The Blind Side - Sandra Bullock

The Blind Side is the classic holiday feel good film. It's about a likable character overcoming unsurmountable odds to finally achieving success.

Ok that's it in a nutshell but there is so so so much more to this film.  The film is based on a book by Michael Lewis, based on the experiences of Michael Oher, star offensive tackle with the Baltimore Ravens. Yes ladies he's a football player but trust me this is a feelgood film that you'll embrace. The title of the film is explained as the film begins, where the filmmaker astutely shows clips (with a voiceover by Sandra Bullock explaining the events) of the game between the New York Giants(NYG) and the Washington Redskins(WaR), where the great NYG linebacker Lawrence Taylor sacked/tackled WaR quarterback Joe Theissman. This play  would go down in history as the play that ended Joe Theisman's football career, as his leg was severly broken. Taylor felt awful of course. But to continue on with the story, the title of this film is based on the fact that Taylor tackled Theisman from the "left", the right handed quarterback's "Blind Side". It was this play in football and Theisman's career ending injury, that caused football teams to place more focus on the left offensive tackle position, the position that protects the quarterback's "Blind Side". This is the position on the football team Michael Oher was developed and trained and prepared for, leading to the title of the book and subsequent movie.

The film opens with these scenes leading into Michael Oher(played by the very large and softspoken Quinton Aaron) being questioned by an NCAA investigator wanting to know how he ended up being recruited to play for Ole Miss, siting several potential recruiting violations. From here, the film goes back 2 years to help us understand the events that lead to Michael being questioned.

Reverse 2 years. We see Michael, a teenager, a failure in school who basically has been promoted from grade to grade not due to academic brilliance but to pass the problem on to the next grade.  He, by luck and help from a friend, lands at a private school in Memphis in the "rich" part of town, where the athletic coach at the school promotes his acceptance into the school, secretely hoping Michael, due to his size, will eventually help his athletic program. Little does he know that Michael is untrained and a very gentle and passive individual.

Once accepted Michael goes to class, yet still feels uncomfortable in his new surroundings. Couple that with the fact that he's never really learned in a traditional environment, is failing in school, and you have a person needing help. And in walks Leigh Anne Tuohy(Sandra Bullock) and the Tuohy's as his saviors. Realizing Michael has no one and no place to stay, Leigh Anne barrels into his life and invites him to stay with them. Over time, she and the rest of the family embrace Michael, make him part of their family, fight off some of the discrimination and bigotry in their community, to help Michael succeed academically and athletically. The rest of the family is husband Sean, played suprisingly well by Tim McGraw who is  likable, relaxed, and funny, Collins their teenage daughter played by Lily Collins, who probably has the least relevant role in the family as portrayed in the film, and their young son S.J, played by a very cute and funny Jae Head, who was actually the first one who embraced Michael, and has some very wonderful and funny moments throughout the film.

Once Michael progresses academically, he becomes eligible to compete in the athletic program.  They quickly discover Michael knows nothing about football. It's S.J. that works with Michael to help him develop his football knowledge and basic skills. But once Michael is on the football field, it's quickly determined he doesn't have the skills and assertiveness to play.  The coach is unhappy.  In walks Leigh Anne who talks to Michael and explains to him how protecting the QB is like protecting his family.  He immediately turns things around that is until the team's first big game, when he is challenged by an opposing team and player that are rednecks and very tough. Michael gets run over and outplayed play after play to the point where the opposing players kick him in the head and rather than calling a penalty on the opposing team, the penalty is called on Michael's coach, who calls the ref on his bigotry and bad call and is penalized for unsportsmanlike behavior. Michael, seeing his coach and team stand up for him, quickly adapts the team as "his family" and his play miraculously turns around, as he pounds the opposing players play after play to the point where the final score is a slaughter. Needless to say, the season ends and the school ends up as the HS football state champions. In the midst of all this is Kathy Bates playing Miss Sue, who tutors Michael to help him get his grades to a point where he can be eligible to accept an athletic scholorship at a big name school.

What follows are several cameos by college coaches, many you will recognize if you follow college football, trying to recruit Michael to play for their schools. Michael ultimately selects Ole Miss, which is where both Sean and Leigh Anne went to school. It's here where the first scene in the film picks up with the NCAA investigator. She tells Michael perhaps the only reason the Tuohy's adopted him was to get him groomed to play for their alma mater, Ole Miss, as they are active alumi and boosters for the school. What follows is Michael's reaction to this news, a fight in his old neighborhood and Leigh Anne finding him and convincing him none of it's true and they'd love him even if he decided to flip burgers. Ultimately Michael goes back to the investigator and convinces her the Ole Miss decision was legit and on the up and up. The film ends as Michael starts college with the rest of the family saying their goodbyes.

I have to say I was not expecting a lot from this film. Yeah I knew it was uplifting and a feelgood movie, but I wasn't entirely enthused about seeing it. What I got was a pleasent surprise.  Yes a lot of the film was the standard "fighting against the odds" message, but it was a film that contained good performances that I felt elevated the film. Sandra Bullock, who I have never been a huge fan of, was suprisingly good as the tough as nails, don't take no for an answer Leigh Anne. Her performance in the film was a very pleasent surprise for me.  Normally Sandra is likable enough, but I have never seen her really stretch in a film. Here I saw her portray a different type of character than I am used to seeing her and she sold it. She was tough, no nonsense yet sensitive and funny. I won't go as far as saying her character had a lot of layers. I'll say for what the role was, Sandra did a great job.  Tim McGraw was a surprise. He came across as likable and very easy going o screen and had some great one liners delivered perfectly. Jae Head as S.J. was cute, funny, and a standout. Some of my favorite scenes in the film were with he and Michael.  And Quinton Aaron as Michael was wonderful. Very quiet, likable and soft spoken just like the real Michael Oher. He was a pleasure to watch.

But honestly this film belongs to Bullock who clearly is the star of the film and does a great job carrying it with some really good supporting performances. I don't know if this is an Oscar caliber performance, the role IMO was not written to be a Oscar winner, but it doesn't make it less enjoyable. And how nice is it to see an actress in her mid 40's, still beautiful on screen, written for, and still drawing them in at the box office.  I have to admire Sandra Bullock for not only her performance here, but for the great film year she's had. Who would think an actress in her mid 40's would be carrying 2 very popular films in 2009, The Proposal and this film, but there she is and she's a breath of fresh air compared to the normal young things Hollywood loves to shove at the audience. Kudos to her.

One final really nice touch by the way were the pictures shown in the ending credits of the film. These were pictures of the real Michael Oher over the timeframe up to his playing with the Ravens and lots of pictures of he with the Tuohy's.

All in all this was an enjoyable film. On a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being poor, 2 being mediocre, 3 being good, and  being excellent, I give this film a 3 and recommend it highly.