Sharon Stevens (Hillary Swank) is a hairdresser in Louisville,  Kentucky. She likes to go out, drink, and party quite often when she’s off of work. She likes it too much sometimes and ends up in strange places the next morning.  Her friend Rose (Tamala Jones) tries to help her by bringing her to an AA meeting but it’s not till she goes to the store to pick up a six-pack later that day that she finds inspiration to stop drinking and partying. She sees a newspaper with an article about a little girl who needs a liver transplant. She stumbles into the funeral of a woman who was the mother of the little girl who needed the transplant. This little girl and her family become this woman’s new mission in life. 

Michelle’s (Emily Mitchell) father Ed (Alan Richson) this woman decided to do a hairathon which means she and her business partner Rose (Tamala Jones) cut the hair of everyone who came to their salon to raise money for this little girl and her father/family. This man has a lot of pride and, at first, talks about the idea of this woman trying to help him and his family. She doesn’t take no for an answer, though, and proceeds to get all up in the family finances and so forth. Along with the money she already raised, over three thousand dollars, she comes up with other ways to help this man and his family with their medical bills and financial difficulties.  She is quite persistent!

Hillary Swank has won two Academy Awards for Best Actress in her career. The first was for playing a transgender man Brandon/Teena in Boys Don’t Cry and the other was for playing a female boxer Maggie Fitzgerald who got tragically injured in a boxing fight after she was blindsided by another fighter in Million Dollar Baby. The role of Sharon, who is based on a real woman, might be the best she’s done since these two Oscar turns. She’s channeling Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich and Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side with this performance.  I was quite impressed by her in this film, and it just goes to show that great actresses need great roles, and she is great once again here.

Alan Richson is having a moment in his young acting career right now. He is enjoying quite a bit of success for his role as Jack Reacher in Reacher, the series based on the popular book series by Lee Child. The role in this movie is him stretching his acting abilities beyond what he’s done in the past. This man he’s playing is distraught, angry, and upset at his situation, and he plays him very well. The emotions he reaches in this performance are quite remarkable. He plays Reacher straight forward and does stretch his acting abilities much. With this role, he does. The story is part of that for him. He puts everything he has in his acting repertoire into this terrific, heartfelt performance. The film benefited from it.

I have seen my share of inspirational films and this one made me cry quite often. The single struggling father angle and the sick little girl just had me in the feels. Throw in the woman who is looking for redemption for her pasta seeds and you have a film anybody can get behind. The writer, Kelly Freeman Craig is quite notable in her own right as she’s written and directed two fantastic films The Edge of Seventeen and 2023’s Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret. She knows her way around a screenplay and this one pulls no punches. It hits on all the emotional themes this story is about. Along with actress Meg Tilly, they do a great job with this script. Jon Gunn takes this script and runs with it as he adds all the emotional heft from the actors and extraordinary exterior elements to the film that drive it all the way home. He’s not messing around with this story at all. He brought it to life perfectly.

Ordinary Angels is an inspirational story that has a lot of ups and downs within the context of its two-hour run time. The character development of the two main characters, one a recovering alcoholic and the other a single father over his head with debt and remorse. Both Swank and Richson give fantastic performances as these two people are at odds with each but they both need each as well. This story is impeccably written by Freeman Grain and Tilly and directed by Gunn. They knew how to pull at the heartstrings of viewers like me who watch this movie. I was very much affected by it to say the least. It’s a film that will affect more than just me though. I think everybody will fall in love with this inspiring story based on true events.

I love watching inspiring films sometimes. They teach us that no matter what obstacles are in our way if there is a will, there’s a way. We all have different lives we lead, and some of them are tougher than others. I’ve lived a pretty tough life, but I never had to experience what the family in Ordinary Angels ever had to go through. That’s a blessing. This film was a great surprise but it just says you never know when a great film is going to come out.

4 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen