How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)

Number Rolled: 53

Movie Name/Year: How Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)

Tagline: Sometimes you need a helping hand.

Genre: Drama, Fantasy

Length: 87 minutes

Rating: TV-PG

Production Companies: Fancy Pants Films

Producer: Sharon Bordas, Valentina Bove, Damon Tod Hill, Kristofer McNeeley, Fernando Szew

Director: Edmund Entin, Gary Entin

Writer: Damon Tod Hill

Actors: Lindsey Gort, Derek Theler, Melanie Liburd, Jeremy Luke, Caleel Harris, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Daniel di Tomasso, Vanessa Waters, Charles Robinson, Troy Evans, Hayes Hargrove

Blurb from Netflix: When a good Samaritan dies in a pre-Christmas accident, a celestial hitch sends her back to earth as an angel in training to make something right.

Selina’s Point of View:

I feel like this movie is an insult to the genre. It’s a carbon copy of Just Like Heaven (2005) only with a slightly different, more boring, ending – and worse acting.

I’m not spending one more minute on this film than I already have.

Cat’s Point of View:

I knew that we were going to run into one of these, eventually. What, you ask? A movie that somehow missed the mark, would be my answer.

I wanted to like it, really. In fact, it wasn’t completely awful – it just fell short. I found myself comparing the plot to a ‘white elephant’ gift that just keeps getting re-gifted. You see, this isn’t the first time this story has been done. Anyone crying out ‘derivative’ wouldn’t exactly be wrong.

Apparently, this movie was based on the Dolly Parton (Gnomeo & Juliet, Joyful Noise, A Country Christmas Story) movie, Unlikely Angel (1996). That film seemed to be re-using the plot from the sitcom Parton was working on in 1994. They filmed 6 episodes before she pulled out of the project, and it never aired. I think it’s time that we moved on from this one, right?

The premise was cute, but for some reason I just couldn’t get invested. I was enough detached that I kept getting distracted by little things like the maître d’ of heaven’s lobby’s teeth, and the fact that Derek Theler (Project: SERA, Shark Killer, Baby Daddy) could pass for the younger brother of Chris Pratt (Jurassic World, Passengers, Avengers: Infinity War) or something along those lines.  

To be fair to the cast, I don’t think this film’s shortfalls falls on their shoulders.  I felt they did the best they could with the material. It’s just one of the rare circumstances where recycling really wasn’t a good thing.

Needless to say, I couldn’t in good conscience recommend this movie as ‘the thing to watch’ this Holiday Season. There’s far too many quality choices out there that simply leave this one in the dust. 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – None

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 25%

Metascore – None

Metacritic User Score – None

IMDB Score – 5.6/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 1/5

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 1.5/5

Movie Trailer: