‘On a Wing and a Prayer’ Review: Dennis Quaid’s Spiritual Thriller Flies on Bad Faith
variety.comTodd Gilchrist editor No redemptive stone is left unturned in “On a Wing and a Prayer,” Sean McNamara’s formulaic dramatization of the true events surrounding civilian Doug White’s 2009 emergency landing of a King Air 200 plane carrying his wife and children.
Dennis Quaid leads a cast that includes Heather Graham, Jesse Metcalfe, Brett Rice and Rocky Myers through a “story of faith and survival” far less extraordinary than the filmmakers would have you believe, at least when working from a script by Brian Egeston that feels as mechanical as an aircraft instruction manual.
Meanwhile, 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.
Quaid personifies flop sweat as White, a Louisiana pharmacist who brings his brother Jeff (Rice) along on his pilot lesson — to heckle him, apparently — before the two of them, aided by his wife Terri’s (Graham) sauce, take first prize in a barbecue cook-off.
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