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Created Mar 08, 2010 02:37PM PST • Edited Jun 18, 2012 11:03PM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   A three hanky weeper of the best kind – uplifting and funny. I was fortunate to watch it in the darkened cabin of an overnight flight to London, otherwise the tears streaming down my face would have been noticeable to others. But a good man-cry is one reason I love the movies, and The Blind Side triggered more than a few.

   One needn’t be a football fan to fall for this richly affecting true story. An appreciation for a wholesome human interest story – well told and performed – is enough to fall in love with it.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Sandra Bullock was great: strong, sassy and wonderfully maternal. Was she Best Actress Oscar great? Nope, but so what. She’s a terrific movie star who made a great career choice here.

   6’ 8" Quinton Aaron ably fills the shoes of Michael Oher, the gentle giant he plays. Interestingly, the real Oher is only 6’ 4".

   Three supporting actors jump off the screen:

   • Kim Dickens as the first teacher to believe in Michael. This terrific actress seems to be making a specialty of intelligent dramas built around football players. She also plays Matt Saracen’s wayward Mom on Friday Night Lights.
   • Jae Head as precocious younger brother S.J. Tuohy.
   • The redoubtable Kathy Bates as the private tutor who turned Michael into a Dean’s List student, but not before she had to confess to a rather humorous secret.

   One big name who doesn’t jump off the screen is Tim McGraw, as the Man of the Tuohy house. Nothing embarrassing, just didn’t distinguish himself.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

11. Direction Good 3.0

12. Play Great 4.0

13. Music Good 3.0

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.5

    A bit of bigotry gets voiced and nicely put down. A bit of gunplay gets threatened and shown as the empty bravado it is. A bit of sexual mischief gets mentioned in the context of a stern parental warning. All in all, more than a bit of moral courage gets displayed.

17. Sex Innocent 1.5

18. Violence Gentle 1.2

19. Rudeness Salty 1.7

21. Reality

    Glib 1.1

    Racist? Some on the Left say it is. This seems to qualify as an example of Clare Boothe Luce’s aphorism that “no good deed goes unpunished.”

    People are individuals and family members more than members of identity groups, much as believers in Identity Politics may disagree. This uplifting story shows how a wealthy family of apparent Republicans (they joke about the first Democrat they meet) from the Bible Belt saw Michael Oher as an individual worthy of bringing into their home and family. As Leigh Anne Touhy replied when a friend said “You’re changing that boys life,” No, he’s changing mine.

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.3

    Some details of the story were streamlined or embellished for Hollywood purposes.

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0