Film review: The Blind Side

The Blind Side. 128 minutes. Rated PG. Written and directed by John Lee Hancock; Based on the biography of Michael Oher by Michael Lewis.

In our increasingly computer-defined and self-serving world, it's refreshing to see a good, old-fashioned, feel-good movie about people helping others make the most of their lives. As a potent reminder of how great an influence random acts of kindness and charity can have on the lives of the less fortunate, The Blind Side is an undemanding telling of a heart-warming, too-good-to-be-true (but true all the same) rags to riches story of an American National Football League champion and the woman who risked her reputation to help him become all he could be.

'Leigh Anne Tuohy' (Best Actress Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock) has the perfect life: a gorgeous house, a prosperous interior design business, two marvellously well-adjusted children and a doting, successful husband. As the family are driving home one wintery night, they discover 'Big Mike' (a beautifully introspective Quinton Aaron) walking beside the road dressed only in t-shirt, shorts and runners. When Leigh Anne invites him to spend the night in their home, little does she know that this simple, uncomplicated gesture will change everybody's lives, forever.

As the driving force, Ms Bullock sparkles – at every opportunity – as the heroically determined Leigh Anne who unwaveringly follows her instincts to do what she believes is right. Not only does she wear Daniel Orlandi's (The Da Vinci Code) fantastic outfits with absolute panache, the scenes where Ms Bullock rises to the occasion to protect and defend her charge are certainly the film's (and her career's) best. While there are also some all-too-briefly entertaining, waspish exchanges about the influence of American politics on the lives of affluent white Americans, the dramatic highpoint is undoubtedly a scene between Leigh Anne and Michael's drug-addicted mother 'Denise' (a brilliant cameo from Adriane Lenox). The clash of two equally formidable female energies (reminiscent of a similarly memorable scene between Meryl Streep's 'Sister Beauvier' and Viola Davis's 'Mrs Miller' in Doubt) from opposite ends of the All-American Dream is an emotionally complex and challenging one. Unfortunately, the script quickly dissolves back into predictability – leaving us with barely a whisper of how much more compelling it all might have been.

The Blind Side is not helped, either, by Hancock's pedestrian direction of his correspondingly unambitious screenplay that fails (among other things) to realise that in order to appreciate the attendant dynamics of sporting conquests, we don't need interminable, expositional scenes about the rules and circumstances of the game. Contact team sports are, fundamentally, about offensive and defensive strategies – it's that simple. The saturation-level detail about American football (including a boredom-inducing number of sequences featuring a cavalcade of 'real-life' NFL coaches playing themselves) will leave most Australians staring blankly at the screen.

And just when it might have been powering to a profoundly moving and life-enhancing conclusion, The Blind Side ends up drowning in its own particular brand of self-reverential 'Team America' awe. This remains the film's greatest failing, because the message that is struggling to shake itself loose from the star spangled banner is a hugely significant, and universal, one. It's a real shame the filmmakers didn't realise it.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and an edited version of it was published in the print edition of the Midwest Times.