On a Wing and a Prayer, 2023.
Directed by Sean McNamara.
Starring Dennis Quaid, Heather Graham, Jesse Metcalfe, Abbey Rhyne, Jessi Case, Brett Rice, Rocky Myers, Selena Anduze, E. Roger Mitchell, Joe Knezevich, Brandon Quinn, Roger Anthony, Raina Grey, Trayce Malachi, Anna Enger Ritch, Wilbur Fitzgerald, Holly Morris, Rachael Markarian, and James Healy Jr.
SYNOPSIS:
After their pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight, Doug White’s (Dennis Quaid) has to safely land a plane and save his entire family from insurmountable danger.
Coming from director Sean McNamara and screenwriter Brian Egeston, On a Wing and a Prayer takes various characters surrounding a potential flight disaster (both inside the plane and air control towers, not to mention a young girl aviation enthusiast listening in on the commotion from home and getting far too involved), without missing a chance to play up sentimentality or Christianity in eye-rolling fashion.
There’s nothing wrong with these Easter-timed stories (quite literally in this case, as the event takes place over Easter weekend 2009) encouraging family and faith; the movie means well. Still, they really don’t have to be so basic and corny, and in this case, downright absurd and embarrassingly schmaltzy (Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah drops on the soundtrack at one point, at such a time that you’re practically guaranteed to burst out laughing).
Dennis Quaid plays Doug White, your standard family man with a wife named Terri (Heather Graham) and two bickering teenage daughters (one is rude and obsessed with technology, while the younger child still enjoys hanging around her parents). As previously mentioned, it’s Easter weekend, and he is fairly busy. He is taking lessons on landing a small plane with his terrified brother in the back, participating in a competitive barbecue, and generally enjoying the holiday with his family before returning to the family’s Louisiana home.
When Doug and his wife are about to make love (with the Bible on the nightstand beside the bed), he is distressed by a phone call informing him that his brother has died of a heart attack, which appears to be hereditary. This prompts the family to get back on the flight for the funeral and then return home, where the pilot flying the private aircraft also appears to suffer a heart attack. Doug has been questioning his connection with God for a while now, so landing this plane and saving his family in the heat of the moment will likely repair that fracture or permanently sever that divine bond.
The filmmakers also can’t themselves from introducing air control personnel with varying degrees of flight experience (zero hours to 6000 hours) while also tacking on some personal drama for them as well (such as one character assisting the family already having been traumatized by another crash, and unable to properly show affection and commit to his current girlfriend because of it). Then there are shockingly dumb scenes where one of the daughters consumes a type of candy she shouldn’t, thus requiring an insulin shot.
For anyone hoping that Doug and his wife working together with air control to land the plane will yield drills or excitement, unfortunately, it mostly boils down to watching people read manuals. At the same time, one of them occasionally spouts some religious scripture. There’s also an entire subplot about how one of them might lie to the family about what to do because they are convinced he will be unable to land the plane, which is never addressed further.
Admittedly, the cast is trying here, but On a Wing and a Prayer never takes off. It’s a disaster harping on overused clichés and cornball sentimentality that doesn’t know hard to convey a single emotional beat from a human and grounded perspective.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
