Ordinary Angels (2024) * * * 1/2

Directed by: Jon Gunn

Starring:  Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Emily Mitchell, Skywalker Hughes, Nancy Travis, Tamala Jones

Ordinary Angels' mission is to pull tears and joy from the viewer by the emotional strength of its story, and it succeeds.   Based on a true story, the movie stars Hilary Swank as Sharon, a Louisville, Kentucky alcoholic  hairdresser moved by a local man's fight to save his daughter's life from a rare illness which also killed her mother.  Sharon soon raises money for the family's medical bills, helps babysit the kids, and provides unsolicited help which causes resentment at first from the father, a roofer named Ed (Ritchson), who wants to take on the burden himself, but only finds himself deeper in debt and little way to repay it.  

Sharon figures out a way to cancel Ed's debts, talk local CEO's into lending Ed their private planes on the chance that they might be needed it if an organ donor becomes available and the girl would have to fly to Omaha for a transplant.   It is short-sighted of Ed to ban Sharon from his house when she relapses and gets drunk one night when watching his daughters while he was at work.  I would think based on Sharon's help and all she did to help his family that he might want to let that slide.  It's also amusing to learn in the movie's epilogue that Sharon and Ed "remain friends to this day".   Well, Ed had better be her friend, without giving away any spoilers. 

I don't know much about the true story on which Ordinary Angels is based, but maybe it's better that way.  I was moved by many scenes and touched by its quiet power.   Swank and Ritchson give contrasting performances which work.  I also liked that their friendship remained platonic and the movie didn't bog down with a useless romance.  Better yet, that the screenwriters didn't think to insert one for dramatic purposes.   The final 45 minutes of Ordinary Angels dares you not to be choked up as Ed attempts to get his daughter to Omaha during the worst snowstorm in Kentucky's history.   And it's a dare you will lose.