''Date with an Angel'' is a 1987 American
romantic fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
starring
Emmanuelle Béart
Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...
,
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Belle Cates Kline (born July 16, 1963) is an American former actress, known primarily for her roles in films such as ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982), ''Gremlins'' (1984) and ''Drop Dead Fred'' (1991).
Early life
Cates was born ...
and
Michael E. Knight
Michael Edward Knight (born May 7, 1959) is an American actor, best known for his role as Tad Martin on ABC soap opera '' All My Children''.
Biography
Knight was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, Cal ...
. The film was written and directed by
Tom McLoughlin
Thomas Maurice "Tom" McLoughlin (born July 19, 1950) is an American screenwriter, film/television director and former mime who is most notable for directing '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' and '' One Dark Night''. His other credits i ...
. The original music score was composed by
Randy Kerber
Randy Kerber (born September 25, 1958) is an American composer, orchestrator and keyboard player, who has had a prolific career in the world of cinema.SeRandy Kerberat the IMDb
Kerber was born in Encino, California. He began his first national ...
. The visual effects were produced at
Boss Film Studios
Boss Film Studios was a prominent American visual effects company, founded by visual effects veteran Richard Edlund after his departure from Industrial Light and Magic, producing visual effects for over thirty films from 1983 to 1997. Before that ...
under the supervision of Visual Effects Supervisor
Richard Edlund. The film was marketed with the tagline "Jim is about to marry a princess... but he's in love with an angel."
Plot synopsis
''Date with an Angel'' tells the story of Jim Sanders, an executive at a cosmetics company, about to marry Patty Winston, the spoiled daughter of Jim's employer. Jim unknowingly has a brain tumor, and his headaches have gotten worse. It is suggested that he will die, and an
angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
arrives on the scene, given the task of bringing Jim's soul back to heaven on the night of his engagement party.
After his three buddies, George, Don and Rex, kidnap Jim to take him to another celebration at his home, Jim decides that he has had enough of partying and goes to sleep. Jim later awakes to see a bright light illuminating from his apartment's swimming pool—and discovers an angel knocked unconscious after one of her wings was broken due to colliding with an orbiting satellite. Not wanting to see her be exploited and unable to get the local priest to listen (he thinks Jim is about to do something lewd when he attempts to disrobe the Angel to reveal her wings), Jim decides to keep her shielded from the world while he helps repair her wings. This proves difficult, as the Angel is unable to speak in human language (though she has no trouble understanding it), and is unaccustomed to the limitations/requirements of life as a mortal. However, she does develop a taste for
fries
French fries (North American English), chips (British English), finger chips ( Indian English), french-fried potatoes, or simply fries, are '' batonnet'' or ''allumette''-cut deep-fried potatoes of disputed origin from Belgium and France. Th ...
.
Inevitably, his buddies and his boss both discover her in his house; so does Patty, who—not seeing the Angel's wings—thinks that she is a mortal woman having an affair with Jim. Patty later sees the Angel and Jim together on television—wings still under wraps—as he rescues her from being exposed to the world by his buddies, who had kidnapped her.
They later escape to Jim's former childhood hideaway. In a short time, the Angel's wing is fully healed, allowing her to take flight and return to the pearly gates. However, drunk and delusional, Patty starts chasing Jim with a shotgun; her father, Jim's father, stepmother, and his buddies also arrive to confront him. Amid the chaos, Jim's uncontrollable headaches cause him to collapse to the ground, but the Angel returns to save him, using harmless but frighteningly-placed lightning bolts to drive away Patty and her father, never to return.
Later, in the hospital, Jim's brain tumor gets worse and his situation appears grim. The Angel comes back to see him, finally confirming that it was her original intention to take him to heaven. Instead, she saves him, and in the process is allowed to return to earth as a mortal woman, now able to speak English. She is now a nurse at the hospital. She kisses Jim after assuring him that he will be around and that they will be together for a long time, humorously stating that she has that information "from the highest authority".
Cast
*
Michael E. Knight
Michael Edward Knight (born May 7, 1959) is an American actor, best known for his role as Tad Martin on ABC soap opera '' All My Children''.
Biography
Knight was born in Princeton, New Jersey. He was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, Cal ...
as James 'Jim' Sanders
*
Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Belle Cates Kline (born July 16, 1963) is an American former actress, known primarily for her roles in films such as ''Fast Times at Ridgemont High'' (1982), ''Gremlins'' (1984) and ''Drop Dead Fred'' (1991).
Early life
Cates was born ...
as Patricia 'Patty' Winston
*
Emmanuelle Béart
Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963)
''Tecinema.jeuxactu.com''. Retrieved 21 April 2020. is a F ...
as Angel
*
David Dukes
David Coleman Dukes (June 6, 1945 – October 9, 2000) was an American character actor. He had a long career in films, appearing in 35. Dukes starred in the miniseries '' The Winds of War'' and '' War and Remembrance'', and he was a frequent tel ...
as Edward Winston
* Phillip Brock as George
*
Albert Macklin
Albert Macklin (born 1958) is an American film and stage actor.
Filmography Film
* '' David & Layla'' (2005)
* '' Cradle Will Rock'' (1999)
* ''Daylight'' (1996)
* ''Date with an Angel'' (1987)
Television
* '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent' ...
as Don
* Peter Kowanko as Rex
* Vinny Argiro as Ben Sanders
*
Bibi Besch as Grace Sanders
*
Cheryl Pollak
Cheryl Pollak (born August 31, 1967) is an American actress, director and producer. Biography
Pollak was born in Scottsdale, Arizona and grew up in Greenville, Texas. She graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1985.
She got her start in the ...
as Rhonda/Cashier in Market
*
Steven Banks as Aldridge
*
Charles Lane as Father O'Shea
*
J. Don Ferguson as Harlan Rafferty
Reception
''Date with an Angel'' currently holds an 11% rating on
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, from 9 reviews.
On
their show,
Gene Siskel and
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
specifically gave the film two emphatic thumbs down, with Ebert complaining that they had picked, along with ''
Teen Wolf Too
''Teen Wolf Too'' is a 1987 American fantasy comedy film directed by Christopher Leitch, written by R. Timothy Kring, and starring Jason Bateman (film debut), James Hampton, John Astin and Kim Darby. It is the sequel to ''Teen Wolf'' (1985).
...
'', the two worst films possible to be released on the same day.
See also
*
List of films about angels
This is a list of films where angels appear.
Angels
* '' The Christmas Angel'' (1904)
* ''The Passing of the Third Floor Back'' (1935)
* ''The Green Pastures'' (1936)
* ''Here Comes Mr. Jordan'' (1941)
* ''I Married an Angel'' (1942)
* ''A Guy Na ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{Tom McLoughlin
1987 films
1980s fantasy comedy films
1987 independent films
1987 romantic comedy films
1980s romantic fantasy films
American fantasy comedy films
American independent films
American romantic comedy films
American romantic fantasy films
1980s English-language films
Fictional angels
Films about angels
Films about businesspeople
Films directed by Tom McLoughlin
Films produced by Martha De Laurentiis
Films shot in North Carolina
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group films
Films with screenplays by Tom McLoughlin
1980s American films