November 21, 2009 by Vinnie Leduc
Sandra Bullock portrays the affluent adoptive mother who takes in, guides, and pushes Oher toward his potential. Her much-hyped performance is commendable, but not extraordinary. If she’s nominated for an Oscar, it’ll be a reward for her career’s biggest blockbuster year, highlighted by this film and The Proposal.
So is it good? Not quite, but it’s not bad either. It is enjoyable? Certainly. File it with recent football films Invincible, Radio, Gridiron Gang, and The Express, but under Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, and We Are Marshall.
The Blind Side’s biggest weakness may be its predictability; you can almost always guess what will happen next to Michael Oher, who’s presented as an older, but more slightly competent, version of Cleveland, Jr., from The Cleveland Show.
If you’ve seen this movie, is there even such a category as “protective instincts” on high school aptitude tests? A quick Google search says no, and it’s not like The Blind Side is one of those ancient stories from before the turn of the millennium. The Blind Side gets 3 out of 5 stars.
Based on the true story of rookie NFL lineman Michael Oher’s pre-collegiate ascent from poverty to football stardom, The Blind Side delivers on its feel-good promise but fails to convert when it comes to its occasional, tame-at-best football scenes.
Sandra Bullock portrays the affluent adoptive mother who takes in, guides, and pushes Oher toward his potential. Her much-hyped performance is commendable, but not extraordinary. If she’s nominated for an Oscar, it’ll be a reward for her biggest blockbuster year, highlighted by this film and The Proposal.
So is it good? Not quite, but it’s not bad either. It is enjoyable? Certainly. File it with recent football films Invincible, Radio, Gridiron Gang, and The Express, but under Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, and We Are Marshall.
The Blind Side’s biggest weakness may be its predictability; you can almost always guess what will happen to Michael Oher, who’s presented as an older, but more slightly competent, version of Cleveland, Jr., from The Cleveland Show.
Minor spoiler after the jump:
If you’ve seen this movie, is there even such a category as “protective instincts” on high school aptitude tests? A quick Google search says no, and it’s not like The Blind Side is one of those ancient stories from before the turn of the millennium.
Update:
Sandra Bullock’s upset win for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama over favorites Carey Mulligan for An Education and Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire will likely propel to her first Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, The Blind Side has far surpassed Adam Sandler comedies The Waterboy ($161 million) and The Longest Yard ($158 million) as the highest grossing football movies of all time ($231 million as of 01/22/10), despite starting with lower opening weekend grosses than both. In terms of sports dramas in general, The Blind Side will likely end up with more than double No. 2 Rocky IV ($127 million).
