Top 25: Part Deux.

21.) The Blind Side
(IMDb Top 250 ranking: n/a)

I debated with myself for a long time whether or not this movie should land somewhere in the Top 25.  I loved it, but I wanted to love it.  I removed the movie critic cap and just took in the story being told.  I’ve since watched it with greater importance on cinematic value, and while I found faults, this movie was never meant to be the stuff of film legends.

Based on Michael Lewis’ book of the same name, The Blind Side is the story of current Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Michael Oher.  Oher grew up a poor kid in a bad neighborhood in Memphis.  The Tuohy family was also from Memphis, but the richer, whiter, Republican-er side.  This story is less about football and more about the mother-son bond that develops between Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) and Michael (Quinton Aaron).

I’ve read the source material and seen the movie, so I know more of the back story than most.  Screenwriter/Director John Lee Hancock left out some things, changed some things, and exaggerated others, but ultimately did a good job.  The problem with movies based on true stories is people expect it to be 100% accurate since it says “true story”.  If you’re really that interested in knowing the full story, go read a book.  Or watch a documentary.  Movies are entertainment, and people need to remember that.

Bullock deservedly won the Oscar for Best Actress, as she absolutely carried the movie to the end.  I’ve always been under the impression that Sandra Bullock was the cute friend at best; then I saw her in those white Capri pants.  To steal a line from Uncle Jessi:

Have mercy.

The one problem I had with the movie is it devalued Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) and made him out to be a whipped yes-man of a husband, when in reality, he was the driving force behind getting Michael academically eligible for Ole Miss.  Make no mistake about it, Leigh Anne was the main character of both novel and big screen adaptation, and should get most of the credit for spearheading the resurrection of this boy’s life.  However, the movie focus’ solely on Leigh Anne, and doesn’t give credit to the family as a whole.  It doesn’t talk about how Sean found online classes for Michael.  It doesn’t talk about how Collins dropped AP classes to take classes with Michael and help him graduate.  It doesn’t talk about how SJ helps Michael learn the playbook with Sean.  There are things it leaves out that I wish it wouldn’t have, but it doesn’t cheapen the movie experience in the slightest.  The book was still fantastic, and a read I’d recommend to all of you.  The movie did a fine job of telling the story of how Michael Oher, a huge, poor, black kid from the slums of Memphis, wound up in a Christmas Card with the Tuohy’s, a rich, white family from the gated communities of Memphis.

Best Scene

I can’t really denote one scene as being head and shoulders above the rest.  The one scene that comes to mind immediately, however, is the lunch scene with all of Leigh Anne’s friends.  They congratulate her on the “charity work” she’s doing with Michael, and how she has done a great job of changing his life.  Before she says the extremely memorable, “No, he’s changing mine” line, she scolds them all for being so out of touch.  They are all rich wives with nothing better to do than gossip, and they don’t quite understand how life in the real world works.  Bullock just completely pwns them and they all stop talking.  Pretty good stuff.

Also, we watched the HBO special on how the movie was made.  They showed this scene in detail, and it made both Kelly, and my sister Noelle cry.  FROM A PREVIEW.  Not even the entire move.  A freaking preview.

Best Quote(s)

Leigh Anne: If you so much as set foot downtown, you will be sorry. I’m in a prayer group with the D.A., I’m a member of the NRA and I’m always packing.

Michael: [after pushing an opponent all the way off the field] Sorry, Coach. I stopped when I heard the whistle.
Coach Cotton: Where were you taking him?
Michael: The bus. It was time for him to go home.

Leigh Anne: Michael, I want you to have a good time but if you get a girl pregnant out of wedlock, I will crawl into the car, drive up to Oxford and cut off your penis.
S.J.: She means it.

Sean: Who would’ve thought we’d have a black son before we met a Democrat?

Leigh Anne: I don’t want to name names but one of the coaches took him to a titty bar. Gave him nightmares.

Sean: We were wondering if you would like to become a part of this family.
Michael: I kinda thought I already was.

Sean: You really expect Michael to lay down on a couch and talk about his childhood like he’s Woody Allen or something? I mean, Michael’s gift is his ability to forget. He’s mad at no one and he really doesn’t care what happened in the past.
Leigh Anne: You’re right.
Sean: Excuse me? ‘You’re right’? How’d those words taste coming out of your mouth?
Leigh Anne: [Pauses] Like vinegar.

(Just some context for those of you who don’t know. Ole Miss and Tennessee are huge rivals. The Tuohys are Ole Miss alum. To say they hate Tennessee would be an understatement.)
Leigh Anne: Sean and I have been talking and Michael, if you’re gonna accept a football scholarship we think it should be to Tennessee. And I promise that I will be at every game cheering for you.
Michael: Every game?
Leigh Anne: Every game. But I will not wear that gaudy orange, I will not. It is not my color wheel and I’m not gonna wear it.

Leigh Anne: [Narrating] Now, y’all would guess that more often than not, the highest paid player on an NFL team is the quarterback. And you’d be right. But what you probably don’t know is that more often than not, the second highest paid player is, thanks to Lawrence Taylor, a left tackle. Because, as every housewife knows, the first check you write is for the mortgage, but the second is for the insurance. The left tackle’s job is to protect the quarterback from what he can’t see coming. To protect his blind side.

Coach Cotton: Was he holding?
Official: No.
Coach Cotton: Was he blocking after the whistle?
Official: No.
Coach Cotton: Then what was the flag for?
Official: I don’t know … Excessive blocking.

Michael: It’s nice, I never had one before.
Leigh Anne: What, your own room?
Michael: A bed.

Miss Sue: You like Tennessee? That’s a good school. Not at the academic level of Ole Miss but they have an outstanding science department. You know what they’re famous for? They work with the FBI, to study the effects of soil on decomposing body parts. When they find a body, the police wanna know how long it’s been dead. So the fine folks at Tennessee help them out. Oh, they have lots of body parts. Arms and legs and hands, from hospitals and medical schools. And do you know where they store ‘em? Right underneath the football field. So while it’s fine and dandy to have 100,000 fans cheering for you, the bodies you should be worried about are the ones right under the turf. Set to poke up through the ground and grab you… Well, it’s your decision where you wanna play ball. Don’t let me influence you.

Beth: You’re changing that boy’s life.
Leigh Anne: No. He’s changing mine.