On a Wing and a Prayer

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On a Wing and a Prayer

PG

2023

1h 42m

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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Popcornmeter

16%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

57%

Popcornmeter

250+ Ratings

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 Says

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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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Dull faith-based film.

Rated: C-

Apr 19, 2023

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Coby N

The real story is remarkable and inspiring. It's such a shame that this movie is not even remotely faithful to what actually happened. Many scenes in the movie are farfetched.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/26/25

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Go L

I enjoyed this, surprised how good the camerawork was. A bit too much of the religious side for me, but overall it was a great watch.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/12/25

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S. John T

Genuinely one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The real story is incredibly inspirational and I recommend everyone look into it, but the film is so overdramatized and full of unnecessary changes that it's hard to watch if you're familiar with what actually happened. Doug wasn't some bumbling idiot that had only flown once, he had his pilots license, he was just relatively inexperienced and had never flown a multi-engine aircraft. There was basically no wind and there was no go-around, Doug landed on the first try. I get that you need to spice things up to make it more engaging, but the writers basically threw away everything that makes this story great. Also, stop putting covers of Hallelujah in films (or making them at all). They're never better than the original Leonard Cohen version, and if you can't afford/get permission for the original, pick something else.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/02/25

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Bubbi R

I can't tell which is worse..the script or the directorship. The production feels like a day time tv show. 20mins of my life I will never get back .

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

07/01/24

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Audience Member

What a shame they made so many changes to an already great story. I understand it's a movie and they want to make it more dramatic, but they went too far. Very disappointing.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

05/04/24

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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

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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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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
Producer: Roma Downey, Autumn Bailey, Karl Horstmann
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
Runtime: 1h 42m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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