A funny thing happened when I went to see The Blind Side, aside from me not being as bothered by Sandra Bullock’s blond hair as I was when I saw All About Steve, that is — I didn’t cry. And I liked the movie more because of it.
Say what you want about the film’s “cotton candy-uplift” — EW critic Owen Gleiberman certainly did — but I think writer-director John Lee Hancock deserves some credit for showing some restraint. SPOILER ALERT: Unless I missed it, he never once had Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) say the words “thank you” to Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock). Michael’s appreciation for her taking him off the streets and into her home and family was simply implied, like when he said he already thought he was a part of the family when she told him they wanted to make it legal. Hancock could have shown Leigh Anne crying behind closed doors after Michael told her he’d never had a bed before, but he didn’t. (That, by the way, was one of the three times I almost teared up. The others being when Michael said he didn’t know the last time he saw his brother or where he was staying, and when he graduated.) Hancock also could have had Leigh Anne hug and kiss Michael for stopping the airbag from hitting SJ after their car accident, but instead, she simply used that action, along with her knowledge of his 98th percentile “protective instincts,” to get the new left tackle to see his quarterback and other teammates as family members that need to be shielded. And he could have had Michael say something more profound than that he needed a proper hug when he made Leigh Anne get out of the car when she tried to say a quick goodbye at Ole Miss.
In short: I found the film to be sweet, but not saccharine (even with the large helping of attention-seeking SJ, who tried and failed to replace Hayden Panettiere’s Remember the Titans’ character as my favorite child in an inspirational family-friendly football movie).
Did you cry watching The Blind Side? How would describe the film’s sugar level? Poll after the jump.
Read more from the EW archives:
50 Best Tearjerkers: Nos. 1 – 25
50 Best Tearjerkers: Nos.26-50
30 Best Sports Movies on DVD
23 Great Sports Movie Underdogs
Photo credit: Ralph Nelson
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Okay, yeah, I cried a little during the photo montage at the end, when I was reminded that the whole happy tale was true. But then, I used to teach high school in a pretty rough area, so I’m a big sucker for save-the-teenager-in-need stories.
Well, I was teary throughout the whole thing but I’m a movie crybaby. I think the director had it just about right.
This was an awesome movie!! It helps to restore your faith that there really are good people in the world.
1. Enjoy how the moviefocused on one family and their love for each other. There was no sprawling tale of social injustice and racism. Just one family with a “blind side” to color and intolerance.
2. I cried through the whole thing, and was inspired that no one in the family cried on screen. They just accepted each other.
2. Great story, will buy the DVD/BluRay.
I 100% agree with you Mandi, this film was not at all saccharine for all the reasons that you detailed. It was just a great, truly heart-warming, and surprisingly restrained depiction of an emotional and inspiring true story. I loved it, the audience I saw it with loved it, and America loves it and has made it a huge surprise success. Methinks Owen is allergic to movies that are free of cynicism, because how else do you explain his inexplicable Grinch reaction to this film?
Yeah I cried but it was so well done, I was shocked. I expected it to be heavy-handed and it was just right.
The funny thing was that on one side of me, my husband was sniffling away and on the other side a man was sniffling too. I was wondering what was wrong with me? I thought the movie was great!
I have to admit, I did tear up a little when he said he never had a bed before. My wife and I are right now waiting to hear if we’ve been approved to adopt two young boys who came from a bad home, and it really hit home. Great, great movie
I totally agree! My eyes teared up a couple times, but I never went all the way into full out sob mode, which made me love the movie even more. I also love that they didn’t make a big deal out of him calling her mama the first time. It made it seem so natural, like she was always his mama, it just took them a little while to find each other. It was a beautiful movie. PS Good Luck cookiemac!!!
Thanks for the Hayden Panettiere shoutout – she was awesome in Remember the Titans, and that movie is still my favorite sappy sports film.
I didn’t cry either and I cry at a lot of movies (um, sorry about that people sitting near me during “Bright Star.”) The one time I almost cried was when Tim McGraw started reciting “Charge of the Light Brigade.” (OK, clearly I have a poetry fetish.) But I’ll take the unpopular stance that the movie didn’t make me cry because I was too aware of how much it was trying to emotionally manipulate me. All the repetitive moments of acceptance, the superlong close-ups of people FEELING THEIR FEELINGS–I just couldn’t ever go along with it. Hancock’s other movie, though, “The Rookie”? That gets me every time.
I LOVED this movie! I cried pretty much throughout the entire thing. Not saccharine at all. And Remember The Titans is one of my all-time favorite movies, too.
My wife dragged me but I didn’t mind soon as the movie started. It’s really an expertly made feel-good movie that will rake in at the box office. Now that I recall, the director, John Lee Hancock, also handled the sentimentality well in The Rookie.
I’m a huge crybaby and I only cried during the photo montage in the closing credits. There were a lot of laughs in this movie and I think it hit just the right balance of poignant and heartwarming without getting saccharine.
I didn’t cry (then again, it takes a lot for me to cry during a movie). I like how this movie was a perfect mix of comedy and drama. It wasn’t an emotionally manipulative movie that’s so saccharine that it can make you fall into a diabetic coma (We Are Marshall). They balanced everything just right.
Yes, I will admit to tearing up. But isn’t that why we go to movies? For the excitement, for the thrill, and for the emotion. Of course, we are being manipulated. The movie Apollo 13 never really went into space. But, we felt for the Astronauts just the same. The greats have always manipulated us into feeling something…. Spielberg, Coppola, Hitchcock, Scorsese, and Demme. What other movie, so unrealistic, so moving could have been as beautiful as Forest Gump? We knew it wasn’t true, but we loved what Zemeckis made us feel all the same.