If you go
‘The Blind Side’
2 out of 5 Stars
Stars: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Kathy Bates, Quinton Aaron
Director: John Lee Hancock
Rated PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references
Running Time: 126 minutes
“The Blind Side” is about as subtle as a tackle by a 6-foot-4-inch, 309-pound offensive lineman. So it only makes sense this conventional crowd-pleaser is about one. Sort of. It’s being billed as a truthful account about the rise from ghetto castoff to gridiron prodigy of star Baltimore Ravens rookie Michael Oher, based on a section of Michael Lewis’ 2006 book “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game.” But this tolerable sports drama tries to broaden Oher’s compelling life story by turning it into a chance for Arlington native Sandra Bullock to flaunt a push-up bra and butcher another Dixie drawl.
Her hope floats for an Oscar nomination as an Erin Brockovich-style crusading heroine here. (A critic’s eyes roll.)
Sadly, not for the first time, Hollywood makes over a black man’s struggle into a sassy Southern white lady’s martyrdom. Bullock mistakes the brandishing of charismatic likability and sassy attitude for emoting — as she usually does — to play Oher’s soon-to-be adopted mother, Leigh Anne Touhy.
After seeing a young giant wandering around her Tennessee town, sassy do-gooder Touhy discovers that the despondent-looking African-American teenager Michael (Quinton Aaron) is homeless. Soon she, her rich husband, Sean (an agreeable Tim McGraw), and their oh-so-adorable children (Jae Head and Lily Collins) invite Michael to live with them. The Touhys get him enrolled in a fancy private school, get his grades up with a tutor (Kathy Bates) so he can play football, and eventually — after the requisite conflicts are overcome — get him into the college program that will lead him toward the NFL.
Most already know the ending, given the real Oher’s repute. So director-screenwriter John Lee Hancock (“The Alamo,” “The Rookie”) has to compensate with cuteness and melodrama what he can’t supply in suspense for this fictionalized version.
Car radio singalongs and sight gags making fun of Michael’s size ensue. Current and former NCAA coaches including Lou Holtz have cameos. Actual football is downplayed. There are few scenes of Oher’s athletic acumen and more scenes of Bullock’s Touhy bossing around coaches, telling off her racist girlfriends, confronting Michael’s criminal homeboys and comforting his drug-addicted biological mother.
The narrative’s juiciest subplot gets minimized — that the Touhys may have only helped the coveted recruitment prospect Oher in order to persuade him to go to their alma mater Ole Miss. But that “Side” of this idealized story is utterly dismissed.
