one of the stupidest men who ever walked the earth. At one point she leaves him to live with her lesbian friend. When he begs her to come back home, she lays everything out for him in plain language, but it all bounces off him. Her truths are as ping pong balls.

It's not an unintelligent plot, reminiscent of a classic cheap noir called "Gun Crazy" with John Dahl and Sparkle Annie or whatever her name was. (I'm too lazy to look it up.) It's the kind of crazy story that might really happen to two screwballs.

Ashley Judd does a good job. She was superb in another crime drama, "Heat," as Val Kilmer's wife. She's demonstrated the limits of her range as an actress elsewhere but in this film her performance is unimpeachable.

Luke Perry is another matter. He seems to be a nice enough guy but as an actor he's sufficiently lightweight that he should stick to the small screen where "presence" matters less. He had the same problem that David Caruso had, but I can't put a name to it.

Judd's oddness is accurately shown. When the couple visit some relatives for a barbecue, instead of sitting at the table and drinking a beer with the adults, she immediately wanders off and kicks a ball back and forth with the family's child, ignoring the usual rules. Nothing dramatic, just askew. But otherwise the direction is flat and uninspired. (When Judd speaks at a group therapy session, she's shot from a high angle for no discernible reason.) It's kind of disappointing, coming as it does from the director of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer."

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")