Michael

A weekly Chicago tabloid is short on stories when a letter arrives from an elderly woman in Iowa who says an angel is staying with her. The editor sends a reporter and a photographer, along with a woman who claims expertise in such matters, to check whether the claim holds up. They find Michael, who looks like an ordinary man in a coat and has little interest in behaving like a heavenly messenger. He drinks, smokes and eats with enthusiasm, and the reporters soon learn he is not the sort of angel the paper was hoping for. To get their story, they persuade him to travel back to Chicago, but he insists on going by car, and the long drive changes the people making it.

Nora Ephron directed the film, her third feature after Sleepless in Seattle and Mixed Nuts, and wrote the screenplay with Peter Dexter and Jim Quinlan. John Travolta plays Michael, with Andie MacDowell, William Hurt, Bob Hoskins, Robert Pastorelli and Jean Stapleton in supporting roles.

Released in late 1996, the film cost about 20 million dollars and took roughly 120 million worldwide, a strong return for a comedy of its size. On IMDb it holds 5.7 out of 10 from around 47,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.7 from about 700 votes. A critics' rating of 5 out of 10 from 40 reviews places it close to the audience scores, so reaction was modest across the board.