Ordinary Angels (2024) | Film Review

If you are basing your assumptions on what type of film Ordinary Angels is solely on the trailer, it probably runs along the lines of “uplifting”, “clichéd”, or “predictable”. Those seem to be the buzzwords reserved for heartfelt family dramas these days. But it is a fair assessment of what this film is, especially one based on a well-known true story from the 90s? More importantly, does that even matter if the movie also happens to be good?

Two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank stars as Sharon Stevens, a hairdresser in Louisville, KY who inbibes a little too frequently and is often subjected to a scolding by the fun police, otherwise known as her well-intentioned best friend, Rose (Tamala Jones). After yet another night of debauchery, Rose insists that Sharon attends an AA meeting, where she begins to understand she needs to fill her constant urge for drink with anything else.

That something else resides in the life of Ed Schmitt and his family. Reacher’s Alan Ritchson stars as Ed, a gruff and proud roofer who is barely making ends meet. Ed is also reeling from personal turmoil and debt. He not only recently lost his wife to disease, but his young daughter, Michelle (Emily Mitchell) suffers from her own medical issues, and she needs a liver transplant STAT. Without health insurance nor substantial savings to help, Ed Schmitt is running out of money, patience, and options when an everyday, ordinary angel arrives in the guise of Sharon Stevens.

Sharon is a fast-talking, short skirt dressing, spiritual descendant of Erin Brockovich, and she never takes no for an answer. Though Ed rejects her initial offer to raise money for his family’s bills, Sharon perseveres. First through a hair styling fundraiser, and then by steamrolling over every aspect of Ed’s life in an effort to help the Schmitt’s balance their checkbook. “Life’s about saying yes”, she shares as her mantra.

Everything comes to a head, as a liver becomes available amidst the most brutal snowstorm in Kentucky’s history and the clock is ticking for Ed to get Michelle to a plane or lose their shot. Ultimately, it comes down to Sharon’s tenacious attitude and an entire community coming together to put it all on the line for the life of one little girl.

Hilary Swank has two Oscars, ergo she is no slouch. Every moment she is on screen, she simmers with relentless energy and hope, blending personal turmoil with inner light. Sharon carries her demons internally as she struggles to repair a rift between her and her son, and Swank deftly navigates that duality with her typical skill and ease. It’s a showboat of a role in lesser hands, if an actor chose to play it that way, and Swank smartly assesses when it’s ok to POP for effect and when it is time to calm a moment down.

Alan Ritchson’s Ed might have the less flashy role, but possibly the most important one for Ritchson’s career at this point. Reacher, Fast X, and whatever physical roles that may come along to line up with his beastly frame, Ritchson is a personable family man at heart. He wisely sticks to his character’s blue-collar roots, dialing it in instead of up whenever tensions rise, and his relationship with Ed’s mother, Barbara (Nancy Travis), daughters Michelle and her older sister, Ashley (Skywalker Hughes), is the beautiful engine that keeps this film humming along. Any parent can empathize with the panic and fear in Ritchson’s eyes as Ed simultaneously refuses to give up while the terror of failure rises up in his rearview mirror. It’s a feeling any mother or father knows all too well.

Written by Kelly Fremon Craig and Meg Tilly, and directed by Jon Gunn, Ordinary Angels is not overly complicated or preachy, nor is it reinventing the wheel. As we segue into the final act, as Michelle’s entire town stand behind her and her family in a blinding blizzard – the most brutal of conditions – just for that one chance, the script and production collide for a riveting final act that might crack the hardest of shells. Though some might proclaim this as “faith-based”, the truth is this is a film about families of all sorts and community. About never giving up even when the lights are about to dim, and especially the effects selfless, everyday strangers can have on our lives. Prayer is essentially a metaphor for belief in the world as a whole. Who doesn’t need a bit of that these days?

I am here to tell you, yes, this film is clichéd. Sure, it is predictable in that I knew where it was headed before we ever left the opening credits, and guess what, it even lifted my spirits. I laughed, I smiled, I cried, and then I walked out hopeful for mankind in a way I haven’t in a very long time. Because Ordinary Angels is also simply just a damn good movie.

Listen to our full podcast review of Ordinary Angels on this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast: