It’s not too often that a Sandra Bullock (The Proposal) movie causes such debate amongst film-lovers. I am a fan of Ms Bullock and think her performances in fare such as Speed and While You Were Sleeping proved far better than the genres of action blockbuster and rom-com usually warrant. Four years ago she gave a stirring performance in racial-themed Oscar-winner Crash, and now she’s back in the wheelhouse, receiving an Oscar nomination herself for her role as a woman who adopts a homeless African-American teenager.
Based on a true story, The Blind Side stars Bullock as rich, upper class Leigh Ann Tuohy. In between taking her two children (Lily Collins and Jae Head) to and from their private school and assorted sporting activities, as all rich Southern mothers seem to do, she associates with other rich Southern mothers who spend their time drinking white wine, eating overpriced salads and discussing school fundraisers.
One night she and her husband, Tim McGraw (Friday Night Lights), spot a young man known by the kids at school as “Big Mike” (Quinton Aaron in his major movie debut). Homeless and alone, the Tuohy’s take him in and within no time Leigh Ann has adopted him as a pet cause. She buys him clothes, hires a tutor to get his reading and writing skills up and eventually helps him grow into the man who would become one of the most exciting recruits of the 2006 Gridiron season.
Sometimes the divide between critic and audience can be large and scary and such is the case with The Blind Side from director John Lee Hancock (The Rookie). The film has proven to be a huge hit with audiences and it’s not hard to see why; Sandra Bullock, one of the most popular actresses in the world, fronting a sports drama that can be called such popular adjectives like “inspirational” and “heart-tugging”. I can’t say that I didn’t crack a smile and find myself cheering on (in a silent, metaphorical way) Big Mike.
People who are repelled, cinephiles and critics mostly, by these sorts of overly sentimental and vaguely racist moral movies won’t find much within The Blind Side to like. However, those who enjoy watching people overcome adversity and make a better life for themselves will surely be keen to check it out. It’s like a whitewashed Slumdog Millionaire, but with the nasty violence replaced by polite suburbanites wearing beige sweater sets from Target. Bullock acquaints herself nicely in the performance that could have become a joke. With the copious amounts of southern drawl, big hair and heavy makeup – it would have been easy to turn this performance into a caricature, but Bullock works wonderfully. I suspect that if you weren’t bored or offended by the trailer for The Blind Side then you will enjoy the movie greatly.
The Blind Side is screening nationally in Australia now
Director: John Lee Hancock
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Lily Collins, Jae Head, Kathy Bates, Ray McKinnon
Great review Glenn!
I really enjoyed this film – then again, i’m a sucker for feel-good movies and this fits the mould perfectly. I also thought Sandra Bullock was great – she really carried the film in her usual charming way. What I liked about it was that I didn’t feel like it over glorified the kindness, and instead just told a story that is, dare i say it, heart-warming/tugging and just plain sweet.
Very re-watchable in my opinion, though I don’t think it quite deserves an Oscar nomination – thoughts?
Exactly, this is where I had trouble with reviewing this film. Personally, I didn’t hate it like many others of my kind (er, film obsessives) have, but I also didn’t particularly think there was much there to like; it’s pleasant and Bullock is lovely. But, here’s where the catch is, I KNOW that many will love this movie because it’s not aimed at the hardened film snob, and the typical “average” moviegoer will most certainly find much to enjoy. I hope I was able to get that across and that I was able to get the balance. It’s like “Australia” in a way, I think, which was reviled by many within the film critic community, but was loved by a lot of audiences who don’t see 200 movies a year. “Precious” this ain’t!
I dunno, it’s tricky!
Surely the twin sets weren’t from Target, daaarling!
Spot on!
I think you’ve also brought an interesting discussion – the difference in opinions between regular movie-goer and film critic. Why is it that a film being, I suppose, ‘easy to watch’ and ‘pleasant’ isn’t good enough, so to speak, to get fine reviews? A lot of rom-coms are very re-watchable – but many get the axe, if you know what I mean. It’s not just limited to film reviews but music reviews too. It’ll be interesting to learn what it is that film/music/theatre critics look for, if there is a particular something.
I stumbled across an interesting (albeit, not so PC) quote in a TV show: “If you think about it, if you wanna win an Oscar, you have to either play ugly, retarded or a lesbian.”
Alice, Red Circle Boutique? I actually don’t think where these characters live that they have a Bergdorf Goodman around the corner.
Lin, there is a big difference between movies like “The Ugly Truth” that are terrible movies and something like “The Blind Side” which I think is not necessarily a bad movie, just incredibly unambitious.
Ha! I hadn’t heard Target called that before. Good one!
Though the may not have a Bergdorfs, there’s certainly a lot of money in Memphis. Did you see Leigh Anne’s diamond crucifix?
Further to Lin’s point, I think the trick to film criticism is taking each film on its own merits (or trying to). I love rom-coms, and happily review them, but even within that genre, there’s good and bad (The Ugly Truth – which I haven’t tried to sit through – evidently being in the latter group). As for ‘pleasant,’ well, I don’t think such films deserve the axe, but rather calling them like you see ‘em.