DVDs in Review

The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock, 2009)

Title: The Blind Side (John Lee Hancock, 2009)

Release date: August 9 2010

Certificate: 12

Format: DVD, Blu-ray combi-pack

DVD RRP: £19.99

Rating: 3/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

Rather than being remembered on its own merit, ‘The Blind Side’ will probably best go down in film history as the one which gave Sandra Bullock her Best Actress Oscar. Bullock has been a solid box office fixture since ‘Speed’ and a better actress than most give her credit for – this film affirms that she can draw a crowd and deliver when it counts.

‘The Blind Side’ is the kind of whitewashed all-American box-office friendly melodrama that allows for a mainstream star to really act while the well oiled plot ensures that the audience don’t get the itch to walk out. It’s an easy film and a breezy watch.

It’s almost overbearingly sentimental and inspirational; not that that’s a bad thing; it just doesn’t offer anything new to the rags to riches story. Set firmly in Tennessee, Bullock stars as Leigh Anne Tuohy - a rich, ballsy interior decorator who isn’t afraid to state her opinion and strive to do good when others have lost their drive.

She’s the leader of the family, and so it’s her decision to adopt a gigantic homeless teenager named Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) who, as the film progresses, develops quite a knack for American football thanks to his frame. Naturally, her family’s obsession with success rubs off and he’s pushed into partaking in sports at the local college until he hits the big time, all the while coming to terms with his violent abusive and impoverished past.

The film’s only real diversion from this clichéd formula is that it raises the question whether or not Michael actually wants to be pushed into that specific direction (the Tuohys are obsessed with getting him into one particular University team), but unfortunately this subplot is handled so ridiculously and drenched in melodrama that it threatens to sink the whole film.

Still, films like this depend on the performances. Bullock is great in the lead role and is given the majority of the focus, while Quinton Aaron plays it under the radar with an equal amount of power. The other members of the screen family do their work well and chemistry is never a problem. In fact there’s nothing really wrong with this film; it’s just a little pedestrian, especially with John Lee Hancock’s direction and screenplay which never really pushes the envelope. It feels like a costly TV movie.

Inexplicably, ‘The Blind Side’ was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (it’s only other nomination aside from Bullock’s deserved win) for the 2010 ceremony which decided to showcase 10 nominees instead of the usual five. Films omitted from the final 10 included ‘A Single Man’, ‘Crazy Heart’, ‘Invictus’. This doesn’t rank as highly as those three in terms of its longevity, but ‘The Blind Side’ ticks boxes and every once in a while, it’s refreshing to sit back with a film that accomplishes its goal without pretence.