The Blind Side

From 2009 to the present day, I wrote off The Blind Side like it was nothing. I've never been a big football fan even though it is the most popular sport in the United States and I just got tired of all the praise that this film got. As with any film though, The Blind Side can't be judged until it's watched. It offers like a dozen things that seems to come out of nowhere and it's very likable indeed. An overall great film.

Based on a true story, The Blind Side follows around homeless teen Micheal Orr (Quinton Aaron) who never grew up with parents who were there for him and who's really got nothing going for him. Like a billet family, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her husband Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) take Micheal in and raise him in a proper home that he never had. They show him the ways of life and Michael ends up turning into a football star through it all.

It sounds exactly like a football film but it also has the elements of family, how to do well in school and also how to channel violence in the right way. Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw play perfect parents and Bullock's work here won her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar Award in 2010. Collins (Lily Collins) and S.J. (Jae Head) play the kids of the family and both come off as unexpectedly good and add fun and humor to the film.

Another reason this cannot be considered just a full football film is the racial issues touched on here. This part of the story is of a African-American teenager trying to live in the South where we know it can be hard and the film tries to deliver the message that everybody is the same regardless of  the color of your skin. I think this is one of the important messages in this world today and it is always nice when a film touches on this.

Once we get to the football scenes, we can't stay it's bad either. It's typical in the sense that it shows  the character Michael Orr developing a toughness that wasn't there before. It also adds a football flavor to an already packed film and it is fun to watch cameos from college football coaches Nick Saban to Lou Holtz. Don't expect any good acting from these coaches but that is to be expected and the quality of the acting by the cameos is kind of beside the point anyway.

The Blind Side is a majestic, heartfelt and insightful film that would work perfectly for the Relationship classes that are now taught in High School and College. The film is mostly for teenagers but also for the whole family too. Expect a tearjerker though.

4.5/5