Ordinary Angels is a tearjerker that admiringly does its job better than most movies of this sort. It has a lead in Hilary Swank, who gives a lively performance when she’s on screen, but this true story once again falls victim to its own trappings of a predictable formula and unabashed sentimentality.
Swann stars as Sharon Stevens, a hairdresser in Kentucky who’s a wild woman at night and has a drinking problem. One day, she comes across a story about a widowed father (Alan Ritchson) who is desperate to save the life of his youngest daughter (Emily Mitchell) from a life-threatening disease. She needs a liver transplant.
Sharon meets up with the family and is willing to go the extra length to make sure the family gets what they need. This applies not only to her medical needs but virtually anything else.
The movie follows a consistent pattern of watching the daughter experience some kind of pain that leaves her hospitalized, and the father has to pay the bills. Sharon then concocts a strategy to see that everything gets taken care of. Hence, the title.
As I said, Ordinary Angels already lacks any sort of suspense because we know more or less the daughter’s fate, but there are some moments that help elevate the material above its standard structure, such as Swank’s performance where she proves to be the anchor, despite her own demons, by demonstrating unlimited selflessness to this family. You do have to wonder at some point if she has a life of her own.
Alan Ritchson, on the other hand, is mainly one-note as he displays the same emotions in such a repetitive fashion: He gets angry at the circumstances, then begrudgingly thanks Sharon for her efforts, and then mopes when the situation turns dire again. If this were made years earlier, maybe Patrick Swayze would’ve been fine in the role.
This movie is clearly tailor-made for the faith-based crowd, but thankfully, it doesn’t beat that crowd over the head with fortune cookie sentiments. Instead, we see a community coming together through their actions to help save the life of this little girl.
The target audience will no doubt be susceptible to its unapologetic mawkishness, which does work in some scenes, but the payoff prevents me from recommending it.
Grade: C+
(Rated PG for thematic content; brief, bloody images; and smoking.)
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