Date with an Angel

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

Industry	Film production and distribution
Founder	Martha De Laurentiis (producer)
Headquarters	United States
Products	Films

Date with an Angel is a 1987 American romantic fantasy comedy film written and directed by Tom McLoughlin. The cast features Michael E. Knight, Phoebe Cates, Emmanuelle Béart, and David Dukes. The story follows an aspiring composer (Knight) who discovers an angel (Béart) with a damaged wing in his swimming pool, while navigating the complications caused by his possessive fiancée (Cates).

The film's musical score was created by Randy Kerber, and its visual effects were crafted at Boss Film Studios under the supervision of Richard Edlund.

Plot

Jim Sanders, a budding composer, is engaged to Patty Winston, whose father Ed Winston owns a cosmetics company. During their engagement party, Jim’s friends George, Don, and Rex play a prank by abducting him and bringing him to his apartment for a bachelor party. After he passes out from drinking, Jim awakens to find an unconscious angel in his pool. He revives her and notices she cannot speak and has a broken right wing, which he carefully tends.

While Jim’s friends suggest capitalizing on the angel’s presence for financial gain, Jim refuses to exploit her. Patty arrives unexpectedly, sees the angel wrapped in a blanket, misinterprets the situation as infidelity, and leaves upset. Later, Jim takes the angel to a fast-food restaurant where she develops a liking for French fries. When his friends try to lure the angel away, Jim intervenes. Ed visits and becomes captivated by the angel; after a failed advertising campaign featuring Patty, he opts to replace her with the angel as the company’s spokesperson.

The friends devise a plan to capture the angel by involving Patty in a reconciliation meeting. When Jim arrives with the angel present, Patty storms off in anger. The friends then abduct the angel and reveal her at a press conference. Jim rescues her and hides her in his childhood treehouse, where he confides about his severe headaches caused by a brain tumor that has interrupted his composing career.

After mending her wing, Jim urges the angel to depart before anyone discovers her presence. A distressed Patty confronts Jim but is repelled by the angel’s supernatural powers. Amidst turmoil involving Jim’s family and friends, the angel vanishes into the sky.

Jim collapses and is hospitalized; doctors confirm that his brain tumor is advanced. The angel visits him in the hospital, kisses him, and assures his friends that she has arranged an extended leave so they can be together. The movie concludes with their embrace as she expresses a renewed craving for French fries.

Production

Director Tom McLoughlin cast Emmanuelle Béart as the angel just two weeks before filming began after seeing her performance in Claude Berri's Manon of the Spring during a business trip to Paris. This decision followed auditions of approximately 5,000 candidates.

Principal photography took place from February 16 through mid-May 1987 in Wilmington, North Carolina.

Reception

The film holds a 13% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on eight reviews with an average score of 3.4/10.

Critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave Date with an Angel two emphatic thumbs down on their television program. Ebert remarked it was among the worst films released that day alongside Teen Wolf Too.

See also

• List of films featuring angels