He Said: The Blind Side
By D. James Ruccio III
December 10, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Sports at their core can be a basis for dramatic representations. What occurs during a sporting event can be steeped in the entire spectrum of emotions. This means that the contests themselves and the people involved are frequently mined for material. The Blind Side is the deceptively simple story of Michael Oher, an African-American man, who as a boy lived a life of near destitution until he met Leigh Anne Tuohy, who took him into her family.
Leigh Anne Tuohy, played by Sandra Bullock, is an interior decoratin', affluent Southern woman who seems to rule all she surveys with plucky charm and an indomitable, relentless spirit.
Meanwhile, Oher grew up in a family run by a single, crack-addicted mother, while his estranged father was brutally murdered when he was a senior in high school. He attended 11 schools in his first nine years as a student while in various foster homes and periods of homelessness.
The movie is based on the book, The Blind Side: Evolution of the Game by Michael Lewis. The book apparently uses the story of Michael Oher to demonstrate the evolution of offensive strategy and the emergence of the position of left tackles in football, especially with the appearance of Lawrence Taylor, who dominated games with his revolutionary set of skills at linebacker. This is entirely jettisoned in the movie, however, in favor of a straight telling of the story of Michael Oher.
The story follows an absolutely predictable straight line to the Feel Good End-Zone and never once deviates from it. Like the largest of linemen, it wraps the audience up in its best of intentions, charges down field and never, ever looks back. It's this unwavering intent on a destination that unfortunately saps much of the movie and its impressive origins of any dramatic impact. Some of the messy details are omitted such as the fact that his high school coach, who was instrumental in his admission into Briarcrest Christian School, was given a position at the University of Mississippi three weeks after Oher agreed to attend the school. Although he was cleared of any wrong doing related to Oher's admission, he was charged by the NCAA of steering other area prospects to the school. The movie floats above these unpleasant realities in an attempt presumably to maintain its family-friendly themes.
It comes with the expected touches of any good sports film, like an overly sweet training sequence featuring Tuohy's young son S. J., played by predictably precocious Jae Head or a dramatic demonstration of Oher's power and skill against a taunting aggressor. Kathy Bates appears as "Miss Sue" seemingly out of nowhere as some sort of Fairy Godmother and Super Tutor and rescues Oher's academic career. There is the gaggle of Tuohy's friends who snicker at her intentions and question her actions. Each of these sports movie prerequisites are checked like some imaginary list on a clipboard.
The secondary characters (read: anyone not Michael Oher or Leigh Anne Tuohy) are played adequately but all serve to prop up the story behind the two main protagonists.
Quinton Aaron, who plays Michael, is unfortunately steered early on in very unfortunate directions either by the writing, the direction or his own performance as he spends much of the first half of the film appearing as a doe-eyed, sad sack, mute ("...an incredibly large mute"). The performance is as subtle as Lawrence Taylor breaking Joe Theismann's leg. But it's all in service of the movie so perhaps he took one for the team...
What rescues the movie from being a glorified Lifetime Movie of the Week is the stand-out performance of Bullock. I've always enjoyed her films, but here she's an interesting blend of Southern-infused Sigourney Weaver determination, Julia Roberts-in-Erin Brockovich sassy toughness and Audrey Hepburn's wrinkled nose cuteness. It feels like a role she can do with ease and yet she makes it amusing and endearing. Anyone who enjoys Sandra Bullock must be pleased, then, with this year's work for her with The Proposal which opened to $33 million and accumulated $163 million in domestic box office. And now The Blind Side which out-grossed The Proposal in its first weekend with $34 million, astoundingly gained another $40 million for a 17% increase between week one and two and has the potential to out-gross The Proposal after the holiday run. It's an incredible set of success for two movies.
It also portrays several other women who rally around the disadvantaged youth and maternally nurture him throughout the film. It's a nice, sweet aspect of the movie which rings true and honest.
If, over the course of the next few weeks, you find yourself out shopping, laden with packages and credit cards warm from being swiped repeatedly and want a two hour break from the relentless pursuit of the perfect present, rest assured that The Blind Side is exactly the movie you think it is and that there is nothing wrong with that.
Speaking of movies that you think you know from the outset... Gentlemen, let me also inform you of something you may suspect but need confirmation on. I love the "She Said" part of He Said/She Said. I enjoy most of the things we do. Occasionally, we ask the other to do something that they may not enjoy on their own and like any good couple we acquiesce. I will gladly apologize on my deathbed for dragging her to 10,000 BC (‘but it's got pyramids AND wooly mammoths!") . When in a loving relationship you sacrifice and do something, go somewhere or...see a movie that perhaps you'd otherwise have avoided like a set of matching pink throw pillows for your duvet. If your presence is requested at The Twilight Saga: New Moon, know that you are in for exactly what you expect...
To her credit she did say afterwards, "It helps if you're a 13-year-old girl...or were a 13-year-old girl." Admittedly, being a 13-year-old boy or having been one helped with the first Transformers movie (there was no demographic that can excuse the sequel). But watching two impossibly perfect men/boys drivel on about their undying love for a mannequin/girl was almost too much. I did my level best...honest, I did, but when one of the Perfects murmured into the shell of her ear, "I could never hurt you," I couldn't resist the under the breath retort of, "Dude, you'll hurt her even when you don't mean to and not even know how you did it." It was after the two hour mark, so perhaps I can be forgiven.
So, gentlemen, if you are in need of serious Relationship Points and she's a fan of this particular series, plan an evening around this movie, screw on a happy face and march into the abyss of projectile teenage girl idealism. They are, after all, a wonderful gender...