The Blind Side is a 2009 American drama–sports film written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL. The film follows Oher from his impoverished upbringing, through his years at Wingate Christian School (a fictional representation of Briarcrest Christian School in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee), his adoption by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, and on to his position as one of the most highly coveted prospects in college football. For her performance, Sandra Bullock won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and an Academy Award for Best Actress. The film itself also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture.

The film stars Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher, Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy, Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy, Oher's adoptive parents, and Kathy Bates as Miss Sue, Oher's tutor. The movie also features appearances by several current and former NCAA coaches, including SEC coaches Houston Nutt and Ed Orgeron (Oher's coaches in college, though Nutt represented Arkansas at the time and therefore does so in the film) and Nick Saban (who was at LSU at the time and represents them in the film), former coaches Lou Holtz, Tommy Tuberville, Phillip Fulmer, as well as recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.

Highly enjoyable and heartfelt without being cloying, The Blind Side fits snugly into the "inspirational sports drama" subgenre. Although the film avoids piling on the cliches partly because it's based on true events, writer/director John Lee Hancock still manages to refreshingly avoid the pitfalls of melodrama. The acting is very good in general. Quinton Aaron is suitably low-key as the gentle Oher and Tim McGraw does good work as the supportive father/husband. But the film belongs to Sandra Bullock as the strong-willed and layered Leigh Anne; she hits all the right notes and has never done better work throughout her career. Containing the perfect mix of football action/talk and nicely developed family drama, The Blind Side's mawkish and misleading trailers deserve to be overlooked. The movie within is more intelligent and clever than suggested. A-

Well if it doesn't so well, blame it on the trailers.. Afterall, trailers are supposed to sell moviegoers on the movie, right???

Yeah, I mean, this movie is only one of the biggest breakout financial hits of the year. Let's blame the trailer for its failure.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeevo
Sorry to sound like a racist prick, but is anyone else sick to death of these "blacks overcome adversity" in sports movies where the white people are all taught a lesson after being ignorant for the first 90 minutes of the film? It's like the same rehashed story used over and over except there are different eras and sports.

Remember the Titans, Pride, The Blind Side, Radio, Glory Road, etc

Highly enjoyable and heartfelt without being cloying, The Blind Side fits snugly into the "inspirational sports drama" subgenre. Although the film avoids piling on the cliches partly because it's based on true events, writer/director John Lee Hancock still manages to refreshingly avoid the pitfalls of melodrama. The acting is very good in general. Quinton Aaron is suitably low-key as the gentle Oher and Tim McGraw does good work as the supportive father/husband. But the film belongs to Sandra Bullock as the strong-willed and layered Leigh Anne; she hits all the right notes and has never done better work throughout her career. Containing the perfect mix of football action/talk and nicely developed family drama, The Blind Side's mawkish and misleading trailers deserve to be overlooked. The movie within is more intelligent and clever than suggested. A-

If they had expanded on the question of why Bullock and her family did this - something brought up but just as easily done away with - it could've been at least a little more interesting. Alas, it's not.

See, I thought it was pretty selfless on how the movie didn't focus on the why or the should of taking him in - they knew it was the right thing to do and had him as the priority.

I did enjoy it The Blind Side, but not as much as I thought. Sandra Bullock was great as well as the kid portraying Michael Oher. I think it was just a little more hokey than I expected. I did laugh at Kathy Bate's revelation of being a democrat though. My family has tended to vote more on the democratic side on most issues, and people in a small town can make that very frustrating.

B