There are rules in Hollywood, rules that hold the entire industry together. Rules like “Mark Wahlberg makes one decent film a year”, “Even if the movie sucks, Jennifer Aniston still brings in the Friends demographic by the busload” and “A movie, no matter how sound the premise, can only be so good if it has Dennis Quaid in it” and, most importantly, at least for the context of this particular project, “Sports movies are box-office poison.”.
So imagine everyone’s surprise across the pond when this quaint recounting of triumph over adversity in the heart of America’s south came out of nowhere and toppled the rampaging hormone driven behemoth that was New Moon from the coveted Thanksgiving Weekend Number One spot. On the back of this initial success, the film won a slew of awards, most notably an Oscar for lead actress Sandra Bullock, a woman whose career up until that point could be mostly graded using a scale drawn from “mediocre” to “pointless bilge”.
And now we lucky Brits get to see what all the fuss is about. Is The Blind Side a heart-warming story of true grit and how anything is possible with a little hard work, or a sanctimonious journey into an imagined class divide that only teaches us that Americans need an even bigger slap round the chops than we thought they did?
A bit of both as it turns out. Quinton Aaron plays a younger version of real life NFL player Michael Oher, who struggles against his lack of education, tough upbringing and family issues to reach the top of the sport, with help from his adopted mother – Sandra Bullock’s well-to-do but feisty sub-urban interior designer.
Aaron turns in a good performance, never making Oher appear simple or stupid, thus ramping up the sympathy we feel for a basically smart kid clearly born well beyond the wrong side of the tracks. Director John Lee Hancock, apparently aware of the dangers of heading down the slippery slope into Forrest Gumpsville, does a decent job of maintaining a believable sincerity to proceedings, without ever descending into a patronising “troubled black kid joins white family, comes good in the end” scenario.
Much of the attention will be on Bullock’s Oscar winning performance, and it’s solid enough. Leigh Anne is a commanding matriarch, and Bullock portrays this authority with a savvy charm that keeps the viewer firmly on her side. However, I cannot remember the Oscar being given to an actress portraying such a paragon of the human condition. I’m not saying that the Academy should only be rewarding portrayals of strung-out drug addicts and serial killers, but Bullock’s character is so without flaws that it leaves the audience a little weary of her good deeds by the end.
And therein lies The Blind Side’s main problem. There’s little to no conflict throughout the entire movie. Aside from one misunderstanding and a couple of run-ins with some of Michael’s gangster ex-chums, the story skips along from one wholesome family moment to another. I know this is a true-life story, but the lack of any meaningful tension makes the entire thing seem more than a little shallow. What of Michael’s life before meeting his saintly adoptive parents? The rewards he stands to obtain would feel much more solid and satisfying if we knew more about the doldrums from which he escaped.
Additionally, whilst the film provides an interesting window into life in the suburban south, The Blind Side may contain slightly too much Americana for British audiences to stomach. Repeated references to the NFL and its rules and structure are likely to alienate a large portions of the viewers, whilst nod-nod wink-wink appearances by several college football coaches will probably seem to most people in this country like the producers bussed in a bunch of old men who can’t act.
Whilst certainly not a terrible film, The Blind Side ultimately falls a little short of its mark, thanks to a lack of any real drama and an unwillingness to grab the bull by the horns when it comes to issues like race, poverty and class divides. That said, it’s sweet enough, the performances are good (if perhaps not award-winningly good) and the essential message of the piece is inspiring enough to keep the viewers attention for the duration. A field-goal then, but not a full on touchdown.
Overall Verdict: A decent enough yarn with enough well meaning inspiration to see it through, but probably a little too wholesome and sweet for its own good.
Reviewer: Alex Hall
