‘Reacher’ Star Alan Ritchson Swaps Fists for Heart in This Underrated Streaming Favorite

2 weeks ago 19

Published May 9, 2026, 12:00 PM EDT

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Not every Alan Ritchson role involves punching people through furniture, though it is understandable if your brain goes there first. This one swaps brute-force action for a much softer, more emotional kind of story. It is still about someone moving mountains, technically, but this time the mountains are medical bills, grief, a snowstorm, and the crushing helplessness of watching a child need help you cannot afford. Slightly fewer broken bones, significantly more tears.

Ordinary Angels is now streaming on Peacock, giving the 2024 drama a new wave of attention. Based on true events during the 1994 North American cold wave, the film follows Sharon Steves, a struggling Kentucky hairdresser who finds renewed purpose when she helps Ed Schmitt, a widowed father trying to care for his two daughters while his youngest waits for a liver transplant. The movie grossed around $20.5 million worldwide against a reported $12–13 million budget, which is the exact kind of result small studios want when they put out a film like this. Nice and reliable.

The cast includes Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby, Boys Don’t Cry) as Sharon Steves, Emily Mitchell (Priscilla) as Michelle, Skywalker Hughes (Joe Pickett) as Ashley, Nancy Travis (Last Man Standing, So I Married an Axe Murderer) as Barbara, Tamala Jones (Castle, What Men Want), and Drew Powell (Gotham, Straw Dogs).

Is 'Ordinary Angels' Any Good?

Ritchson, who’s earned praise for his action roles, is being recognized here for something entirely different. As Collider’s Taylor Gates noted in our review, Ritchson does a great job of delivering even under the constraints of a trope — "the macho construction worker with a warm heart under all his muscles" — but it's the writing of the film that ultimately lets it down. However, comparing Ritchson to David Harbour or Pedro Pascal in Stranger Things and The Last of Us, Taylor felt that the movie was still worth seeing for Ritchson.

And he’s not alone in stealing hearts. Swank gives what many are calling her most moving performance in years, capturing Shannon’s chaotic energy and hidden pain with nuance and grit. Her chemistry with Ritchson brings both levity and fire to an otherwise deeply emotional story, especially as the duo battles not just bureaucracy, but blizzards. It's a strange but affecting film when the villain is terminal illness, not drug dealers, demogorgons or zombies.

Ordinary Angels is now streaming on Peacock.