On a Wing and a Prayer

PG

2023

1 hr. 42 min.

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

List

16%

25 Reviews

Tomatometer

58%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

In this extraordinary true story of faith and survival, On a Wing and a Prayer follows passenger Doug White's (Dennis Quaid) harrowing journey to safely land a plane and save his entire family from insurmountable danger, after their pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight.

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Critics Consensus

Predictable and unsubtle, On a Wing and a Prayer proves a decidedly disappointing attempt to dramatize an uplifting fact-based story.

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Audience Consensus

On a Wing and a Prayer really means well, but it's hard to look past the wildly uneven way it tells what's supposed to be a heartwarming true story.

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John Z

I was 2 minutes in and I was like....What's this?! I first saw tge blow by blow of the real events, then the interview. This movie is just a serious disappointment. What tge heck were they thinking?!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/09/24

Full Review

Belinda S

This movie is awful. Horrible acting from the get go. Why did the youngest daughter start out with a deep twangy southern drawl accent to no accent at all? This movie was just bad bad bad.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/06/24

Full Review

Jay M

YouTube has some accounts of the actual flight by the pilot and are a lot more entertaining than this movie which is over the top horrible.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/24

Full Review

Tina K

I heard the original recordings, etc., which were very griping. This film was fine, but will likely be more interesting to those who LOVE flying, airplanes, etc., and airplane disaster stories. I think Dr. Phil would have been better in the lead role. The pictures and video clips at the end were charming.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/03/24

Full Review

Mike M

7.2/10 On A Wing And A Prayer was my first plane thriller and I was honestly pretty hooked. I was amazed when I found out this was a true story. However, just because I was entertained doesn't mean the movie was great. The fictional story between the two kids was filler and felt like an excuse to add more runtime to the film. In fact, there were so many different stories and plot twists in the film that just weren't necessary to drag into the spite of everything else. The acting was mediocre, even the great Dennis Quaid as the main role looked tired and underwhelmed. All in all, it's a pretty simple thriller with a great story, but it adds too much unnecessary and boring twists in the middle of a decent plot that could make up for fun movie fare.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/28/24

Full Review

John A

Wow that was terrible. The acting, the budget, the realism. The first movie in my life I've truly ever hated.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/24

Full Review

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Sean McNamara

Director

Dennis Quaid

Doug White

Heather Graham

Actor

Jesse Metcalfe

Actor

Brian Egeston

Screenwriter

Roma Downey

Producer

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Monica Castillo

RogerEbert.com

[On a Wing and a Prayer] falls short of the glory of competent filmmaking and gorges on cheap sentimentally and cliches, undermining its own message.

Rated: 1/4

Apr 7, 2023

Full Review

Teo Bugbee

New York Times

It’s a cynical view of faith, one which removes the mystery and terror from life’s unforeseen calamities, and instead frames survival as a matter of calling into the correct belief system.

Apr 6, 2023

Full Review

Todd Gilchrist

Variety

McNamara, best known for directing 2011 faith-based sleeper hit “Soul Surfer,” leans so heavily on the virtue of starting from the truth that he fails to recognize the abundance of elements that make his movie ring false.

Apr 6, 2023

Full Review

Erik Childress

Movie Madness Podcast

This may be a true story, but its drama veers closer to Airplane!-like hysterics and parody of faith-tested films down to song choices and all the references to Heather Graham's special sauce.

Rated: 1/4

Jun 15, 2023

Full Review

Anna McKibbin

Paste Magazine

On a Wing and a Prayer never justifies the scale and scope of film as its form, operating more like a high-budget TED Talk.

Rated: 1.8/10

Jun 2, 2023

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Dull faith-based film.

Rated: C-

Apr 19, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

In this extraordinary true story of faith and survival, On a Wing and a Prayer follows passenger Doug White's (Dennis Quaid) harrowing journey to safely land a plane and save his entire family from insurmountable danger, after their pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight.

Director: Sean McNamara
Executive Producer: Marco Henry
Screenwriter: Brian Egeston
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Production Co: Lightworkers Media, Autumn Bailey Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Rating: PG (Thematic Elements|Peril|Suggestive References|Some Language)
Genre: Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 7, 2023
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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