Ordinary Angels (2024)

Ordinary Angels Review

Religious films are known for being bad, but only if you’re a snob who hates mediocre movies. God’s Not Dead and Do You Believe? had star-studded casts! But I digress. For the first time ever, a faith-based movie is good, and I saw it in theatres.

The year is 1993. Sharon (Hilary Swank) is a hairdresser with a drinking problem. Her friend (Tamela Jones) tells her to get her life together after a particularly rough night. She reads a newspaper story about a family that has just fallen on hard times: The mom died after years of illness, leaving behind husband Ed (Reacher’s Alan Ritchson) and two young daughters one of whom has significant health problems that are costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills.

So Sharon as an act of redemption for herself we learn more about her throughout the movie decides to help this family by raising money for their medical debts and inserting herself into their lives kind of. Basically what happens is she helps out the family with small things like babysitting the two children but also impossibly big things like finding money that isn’t there to settle the family’s impossible debts and chartering a plane to a hospital during a critical moment in an apocalyptic snowstorm.

I think this works because it never feels like a religious film, even though there are mentions of faith and God. Ultimately this is not about religion or even faith those are just vehicles used to tell this story about human kindness and how far one person’s grace can go when another person really needs it. It’s never preachy or clearly trying to push an agenda I’d be uncomfortable with; also it’s based on real events, and judging from the ending crawl, they stuck pretty close to this family’s actual story.

Critically panned religion-themed filmmaker Jon Gunn directs from a script he co-wrote with Kelly Fremon Craig, who most recently made “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and “The Edge of Seventeen,” two movies I loved so much because they captured something very specific and genuine about the coming-of-age experience. Had no idea she was involved until I sat down in the theatre and saw her name maybe that’s what sets this apart. It never feels preachy; it just feels human, humane even. I don’t know; she’s wise and warm; you can feel it all over this thing.

Hilary Swank, who we don’t see often enough in these types of roles anymore, is dynamite in Erin Brockovich mode this is a great vehicle for her as an everywoman on a journey to redeem herself and offer hope for the strangers she’s taken under her wing. Alan Ritchson, who I admittedly am not familiar with, is perfect for this role as a soft-spoken family man facing impossible odds. His macho pride won’t allow him to accept Sharon’s help at first; he even tells her he resents it. But the way his character opens up and gives Ritchson one particularly emotional scene to play … it’s good stuff. And he makes a great foil for Swank.

Ultimately I think Ordinary Angels works so well because it’s about faith not just in God, but faith in other people. It’s about the power of human kindness, and what it means to seek redemption. Again There are two vaguely Jesus-y moments in this movie and neither one annoyed me. This is a movie full of strong performances, emotion that lands and a hopeful message that might make you want to do something good for another human being. It’s nice to be reminded every now and then that people can be good if they try, because it’s easy to forget where we live now.

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