Double Academy Award winner Hilary Swank co-stars with Reacher man-mountain Alan Ritchson, but sadly it’s not for an action movie. Rather, it’s this based-on-true-events, faith-adjacent drama.
How to watch Ordinary Angels in New Zealand
Ordinary Angels is screening in New Zealand cinemas right now.
Ordinary Angels
What is Ordinary Angels about?
It’s 1994 in Louisville Kentucky, and hard-partying hairdresser Sharon Stevens has rallied the community around young Michelle Schmitt, who is in desperate need of a liver transplant. The sick kid’s father, hard-working contractor Ed, has not had a great time of it since the death of his wife some five years past, and rankles at a stranger intruding so forcefully into his family’s lives. But ultimately community spirit will out, as all of Louisville steps up to get the ailing Emily to her date with the transplant surgeon—through a snowstorm of historic proportions. Now, that may sound like we’re giving away the whole movie, but this is very much a “journey rather than the destination” situation.
Director Jon Gunn has a veritable string of faith-themed films to his name, so make of that what you will, but the screenplay is credited to actor Meg Tilly and Kelly Fremon Craig, who gave us the excellent The Edge of Seventeen and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. So that’s interesting.
The cast of Ordinary Angels
Hilary Swank is Sharon Stevens; Alan Ritchson is Ed Schmitt; Emily Mitchell is his stricken daughter, Michelle; Skywalker Hughes is his other daughter, Ashley; Nancy Travis is his no-nonsense mother, Barbara; former Angel star Amy Acker is his late wife, Theresa (presumably she’ll get some screen time, but you get our drift); while Tamala Jones, Drew Powell, and Dempsey Bryk round out the main ensemble.
Ordinary Angels trailer
Why we’re excited about Ordinary Angels
This kind of faith-based drama can fly under your radar if you’re not plugged into that corner of the film world, but you’d be amazed how many there are. Strong reviews indicate Ordinary Angels might be worth checking out, even if your tastes don’t normally run to the divine.
