Unlikely Angel (1996)

This movie presupposes that Dolly Parton is too slutty for heaven. Absolutely unhinged premise. It’s a terrible movie, but frankly, I don’t care. It’s Dolly.

Unlikely Angel is peak 90s made-for-TV fare - it’s got that Touched by an Angel energy where everything is aggressively Christian, vaguely conservative, and deeply sex negative. The premise requires us to accept that Dolly Parton - an absolute saint of a human being who has spent her life giving away money, funding literacy programs, and being a beacon of warmth - is too selfish and slutty to get into heaven. That should be a deal breaker right from the start. The audacity. The slander.

But if you want a warm, gentle, very conservative Christmas movie from the 90s, you’ll probably have a good time with this. It’s cozy in that specific way these films were before the Hallmark industrial complex took over. Could have used more singing - you get a little bit, but not enough.

What you do get is a lot of charm from Dolly, which papers over most of the film’s shortcomings.

She’s better than this movie. She’s better than most movies. I watched it anyway.

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