The title, "Leaving Normal", is clever because it refers both to physically leaving the fictitious town of Normal, WY, but more significantly, leaving the "normal" state of existence. Christine Lahti is the former dancer and waitress who never progresses beyond that, and Meg Tilley is the abused housewife who has made a series of disastrous choices in her life. As Lahti decides to do something different, and heads to Alaska to re-claim her old, unfinished homestead, she gives Tilley a ride.
They are unlikely road buddies, like Thelma and Louise were. Lahti is funny, daring, scheming (gets $100 from truck driver then slips out the window of the ladies room) and world-wise, while Tilley is just the opposite and insecure with her abilities. Ultimately they bring out the better persons residing in each.
Along the way their car breaks down, they get a ride with another lady pulling a trailer, then they are given her car and trailer when a wealthy bumpkin asks her to stay and marry him. They work their way to Alaska and look up the property, where the unfinished shell of a house still stands, weather-beaten. Through a lot of posturing, eventually they both decide to stay, we see the house being completed in a time-lapse series of shots. Lahti decides to try and find her daughter that she abandoned in the local hospital 18 years earlier.
Both act well, but Tilley is a joy to watch. Her portrayal of the half-ditzy, insecure woman is just perfect. Makes me wonder, whatever happened to Meg Tilley? She hasn't made a theatrical release movie since 1994. Unlike Thelma and Louise, where they drive off Dead Horse Point in Utah at the end, the lives of these two women literally begin as this movie ends. Seen on the "Women's Entertainment" channel, a really good movie, doesn't always take itself too seriously, and has an uplifting message. We are left to wonder if Lahti ever finds her daughter, whether Tilley's trucker friend ever shows up again. Maybe they considered a sequel, but the film wasn't popular to warrant that.
