On a Wing and a Prayer

[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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Dull faith-based film.

Because so much of this plays out like a made-for-TV movie, it’s hard to feel many of the emotions.

At times, the script inadvertently approaches slapstick Airplane! territory, while a subplot that ends with two children cycling onto the runway is just daft.

The promise of a "true" story drags you into the film and turns your emotions loose. Quaid has found his director person in Sean McNamara.

Throw in slow-mo as the go-to whenever something potentially really emotional is about to happen and the end result is a real cinematic trainwreck.