The Blind Side

Oh brother, how I tried to avoid this one. It had two strikes going against before I even sat down. The first is that I knew I would spend most of the movie wondering why the Detroit Lions passed on Michael Oher with the number 20 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft and the second is that I really don't enjoy Sandra Bullock movies. So with two strikes against it I sat down on date night and got what was ultimately a very enjoyable 2+ hours.
If you are not familiar with the story, it follows the life of a young black man who has had a rough up bringing but is given the opportunity to attend a private school despite his low levels of academic achievement so that he can play on the schools football team. He enters the school and is immediately placed into a world that he has never seen before and one that is not interested in accepting him. His teachers believe the damage done to him academically is irreversible and he struggles to find friends.
That is when he crosses paths with Leigh Ann Tuohy, she is tough and every bit of a modern woman living the upper class life. She appears to be demanding both in her professional and home life and yet there is a sense that she is also a caring person. Or at least we see that caring side start to come out when she sees Michael alone with no where to go.
One of the films controversies is that this plays like the Leigh Ann Tuohy story and not the Michael Oher story. I knew that going in and in truth that is exactly what I felt like the film did. It's Leigh Ann Tuohy's universe and everyone else is just rotating through it. We get a few poignant moments with Michael before he meets Leigh Ann but once he does meet her his life because an extension of hers.
So as a film goer we are asked whether or not we feel okay with this and ultimately I feel like the answer is yes. Michael came from a home in the projects, his father left and was latter found dead and his mother was a drug addict. Had the film chosen to focus on that we could have had a very gritty story. Instead the films focus is on Michael's life post meeting Leigh Ann. It doesn't erase Michael's past but it doesn't dwell on it either. And it is in this area that the film is a great success. We get an understanding for the hardships Michael has had to overcome but once he is given an opportunity the focus is on overcoming the hardships and not allowing those hardships to hold him back.
The other aspect in which the film works is that we like the Tuohy family not because they are an ideal family but because we believe they are a very real family. Sure, they may have it better than most regarding their families wealth and they may have superficial tendencies but they ultimately are like able because they do not come acrossed as one dimensional. Perhaps it helps because we don't have any scenes focusing on how taking Michael in has created stress on one or more members of the family. Instead we see the family adjust in their own ways and we see the ways that the family grows stronger with the addition of Michael. It's also worth noting that Jae Head is a frequent scene stealer as S.J. the families youngest. The inclusion of a young child/comedic relief character usually results in many grown worthy moments but S.J. has a genunine quality to him that makes him endearing.
Of course, the film is packed with cleches. We see the young female teacher who sees promise in Michael versus the older male teacher who thinks Michael is a lost cause. We see the coach who is willing to fight for Michael when he sees the potential but doesn't know how coach him. We have football scenes that are pretty good but are occassionally unrealistic. It has your typical feel good moments and it occasionally pulls at the heart strings. What is a relief though is that it doesn't over do any of theses as it gracefully moves along with a focus on how Michael's life is changing. There is also some interesting procedural elements related to college recruiting as well as the NCAA investigating the fact that a wealthy family with ties to the University of Mississippi would adopt a football player who would ultimately go and play for the University of Mississippi. The film closes with real life photos of Michael and the Tuohy family that are also very effective.
What all comes down to is that The Blind Side is a very effective feel good family story. It is not the Michael Oher story, but it's also not fair to call it the Leigh Ann Tuohy story. Perhaps it is best to just focus on the fact that it is a great story.
On a personal note, while I was watching the movie I remembered a time back when Nick Saban was the head coach at Michigan State and I got to baby sit his kids. It's a strange memory. What I do remember is that I was babysitting for some neighbors and his kids had come over after school. I didn't get to meet the coach but it's strange to think that I once baby sat the kids of a man who has now won 2 national championships in college football.