The Blind Side (2009) ~ by Joel

JOEL's VIEW

Sandra Bullock was really good in her Oscar winning role of Leigh Ann Tuohy.

Tim McGraw did well in a rare film appearance as Leigh Ann’s husband.

Tony Award winning acts Adrianne Lennox gave a great performance as the drug addicted mother of Michael Oher.

The guy who played Michael Oher was good.

I didn’t much care for the movie. It wasn’t as good as I suspected the second time seeing it.

What I did like were the cameos of the different coaches in college football. For example, ESPN analyst Lou Holtz (for South Carolina, even though I thought he coached at Notre Dame), Phil Fulmer from Tennessee (my mom can’t stand Tennessee just like Leigh Ann Tuohy), Houston Nutt from Arkansas (now at Ole Miss), Tommy Bowden (son of former Florida State great Coach Bobby Bowden), Ed Orgeron from Ole Miss, Nick Sabam from LSU (now at Alabama), and Tommy Tuberville from Auburn. To my disappointment, there was no Mark Richt from Georgia.

It was cool that they showed footage of the real Michael Oher being drafted and photos and video taken when he was actually drafted.


*****

LISE's VIEW

Hmm. I really liked Blind Side. I think most moms who have put their all into raising children (and many of their children’s neighbors and friends) and have a heart for less fortunate young people will really feel gushy and warm while watching Sandra Bullock’s much-touted opus.

The blonde Bullock is not a mushy mom, and I like that. She’s very matter-of-fact, doesn’t hug and gush over her own progeny or the teenage black man who she takes into her home. She is real and admittedly not perfect. Bonus.

Understandably, director John Lee Hancock uses a LOT of close-ups of Bullock, and she is not hard on the eyes and is the one big star, so it’s OK.

Quinton Aaron, as Michael “Big Mike” Oher, the disadvantaged youth she and Sean Tuohy adopt, is also believable. He doesn’t overplay the part – his first – and reminds me a lot of other young people who respond to life’s hardest knocks by retreating into a shell, head down, tail between legs.

Extra delights in the November 2009 release are Jae Head as the rambunctious little brother and country singer Tim McGraw as Leigh Anne Tuohy’s voice-of-reason husband and entrepreneur. I expected nothing from McGraw and was very surprised at his thoughtful interpretation of this understanding hubby. Sans facial hair and cowboy hat, he looks like a nice, regular guy.

Head as “S.J.” is way over-the-top in his performance, but he makes you smile and you forgive.

There are no surprises in this movie, but there are lots of warm and slightly sniffley moments. The language is wonderfully clean and the good guys win, and all is well with the world.

The Blind Side is PG-13, run :128 minutes