We Hate Hollywood

Written and directed by John Lee Hancock
Starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Kathy Bates, Quinton Aaron, Lily Collins, Jae Head
Rated PG-13 for some profanity including racial slurs and mild violence
Rating - 1 bullet hole

Based on a true story, The Blind Side shows us how Leigh Anne and Sean Touhy (Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) came to befriend and accept Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) into their Memphis home.  We also get to see Oher’s athletic abilities take root as he joins a football team and rises to greatness.  A story like this lends itself to sappy melodrama and formulaic storytelling especially since Oher is black, and the Touhy’s are an affluent white family.  Thankfully, the film transcends most of these pitfalls.

I hear people sometimes praise a movie just because it’s based on a great true story.  When it comes to film, that’s not enough.  A good story doesn’t always translate to good drama.  For instance, Hunter Campbell “Patch” Adams is a fascinating man.  But the 1998 film Patch Adams was trite, annoying, humorless, and dull.  I’d rather just read a book about the man than watch that waste of time again.

Alternatively, The Blind Side introduces us to engaging and likable characters.  Sandra Bullock’s performance as Leigh Anne Touhy is pitch-perfect.  She is sassy and fiery.  She fights for her family like a lioness.  But, she is also overflowing with kindness, love, and Southern charm.  Sandra Bullock is far more gifted at drama than comedy as evidenced here and in 2004’s Crash.  Tim McGraw is surprisingly effective as her husband.  He is a very successful but pragmatic, and generous man, dedicated to his family.  His strength of character doesn’t come across as forced in the slightest.  And before you argue that he doesn’t know how to act and is just playing himself, go watch Friday Night Lights again.  Quinton Aaron does an adequate job as Oher.  The film doesn’t belittle or stereotype him, yet it’s not a wow performance.  He definitely is playing second-fiddle to Bullock.

I also liked how the film treats Christianity with overt respect.  Whether or not you are a Christian, you have to admit that we live in a world where many people are cynical and mistrusting of Christianity.  I’m not talking about the religion or politics of Christianity but the tenets that make up the faith.  The Touhy’s children go to Wingate Christian School.  When the football coach is impressed by Big Mike, he implores the school board to let him play, but they balk at the idea because of Mike’s poor grades.  The coach (Ray McKinnon), exasperated, says “Last I checked, our sign had the word ‘Christian’ on it. We either take that seriously or we paint over it.”  A lot of Christians need to hear that message.

I mentioned that the film transcends most of the pitfalls of a story like this.  But not all of them.  In Oher’s first game, he is taunted by a redneck on the opposing team with such energy and over the top bullying that it becomes embarrassing to watch.  He does all of this while his dad in the stands hoots and hollers like he just came from a Klan meeting.  The only thing that saves the scene is Leigh Anne’s excruciatingly funny response to him.

In another scene, Oher returns to his home in the projects to get some clothes and falls in with “the old crowd” of usual gangsters.  The scene is awkward and comes across as a watered down hodgepodge of better scenes from Boyz n the Hood, Menace II Society, and New Jack City.  I’m sure this is blasphemous, but I also got tired of Jae Head’s performance as the Tuohy’s son S.J.  He’s a likable kid I guess.  I’m sure some of the things in the film with him happened in real life, but his relationship with Oher rings false at times.  It’s dripping with that nauseating cutesiness that you’d expect to find in a tepid Hallmark TV movie.

All in all, I applaud what director John Lee Hancock has done here.  He’s taken the sports drama cliché and brought some true originality and depth to it.  He did the same thing with 2002’s The Rookie.  If you’re not a sports fan, that doesn’t mean you have to run away.  How many people loved Hoosiers yet don’t watch basketball or even understand it?  As Roger Ebert once said, it’s not what a movie is about that makes it good but how it’s about it.