This based-on-a-true-story drama begins with the birth of a baby girl, cuts almost directly to a death five years later — that of the child’s mother — and cuts again to a bar in Louisville, Ky., where a flashy local hairdresser is buying drinks for the house as she contrives her next hangover, which will be a doozy.
The mother’s death leaves her husband, Ed Schmitt (Alan Ritchson), a roofer, as a single parent with a stack of medical bills and a daughter, Michelle, 5, who has a congenital condition that requires a liver transplant.
Sharon — the hairdresser, played by Hilary Swank — learns of Schmitt’s plight and decides to help the family as a focus for her energies after reluctantly attending an A.A. meeting.
While this is not a legal thriller, Swank’s brassy character gives off heavy “Erin Brockovich” vibes. “I’m good at a lot of things; taking ‘no’ for an answer is not one of them,” she advises the stolid, wary Ed when she insists on commandeering his finances. There’s a hospital conference room sequence in which Sharon snaps “Was that funny?” at a smirking bureaucrat who laughs at the idea of wiping out Ed’s medical debt because of the family’s hardships.
The filmmakers — Jon Gunn directed from a script by Kelly Fremon Craig and Meg Tilly (of “Agnes of God”) streamline the real-life events: In fact, both of Schmitt’s daughters suffered from the same illness, biliary atresia. Only Michelle’s story, however, provides the opportunity for movie-friendly dialogue like “We need a plane.”
Despite its bona fides, the movies narrative and characterizations practically gorge on clichés. They break free of them once in a relatively bracing scene that demonstrates that Sharon’s altruism is at least in part a form of addiction behavior.
Ordinary Angels
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 56 minutes. In theaters.
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