Bullock is not the focus here. Instead, that honor goes to newcomer Quinton Aaron who plays real life NFL rookie sensation Michael Oher. When we first meet the hulking six foot five teen, he's been introduced to the football coach at a snooty Memphis private school. While his grade point average is almost nonexistent, and the admissions office can't accurately verify his age, the board acts out of Christian charity and lets him in. Finding it hard to fit in amongst a sea of white faces, Michael fails to reach out to those who could help him. Instead, he lives on the street, spending time in the school gym, or when that's closed, hiding out at the local 24 hour Laundromat.
One night, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock) and her former basketball star hubby Sean (Tim McGraw) see a shivering Michael walking along the road. Sensing he could use a place to stay, they decide to open their home. From then on, the strong willed woman makes it her mission to see Michael realize his potential -- both in the classroom and on the football field. She gets him an understanding tutor (Kathy Bates). She lectures him in the finer points of playing left tackle ('the quarterback is family'). She even defends him against those elements from the past -- including a drug addled mom (Adriane Lenox) -- that would conspire to keep him down. Even when college comes calling, Mother Tuohy is there to provide guidance and, when needed, good old fashioned gumption.
While it's clearly been sanitized to PG-13 friendly parameters, The Blind Side stands as an excellent example of genre conventions done right. Director John Lee Hancock, who handled similar sports-oriented sentiments with the fell good Dennis Quaid film The Rookie really understands the inherent magic in athletics. As with Michael's actual story, the filmmaker explains that physicality and aptitude can overcome even the most horrific of childhood traumas (as well as educational/social service system failings). Sure, it's a pat plot catalyst, the notion that Michael's size and strength will free him from a decidedly disenfranchised fate. But thanks to the performances, and the leisurely pace in which they are presented, we have a chance to move in with these characters and get to know their emotional pros and cons.
Both Bullock and Aaron are excellent, breaking down the barriers inherent in their mutual social circumstance while conveniently avoiding the obvious and the clichéd. Sure, our interior designing spitfire may sound like an antebellum Mother Hen defending her young, but as she does with most dramatic turns, she really brings out Leigh Anne's maternal determination. Aaron has the harder role, reduced to a mumbling hulk at first, then allowed to lighten up when he befriends the Tuohy's precocious son SJ (Jae Head). Along with Bates, McGraw, and the rest, we get an uplifting tale that's light on the syrup and heavy on the honest sentiment. Even if it weren't true, The Blind Side would be a special film. The reality factor makes it that much more endearing.
