Few new movies are being released at the multiplex right now in the pre-Oscar doldrums of late February.
So, if you want a feel-good outing, you might try the new Lionsgate drama “Ordinary Angels,” which opens only in theaters this Friday.
Based on a real news event that happened in Louisville, Kentucky exactly 30 years ago in 1994, the inspiring story follows determined hairdresser Sharon Stevens (Hilary Swank), who single-handedly rallies an entire community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically-ill young daughter who urgently needs a liver transplant.
Swank has already cemented her place in movie history by winning a pair of Oscars for “Boys Don’t Cry” (1999) and “Million Dollar Baby” (2004). That makes her one of the rare two-time Best Actress winners, including a Hall of Fame list of Katharine Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Luise Rainer, Glenda Jackson, Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, Frances McDormand and Meryl Streep.
Twenty years later in “Ordinary Angels,” Swank does her best “Erin Brockovich” by helping sick members of a community while wearing loud outfits over a spunky personality. She starts out dancing on the bar to Brooks & Dunn until she blacks out drunk, revealing the alcoholic character flaw she must overcome by instead becoming addicted to helping people. Is she doing it for the family or to mask her own failures with her estranged son?
She’s called out on her motives by her salon colleague Rose (Tamala Jones, “What Men Want”) and the widowed father Ed (Alan Ritchson, “Fast X”), who is constantly turning down her help, simultaneously feeling grateful for the charity but resenting that he can’t be the sole provider. His live-in mother (Nancy Travis, “Last Man Standing”) is much more thankful, viewing the “good samaritan” aid as a sign from God, reminding him to not lose his faith.
Director Jon Gunn is best known for faith-based films like “Do You Believe?” (2015), “The Case for Christ” (2017), “I Still Believe” (2020) and “The Jesus Revolution” (2023), as well as the inspirational Kurt Warner football biopic “American Underdog” (2021). Certain viewers may find the religious reminders heavy handed, but when critiquing a faith-based film, you must judge whether a movie accomplishes its mission — and this one does it earnestly.
The script was initially co-written by Meg Tilly, who earned an acting Oscar nomination in “Agnes of God” (1985), and Kelly Fremon Craig, the stellar scribe of coming-of-age gems like “The Edge of Seventeen” (2016) and “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret” (2023). We’ll never know which elements were in their original draft as it was rewritten by Jon Erwin and Gunn, who shows directorial flair during a montage of high-heels and nail guns.
Rather than film on-location in Kentucky, Gunn filmed in Winnipeg, Canada and Albany, New York in the late spring to provide the wintry elements of the climax, which unfolds during a generational snowstorm. The film’s logline (summary of premise) is a bit misleading to so heavily tease the blizzard, which isn’t a factor for the first hour and a half. If anything, the town is dealing with the aftermath of a tornado that ripped the roofs off houses.
I can see why the filmmakers did it; otherwise, cynics would have said Act 3 was unrealistic, but truth is stranger than fiction. Once the date flashes up “Jan. 17, 1994,” we know we’re in for a flurry of a finish. Unlike Denzel Washington in “John Q” (2002) or Will Smith in “Seven Pounds” (2008), Swank needn’t offer to donate her organs, which would have felt derivative. Instead, the “Alaska Daily” alum braves the snow by rallying the community.
In this way, the title of “Ordinary Angels” is fitting, suggesting that everyday people can achieve miraculous feats. Believers and non-believers alike can appreciate this message, which certainly carries a “chicken soup for the soul” tone of a Hallmark movie but never comes across preachy. It proves that good people can achieve great things if they simply work together. Beyond thoughts and prayers, it takes a village to actually do God’s work.
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