Ordinary Angels

Grade: B

One of the agreements in the Four Agreements book is “Don’t take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you. It’s due to and about them.” I think that extends to the good deeds, too. Ordinary Angels is BOATS (based on a…you know) of a hairdresser who caught wind of the story of a recently widowed man with a terminally ill young daughter in need of a transplant. He was drowning in hospital bills and other debts. Watching the movie, I wondered why this total stranger would suddenly devote her life to befriending the family and raising all this money to help them. Well…Agreement #2.

I don’t know what the Hallmark Channel has for their programming on the other 10 months of the year, but I imagine it would be something like Ordinary Angels, set in the early 1990s. We meet Ed, who loses his wife Theresa early in the film, and is treading water as a single dad to his two little girls. Sharon (Hilary Swank) is a hairdresser who is dealing with her own demons. She struggles with alcohol, and routinely leaves voice mail messages for her estranged early-20s son. She reads about Ed’s story in the paper, and wants to help. She shows up at the funeral, despite not knowing anybody. Her forcefulness is sometimes a bit much for Ed, but she is endlessly resourceful, persuasive, and isn’t afraid to talk to anybody. It felt inevitable that a romance would eventually brew between Sharon and Ed, but refreshingly, that doesn’t happen.

Nancy Travis, the alleged axe murderer Mike Myers married in 1993, appears here in a major supporting role – bittersweetly, as a grandmother. When we first see her (in Theresa’s funeral scene), I figured she was Theresa’s sister. But no, she is Ed’s mother, despite not looking too far away from his age. She has aged well, and he has a “mature” face. Turns out they are 21 years apart in age, so it’s not impossible for them to be mother and son. It’s nice to see her again; you can still recognize her as “Harriet, sweet Harriet.” Swank is great here – bubbling with personality and Southern spunk (pronouncing Louisville “Loo-a-vul”), and doing a more grounded and authentic version of Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie. Alan Ritchson is gruff but sweet as Ed, the ever-devoted husband and father who is great with the girls. I liked the bit where Swank is taking pictures and forcing him to smile, until he finally ekes out his version of a smile. There are so many moments where you’ll forget these are actors.

Maybe it’s because I was extra emotionally sensitive due to sleep deprivation from battling some crud, but the happy ending touched me like a ton of bricks. It must have been a feat to pull off what they did without GPS, smartphones, and text messaging. Ordinary Angels has that uplifting special spark. It’s amazing what Sharon was able to accomplish, and she did it at least as much for herself.

Grade: B