Michael

Plot synopsis:
Michael (John Travolta) is not a stereotypical archangel. He epitomizes the freedom that an angel might command if living among mere mortals. As the tagline says, "He's an angel, not a saint."Two reporters, Frank Quinlan (William Hurt) and Huey Driscoll (Robert Pastorelli), one cynical and the other innocent, work for a tabloid newspaper in Chicago. ("Quinlan" is a nod to one of the writers of the same name.) They travel to a sleepy hamlet in Iowa because Quinlan has received a letter from a woman, Pansy Milbank, (Jean Stapleton) who has an angel for tenant and he is able to convince his editor (Bob Hoskins) that they should visit her at the Milk Bottle Motel. She dies before their very eyes, and they "persuade" Michael to accompany them to Chicago. Traveling with them is an alleged angel expert, Dorothy Winters (Andie MacDowell) with whom they were saddled by their editor.Michael is in control of the entire trip. They stop when he says so because he causes their tire to go flat. He leads them in a fight in a bar for which they are jailed one night. And he resurrects the dog, Sparky, after it is runover by a truck.Throughout the story, there is romantic tension between the angel expert and Quinlan, the cynical reporter and Michael engineers their romance to the very end.The movie's climax comes when they finally arrive in Chicago and Michael breathes his last looking up at the Sears Tower. (Michael has a fascination for the biggest and tallest things in the world.) Michael wasn't dying; but he was exiting earth for his last time. Meanwhile, the angel expert is exposed as a spy for the manipulative editor, and she confesses that she was after Huey's job. In truth, she is a dog expert who was sent on the trip to befriend Sparky. Quinlan, who at one point was moving out of his cynicism, regresses and the story almost ends with the three traveling companions going their separate ways, knowing they had journeyed with an angel, but not understanding exactly what it meant.Finally, one night, Quinlan spots a figure that he thinks is Michael (who was lying about it being his last visit), and begins following him rapidly through the streets. He rounds one corner and careens into Dorothy, who apparently was following a Michael-clone herself. Their faith is restored, and their love blossoms once more. "Marry me, Dorothy," says Quinlan. "Yes," she replies. Then the scene freezes, and out pop Michael and Pansy Milbank -- we're left to ponder whether she became an angel when she died earlier, or that she was an angel all along -- and they dance through the frozen people until they merge with the light emanating from a car's headlights.

Tags: romantic

Review:
How even the little things that we take for granted, like pie, are fantastic and how we should enjoy every minute like it was our last.For a much more detailed and well written review see the fine work of jhclues who echoes my feelings about the movie so much that I feel it would be redundant of me to restate, probably poorly, all that they have already committed to page.It is also interesting that so many people really hated it.
I really enjoyed this movie for what it is: A funny little film that doesn't take itself too seriously.
It just builds on a great premise and takes the viewer on a wonderful road trip.John Travolta's performance as a chain-smoking, lady-loving, bar-brawling, pie-eating angel is just perfect.
1996's MICHAEL is warm and winning comedy-fantasy that features one of my favorite performances from the John Travolta library.
Travolta gives one of his breeziest and most likable performances as Michael, an archangel whose quiet existence at the home of a lonely innkeeper named Pansy (Jean Stapleton) is disrupted when Pansy reports Michael's presence in her home to a "National Enquirer"-like newspaper and the editor (Bob Hoskins) sends reporters (William Hurt, Andie McDowell, Robert Pastorelli) to the motel to check it out.
Hurt, McDowell, and Pastorelli are quite good as the jaded news staffers who have a hard time accepting they've met an angel but this is Travolta's show and he rules as the pot-bellied, sugar-eating, cookie-smelling, pie-loving, Aretha-loving, bull-chasing Michael, an angel who just isn't what you think you of when you think of angels.
I love this movie more and more every time I watch it and it's mainly because of the completely winning performance from John Travolta..
The plot involves a group of reporters/experts going to examine the mysterious appearance of an angel (John Travolta) in the midwest.
The romantic side of this film involves Michael the angel trying to get Andie MacDowell and William Hurt together.
They are the messengers of God, and also the arc angels are great warriors (Lucifer being the toughest and best looking until he was kicked out of heaven).So what happens if you don't believe in anything, let alone angels and you are sent to investigate an angel story, only to meet one with wings and less than angelic attitude.Maybe that is what America needs, being a puritan is different from being good.
Michael is a rude, obnoxious, womanizing messenger of heaven who will fulfill your wishes, and make you care enough about the world that you will be touched.Funny, but not greatly so, touching but not overly sentimental, intelligent without being clever...it is just a good simple, small comedy.
John Travolta was excellent as "Michael" in the movie by the same name.
Warm hearted flic depicting arch-angel Michael as a brawling, overweight, cigarette smoking slob who loves to dance and cavort with the opposite sex.
The surprisingly negative comments (IMHO) reflect a level of expectation that professional film critics have led us to think must be a part of every movie.Others have described Travolta's role (it's the reason you'll watch the movie over and over) and the excellent supporting cast (including Sparky!).Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar; sometimes a movie is just fun.Enjoy!.
A possible answer lies in Ephron's entertaining and ultimately touching film, `Michael,' in which she asks you to be a believer; and if you can, it'll loose the magic upon the screen and you'll be treated to a satisfying cinematic experience, courtesy of Ephron's insights into human nature and a guy who just may or may not be one of those most ecclesiastical of creatures, an angel.
When Frank Quinlan (William Hurt), a reporter for a national tabloid based in Chicago, gets a letter from a woman in Iowa named Pansy Milbank (Jean Stapleton), who claims that an angel has been living with her for the past six months, Frank's editor, Vartan Malt (Bob Hoskins), dispatches him forthwith to the woman's residence, the Milk Bottle Inn (which she owns), to check it out.
What they expect to find when they get there is anybody's guess, but if it's someone with a halo and the proverbial `inner light,' they are about to be sorely disappointed; because when they finally meet Michael (John Travolta, complete with wings-- but are they real?), he's, well, as Michael tells them right off, himself, `I'm not that kind of angel--'  And for Frank, Dorothy and Huey, it's the beginning of a journey of sorts, as they endeavor to take Michael back to Chicago with them, hoping to learn all they can about him along the way.
And, as embodied by Travolta, this is Michael, the warrior, who exists to do battle with any enemy and put matters to right-- and Travolta makes it work by creating an `angel' like none you've ever seen before.
It's a solid performance by the charismatic Travolta, who makes Michael a truly memorable character, and in turn, a memorable film.
In the end, whether or not this film makes you believe in angels is a moot point, because `Michael' is an engaging film that reaffirms the indomitability of the human spirit.
The story is the usual earthbound angel stuff that Hollywood seems to quite like and it meanders along rather aimlessly, turning into a very vague road movie of sorts.
Lumbered with the promise of romance, Hurt is not that good but is nicely cynical for the majority of the movie; MacDowell is painfully lame at times and her character is pretty poor, she is a big part of the reason why it is hard to really care about the romance in the story.
Both Pastorelli and Hoskins seem to have fun and share a handful of good lines throughout the movie while little roles for other well known faces vary between the effective (Joey Lauren Adams) and the simply pointless (did Richard Schiff really need work this badly?).Anyway, the film is not great but it is not awful either.
All told it is maybe worth a watch once but it is far from being a good film and, if you don't like John Travolta's performance then there isn't a great deal else to watch it for..
This was more of a love story than one about an angel who comes down here to earth, although both angles of that story are given a good share of the movie.If I took this movie to heart, as someone who knows and believes the Bible, I would have canned it pretty quick, but I don't think the general atmosphere was either mean-spirited or blasphemous.
It starts out with Jean Stapleton and a Randy Newman song in Iowa (Northwest Iowa, I guess), reminiscent of Norman Lear's Cold Turkey, which was one of the best movies ever made, according to people on IMDb. So far, so good.
But Michael does things that an angel not fallen would never do, and that completely blows any credibility the movie might have had.
Travolta plays a not so perfect angel, and I think what this movie showes is that who are we to tell how angels look like.
John Travolta did a great job as being the angel "Michael".
It's sweet and entertaining, and I really enjoy the scene where he eats breakfast and the one where he tells the dog "Now remember, Sparky, no matter what they tell you, you can never eat too much sugar" -- this being a maxim that I live by...It is a fairly typical Nora Ephron movie.
She's not an very good director, more of an accomplished hack I think, but she does a workmanlike job and the movie has a much better cast than the script deserves.
One knows that the story is not real life like, yet the depiction is superb.Lyrics are really good and John Travolta in his usual style.
If I had kids, I would let them watch Deep Throat before Michael!A sold-out John Travolta, a washed-up and balding William Hurt, and an about to die any time now Jean Stapleton highlight this turd of a film.But wait...you'll get to hear Andie McDowell sing!
While this film provides some cockeyed entertainment, mainly from John Travolta's portrayal of a less-than-traditional angel, it is a pretty weak entry.
and nora ephron is in my "ok" list of directors.it's nice to see John Travolta as a pot-bellied angel.
Andie MacDowell gets more appealing with every movie; her sweet scene in a honky-tonk is this film's highlight.
In rural Iowa, Pansy Milbank (Jean Stapleton) has been boarding the angel Michael (John Travolta) and he isn't what the newspaper crew expected.
He isn't imaginary, has wings, not very angelic, and a real ladies man.This Nora Ephron movie seems to have a better premise than the eventual execution.
While I can't really claim to be much of a fan of John Travolta, then I will say that "Michael" from 1996 is still a movie that is fair enough for entertainment purposes.
Especially so because it takes the traditional view of angels and turn it into something else.The story in "Michael" is quite straight forward and very simple to follow, the point of it being predictable actually.
I did like the approach that they had opted for with the angel Michael, as it did spice up the movie quite well.
However, I did feel like Frank Quinlan (played by William Hurt) and Dorothy Winters (played by Andie MacDowell) weren't really brought out to their full potential, as these two characters seemed to have much more to offer.What is the most impressive about the movie is the ensemble of talents on the cast list, which includes William Hurt, Andie MacDowell, Bob Hoskins, Robert Pastorelli and John Travolta."Michael" is a good enough drama movie spiced up with comedy elements, and I dare say fairly generic for the mid 1990's in terms of what was produced back then.It is also the type of movie that can sustain more than a single viewing, albeit with several years in between each viewing.
And that's exactly where I was when I recently saw the film "Michael" again on a cable broadcast.I'll also say that I've never been a big Travolta fan; perhaps owing to the inability to ever fully erase the "Fever" persona from mind.But how could one not enjoy this little comic fantasy?
True, neither John Hurt nor Andie MacDowell or others really have to stretch very far in this lighthearted fare; but it's a good cast with all-too brief appearances by Jean Stapleton and Terri Garr.Anyway, as said, this isn't a deep or thought-provoking film; though Michael's hedonistic tendencies while an earth-bound human could well test the more religiously uptight.
Andie MacDowell is splendid as a song-writing, many-times married fellow skeptic of the fact that Michael is, indeed, an angel.
Liked the scene were you seen travolta for the first time (an angel with a belly, dressed only in a boxer  and wanting a cigarette), but that does not make a movie.Hated it.
Michael, excellently portrayed by John Travolta, is an unorthodox Archangel enjoying his last mission (vacation?) to Earth.
A supermarket tabloid from Chicago sends a team to Iowa to get a story and pictures; after discovering that he's a real angel they naturally want to bring him back to the big city.What works best is that the story is essentially a fun-spirited road movie.
William Hurt, Andie MacDowell and Robert Pastorelli have an exceptional time meeting Michael and trying to escort him back to Chicago.
Performance-Wise: John Travolta as the Archangel Michael, is lively.
I watch it about once a year and am always pleased anew with the film and especially the stellar performances by entire cast.I've always wondered whether Jean Stapleton actually did the ending dance with Travolta????
John Travolta shines as Michael (his dance and every move), angel that can hardly be related to this word.
Michael even helped dear old Pansy Milbank (Jean Stapleton) - that last scene is beautiful when they dance on the street.Travolta had great help in other actors.
Jean Stapleton and Teri Garr are also good, but my favorite supporting actor in this movie is Bob Hoskins as the tabloid owner.So we've got here a solid movie about people with a warm story also and attractive cast.
Michael is probably too cutesy for most action movie fans and too Hollywood for the intellectual crowd but I found it both extremely funny and very touching, despite it being both cutesy and formulaic.When three skeptics are sent to investigate a man claiming to be an angel they end up escorting him on a grand tour of the mid-western country side only to find that it is each of their own hearts that need investigation.When taking this film apart, as with most films today, there isn't a lot of new material but when taken as a whole it has a refreshingly original approach and is off-beat enough to entertain one all the way through.While not being a "Family" film it is suitable for all ages and a good film to share with the whole family or that special someone."Michael" isn't a great film but it certainly is a good film, a touching film, and well worth seeing.KWC.
I love John Travolta but only when he plays the good guy not the bad guy.
John Travolta is an excellent actor and I think that movies like Michael should be made more often and actors and actresses should think about films that make you sit up and watch and cause you to cry a bit and laugh a bit and just make you think..
Travolta is very good in this film and the later third of the movie shows exactly why.
In other words, Travolta is no Superman here (his angelic wings don't fly him around Metropolis to save the world), but he gets the message of the movie across in the end.
The cast was well selected and John Travolta was great, playing the fun loving arch-angel Michael, who simply wanted to enjoy the simple things in life (whether it be eating cereal with about 2 cups of sugar or going to see the "Worlds largest ball of twine") before he returns to heaven.William Hurt played a very good non-caring businessman and Andie MacDowell was great, playing a Dog Trainer who pretends to be an expert on angels.
All the actors did well with their roles, and this is my favorite performance by John Travolta.The movie had plenty of room for some drama acting, and the comedy never seemed to interfere with the drama.
One of the most wonderful movies John Travolta did.
And this angel, Michael, knows his time in the physical is short and so he "lives it up".
I think this movie is excellent, and unique for one thing especially: The character Michael and the way Travolta plays him.
This movie was pretty good, but people now view angels differently.
Michael's a real coarse kind of angel (it's his last trip to earth and he's eager to enjoy the pleasures earth has to offer while he still has time), and there's little to no sense of what most folks think of as biblical values.
(Reporters who routinely let the story of a lifetime  an apparent angel living on Earth  out of their sight?) Someone forgot to tell romantic comedy maestro Ephron that William Hurt, brilliant in so many other films, is no Tom Hanks.
Decent sentimental goo about a cross-country road trip led by William Hurt and Andie McDowell, two reporters hoping to investigate into an old woman's claim that a winged angel is living in her house.
When it turns out she's not lying, and that the archangel Michael (John Travolta) is a smoking, drinking, fighting, unconventional supernatural being, they decide to transport him back to their office so that the boss (Bob Hoskins) can check out the angel for himself and see if they've got a good story.If that sounds contrived, it is.
This movie made quite an upset when it was released because it portrayed one of the most famous angels of the Bible as a smoking sarcastic idiot who slept with women...but if you can get past all the spiritual problems, this film is quite entertaining on its own merits.A good Nora Ephron story with a few flaws, but still a worthy one-time viewing for a late Friday or Saturday night.3/5 stars.John Ulmer.
'Michael' is a bad movie with a heart in the right place and some nice moments from John Travolta.
The story, sort of, is about an angel named Michael, played by John Travolta.
Frank Quinlan (William Hurt), Huey Driscoll (Robert Pastorelli) and Dorothy Winters (Andie MacDowell) are surprised to see that they really have to deal with an angel.
MacDowell is sweet but Dorothy seems like a character a bit too simple, although her singing is a nice extra to the movie.
"Michael" is a pleasant film about a lazy, chain smoking, sugar engorged, womanizing angel who loves bar-room brawls.
John Travolta plays archangel Michael; although charming, he is also untidy, a little over weight, seedy and womanizing.
The name Travolta did very little magic for this project.This movie has a lot of stars, but giving below par performances: William Hurt, Bob Hoskins and Jean Stapleton.
Continuing his comeback, John Travolta played a mildly twisted angel in "Michael".
The music contributes a lot to the mood of the movie.The acting is none the less impressive (especially the dog he he!) with John Travolta taking the lead of the fun-troublesome-loving Michael.
Very pedestrian effort about a trio of tabloid reporters (Andie MacDowell, William Hurt and Robert Pastorelli) who go to Iowa to investigate an old woman (Jean Stapleton) who claims that she is living with a real live angel (John Travolta in the titled role).
Michael (1996): Dir: Nora Ephron / Cast: John Travolta, Andie MacDowell, William Hurt, Robert Pastorelli, Jean Stapleton: Biblically speaking angels do exist but it says nothing about them smoking, boozing, swearing, fighting, and having sex.