On a Wing and a Prayer

This movie comes really close to being good, but falls short because of the addition of pointless and annoying characters. Characters that have no value in driving the storyline or improving the plot in any way.

I wanted to enjoy this movie, it's based upon a true story that is amazing on its own, and really doesn't need any "help" or additions to the story to make it more interesting to viewers.

For some reason, movie studios love placing kids in pointless roles in movies. It happens way too much and only serves to break up the tension and lowers the quality of the movie. Children overreacting and being dramatic in a true story like this isn't funny, comedic, or cute, it's just infuriating and annoying.

I don't think it's a stretch at all to say that the movie could have easily been improved with some good editing. If the filler scenes with the two "aviation enthusiasts" children were removed, and instead we simply had a few more scenes with the interactions between the aircraft and the aircraft tower, it would make for a much more enjoyable watch.

...but I couldn't. The first part of the movie was just tedious. I know it was about building up the family context, but it was tedious. There were several points where I almost gave up on the movie. The blonde daughter was very annoying. There was a point where she had to grab an epi pen out of a backpack in the cargo hold, and instead of her unfastening the webbing in the cargo hold, for what seemed like a long time we had to see her panicking as she tried to frantically reach through the webbing to feel for the backpack. All I could think was "how stupid of a daughter did this guy have?" Even my 10yo son would've tried to unhook the strapping. On the plus side, it's a family friendly movie and maybe a preteen or younger might find the movie entertaining. Most adults would probably not get past the mediocre acting and plot development.

The reviews about how awful this movie is are not wrong but they miss the point. When viewed as a comedy, it's quite good. We burst out in laughter multiple times. Granted, it was due to the absurdity of various twists (storm approaching...cut to shot of coastal hurricane...next, we're in clear skies on final), or the awfulness of the script, or the forced cliches. Dennis Quaid's scrunchy puffy face as he's wrestling the plane is hilarious.

Also, it works as a Mystery. As in WHAT IN GAWD'S NAME ARE DENNIS QUAID AND HEATHER GRAHAM DOING IN THIS PICTURE? Did someone lose a bet? Contractual obligations? Sadly, the mystery is never resolved.

Did it occur to anyone else that the callsign Niner Delta Whiskey could also be interpreted as Niner Dead Whites? 😁 or Niner Dreadful Waste of two hours?🤣

interesting story tho!

This movie which is based on a true story could have been so much better. Dennis Quaid did a fine job in his performance and those who portrayed his family did an ok job. My major complaint is why did Hollywood need to make out two preteen kids (who was not involved in the real event) act like they are geniuses. I found this addition very distracting and insulting to have two kids listening to air traffic controllers and trying to explain what is happening to each other and us the audience. This part was totally fictionalized and unnecessary. Other than it was on ok family movie. Could have been better though.

Lovely movie based on true story. I work in the airline industry so noticed numerous flaws, even without my background some of the movie's flaws were pretty obvious - if plane took dive people would be banging around etc.

Poor acting by female lead in my opinion, otherwise all the other actors were solid and believable in their roles. I was unsure of the importance the kids had in monitoring the drama that was unfolding and I just found that part a bit distracting in the storyline.

The follow-up of the individuals after the show was very interesting.

I found it worth watching this family friendly movie.