57
Metascore
16 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperChicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperEven if you don’t know the true story behind the heartwarming and uplifting “Ordinary Angels,” I can’t think of a single plot development that will surprise you and sometimes that’s OK. Sometimes it’s enough to sit back and settle in for a Comfort Viewing Movie that reminds us that even in these dark and stressful times, there are a lot of true and decent people out there who are capable of doing miraculous things.
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOrdinary Angels has some of the feeling of an after-school special because it’s a heartwarming movie in which everybody is nice. But it’s more well-made than most. It hooks the audience from the first scene and then builds in tension over the course of its almost two-hour running time.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckSwank makes it work with a canny performance that conveys her character’s inner turbulence, much of it derived from her troubled relationship with her estranged grown son.
- Ordinary Angels, an uplifting drama inspired by the effort to get a sick girl to a transplant hospital amid a massive 1994 Kentucky snowstorm, poses a challenge to cynics: Even if you could resist another spunky, heartstring-tugging Hilary Swank performance in this overstuffed true tale, who among us can deny the sublime beauty of Jack Reacher’s tears?
- 63The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckThe Associated PressJocelyn NoveckDespite the compelling source material, “Ordinary Angels” is one of those movies where you can predict developments with certainty.
- 63Movie NationRoger MooreMovie NationRoger MooreOrdinary Angels is a kind-hearted weeper that gets by on good vibes and the talents of the Unsinkable Hilary Swank.
- 60VarietyCourtney HowardVarietyCourtney HowardGunn adeptly exercises a necessary modicum of visual dexterity to emphasize character drive.
- 50IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichMaybe Ordinary Angels is so accessible to godless critics and church-going civilians alike because it focuses on a circle of hell that everyone in this country has to enter at some point, no matter what they might believe in: the American healthcare system.
- 50The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyDespite its bona fides, the movies narrative and characterizations practically gorge on clichés.
- 40ColliderTaylor GatesColliderTaylor GatesThere’s a fascinating and beautiful true story at the core of Ordinary Angels, but the bland way it’s told does it a massive disservice.