The cast also includes Jean Stapleton, Andie MacDowell, William Hurt, Bob Hoskins, Joey Lauren Adams, and Robert Pastorelli as people who cross Michael's path.

The editor, Vartan Malt, receives a story tip about a woman living with an angel in her house in a small town in Iowa, and decides to send three staff members to investigate.

The site's consensus states: "John Travolta plays an angel in Nora Ephron's maudlin Michael, a grating comedy that doesn't tap into the heavenly charms of her best work.

"[4] Emanuel Levy wrote in Variety that Michael is essentially a series of "lethargically paced" episodes with only flimsy connections to an overall narrative.

[6] David Ansen of Newsweek instead judged the film to be a mixed bag, with weak points including a contrived plot and Robert Pastorelli's performance, which nonetheless succeeds as a "low-key charmer" thanks to those moments where the attractive cast are allowed to play off each other, such as the song in praise of pies.

Released on Christmas Day, Michael finished number one at the box office that weekend, grossing $17,435,711 (roughly $3.4 million more than second-place Jerry Maguire, which was in its third week).