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On a Wing and a Prayer

Play trailer Poster for On a Wing and a Prayer PG 2023 1h 42m Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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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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Critics Reviews

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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 Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jack t F**k! (4x) As you know, they can eat the t**ting hell and, s**t, everyone, I have a movie that's gonna bore you and make you p*** all over the goddamn place. Apparently I'm going to review a movie by a kiddie movie maker and TV movie maker none other than the worst director of all time, Sean McNamara. That's right, remember that name? The same guy who did the live action Bratz movie and Dangerous Game: A Legacy Murders and now, I have another one going down the friggin' toilet. And that is On a Wing and a Prayer. It's Dennis Quaid and I wonder what he's got in store for us. Well, technically, none for that factor. All I witnessed is s**t and still I'm never impressed with what the director himself has in store for me and everyone else. On Easter Sunday 2009, a pharmacist, Doug White, his wife, and their two daughters return to Archibald, Louisiana, after attending a funeral for White's brother. Less than 10 minutes after their King Air 200 private plane takes off from Marco Island, Florida, the pilot dies of a heart attack. Fort Myers air traffic controllers and a flight instructor from Danbury, Connecticut manage to teach Doug how to fly the plane and land it while the family, who attend a Church of Christ, pray for a miracle. I remember reviewing the first two movies by him and I hate them so much and it's a good thing I'm never watching them again and I've been contemplating watching the rest of his stuff online since I took a year break of watching his stuff by reviewing them. Bratz is the first one I've seen and reviewed and it's the best review/rant I've ever done alongside Dangerous Game: A Legacy Murders and I gotta say that I am very, very proud and happy with that rant review because when people have saw this rant, they were laughing their a**es off, one of them has been crying with laughter while farting and got beer spat all over himself 'cause of my hilarious choice of words. Hahaha! Now with On a Wing and a Prayer, I nearly got annoyed of how the characters were nearly portrayed as a**eholes in the first act but from all I know is that the film itself is on a streaming media instead of physical media. The streaming media known to be known as Amazon Prime AKA. Amazon Studios. Yeah, that's the sign whether the film is going to be s**t or not but I shall decide whether that is. Sean Mc***tcancer, stay the f**k away from the streaming services! Don't you understand, You b***h? F**k you! When I first saw what's going to happen when the pilot dies, I thought to myself: How did he die? Did the heights just made him die? What is the purpose with the pilot dying dead on the plane? Oh, it turns out that he had a heart attack so that's why he was dying. Well, that's typical! I'll give it this, I wasn't p***ed off as I were with Sean McNamara's previous two films. That still doesn't change the fact that all of his movies are getting s**ttier and boring by a minute! Yes, it's inspired by a true story, what do you expect? I still don't care. It's still a film by Sean McNamara, the most crappiest director in the film industry and he also known for making kids films and TV films by Hallmark and he's a Bratz fan. Oh, what a ***ting man child. On a Wing and a Prayer is a boring film. Hallelujah. I know there's another film directed by Sean and stars Dennis Quaid so I hope this film is going to be s**t or not so let's just see. ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐ Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/24/25 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review 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 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

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
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Autumn Bailey Entertainment, Lightworkers Media
Rating
PG (Suggestive References|Some Language|Peril|Thematic Elements)
Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 7, 2023
Runtime
1h 42m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
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