The Blind Side

I wasn’t super pumped to watch this movie. I’m only mildly interested in feel-good sports movies at the best of times. There are only so many ways I can watch a similar (the same) story. And, you know, I feel like we’ve done it with this genre. Yay! Mission Accomplished!

In a world where we have Rudy, Remember the Titans, Hoosiers, (am I forgetting any?), what more do we need. Unless we are going to do a female-focused sports movie (How is there not a movie about USA women’s gymnastics????), then I feel like we’ve got what we need here.

Note: I, Tonya doesn’t count, A League of Their Own was in the early 90’s, and Bend it Like Beckham was 17 years ago. Bend it Like Beckham isn’t even based on a true story! This is seriously insane to me. How have we had so few female sports stories told? Where’s the Venus Williams movie? Battle of the Sexes doesn’t count because the whole story is about male vs female. Where’s the Billie Jean King story? The whole story - not just the part where she crossed a man? US Women’s Soccer Team? Mary Lou Retton? Jackie Joyner-Kersee???

I started thinking about it and DAMN. We have no shortage of mediocre sports stories about the most obscure male athletes. And I can’t get ONE. ONE??

I’ll try to cut myself off here, but I think I’ve stumbled upon a new cause that I’m going to be championing incessantly, probably to the point of becoming obnoxious. DAMN.

Back to the sports movie at hand... I wasn’t super pumped to watch this movie because most films in this genre feel pretty much the same to me. Other than knowing about the buzz around Sandra Bullock’s performance and a vague idea that I thought it was based on a true story. I had relatively low expectations, and I think the film ended up hitting those expectations spot on.

SPOILER ZONE

I’ll leave aside that I feel like we’ve seen stories like this time and time again (underdog sports story) and outline what I think the true weakness of this film is.

My biggest issue with this movie is a tricky one. I was uncomfortable at times with the level of pity I was feeling for Michael in the way the film portrays him in the beginning. Clearly, his life has been more difficult than I, or much of this audience, could imagine. I’m not disputing the actual scenes they show (laundry mat, walking in the rain, etc.). But, here’s my point: in spite of the unimaginable challenges he has had to face, he has persevered. He keeps going, he’s resourceful, he’s strong, he asks for help, but he keeps going. I just wish this story could have placed him in a position of strength, someone to be admired.

Instead, his circumstances and his actions seem always to be positioned in a way to be pitied. I understand how and why audiences might pity someone in Michael’s circumstances. I just think in the context of the film this creates a dynamic that makes me uncomfortable to say the very least.

In addition to that, the dynamic of a white family coming in to save this kid… In 2020, I know we are all a little more sensitive to the trope of the “White Savior” than we were in 2009. I wonder if I had seen this movie in 2009, would I have the same discomfort with the dynamics at play? I’m not sure. But I can tell you, watching this in 2020, it certainly felt at best outdated or insensitive.

When you add to the general concept of the white savior family, the scene of the black family who turns him away – it’s just hard not to see this as a biased representation of the story. We don’t get to see much else about the first family that took him in. They seem to have made sacrifices to do their best and take care of him up until this point. We do see that the father does his best to get Michael into this new school.  But, almost immediately after, the mom is yelling in anger about how Michael must go. If we are going to see the scene where Michael is kicked out, I wish we were able to see it handled with more sensitivity to the family that was looking after him initially.

I’m no expert on this, let me just make that clear. And, I do want to give the film some credit. I can appreciate that the filmmakers did not over-emphasise the “generosity” of the Tuohy family. When one has as much privilege as they do, it hardly seems that they had to sacrifice much to help Michael out. At the same time, they could have just as easily not gotten involved in his life, and he would almost certainly be worse off. I think the filmmakers make an effort to find the correct balance and tone in their portrayal, and maybe in 2009 I would have said they’ve done a great job. I just can’t say the same watching the film over ten years after it was released.

I come back to my original point… Why choose to watch a film like this when there are so many other sports stories to be told that wouldn’t necessitate me writing a few paragraphs about something I really know nothing about.

Ultimately, the near tone-deafness of the film reminds me a bit of the dynamics that everyone (many people) reacted so negatively to in Green Book. Basically, what I’m trying to say is, I can tell that this movie was made in 2009 and it’s best if it stays in that context.

Moving on….

I was shocked to see Tim McGraw was in this movie. I was even more shocked that he was actually relatively convincing in his role. Granted, I’m sure it wasn’t too much of a stretch for him to become a wealthy southern gentleman with a powerful wife. But, he did just as well as any actor would in that role. Which I suppose is an accomplishment for a non-actor.

While Tim McGraw was surprisingly good, Kathy Bates was, expectedly Kathy Bates. Listen, she just is who she is. Always. I know she’s heralded generally speaking, but can we all agree “range” is not something she possesses? Like, she’s a good actor in the sense that, as long as the character looks and sounds like her, she’ll deliver the lines really well. But if the character doesn’t… best not even attempt it. So, in that sense, there’s nothing to be mad about her performance here. But there’s also nothing exciting about it.

Truly, that may be a good summary for the film in general. Not too much to be mad at (depending on how much you want to overlook some of the insensitivity I discussed earlier) but there’s also not too much to get excited about.

Now, I do remember that Sandra Bullock had a ton of Oscar buzz for this movie. I also remember being shocked at the time. I hadn’t even seen the movie, but it seemed impossible to me that her performance in that movie would have been THAT good. I mean, I could tell from the trailer this isn’t Million Dollar Baby over here. Having seen it now, I can tell you, I’m still surprised she was nominated. But that’s not because I don’t think she deserved it. I’m more surprised that they actually rewarded the subtlety of her performance with a nomination.

A few reviews ago I talked about southern (American) accents in Fury, and in war movies in general. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say I was less than impressed. So, when I saw Sandra Bullock literally embody a Texas mom, I was actually impressed. It would have been SO EASY for her to phone this in. To rely on a caricature of who she thinks someone like this is. Maybe it helped that she was portraying a real person – maybe it helped her see the dimension and reality of the character. Regardless of the how or why, this was truly acting. Through even the most subtle moments, she truly had a handle on this character. I was ready to hate the performance, and she totally proved me wrong.

(I acknowledge that it is possible I only perceive her performance so positively because there are so many bad examples of performing this kind of character.)

Though I appreciated Bullock’s performance, I’m not sure the rest of the movie earned the work she was putting in.

As I’ve mentioned, ad nauseum probably at this point, I just didn’t feel that there was enough new going on in the movie to warrant a watch.

With performances ranging from great to, well, nothing, I felt the character interplay was equally as inconsistent.

For example, Michael’s relationship with the other children felt completely underdeveloped. Who knows how they were in real life, but it didn’t quite ring true to me that the kids would be so ok with this situation. Like I said, maybe their almost immediate acceptance and positivity is actually true to life. Regardless, I still wish we had seen more moments that help us understand why and how the kids are starting to bond with Michael. I felt like we jumped from “who is this stranger eating thanksgiving with us” to “yeah he’s my brother” without much in between.

That being said, we do get a completely adorable training montage with the young son. I loved this moment, some genuine cute stuff here.  So maybe this movie was worth watching in the end, for this montage alone. Just to put that to the test – someone should go to YouTube, watch the training montage, and see if you smile. If you do enjoy it, just go watch the cute clip. You may not need the other two hours of the movie.

Finally, we get the reveal at the end that the opening scene is about an investigation from the NCAA into the whole situation. And honestly, they have a point! I’m sure the family that took Michael in was not malicious or devious in their intent. I’m sure the family’s top priority was helping someone who needed them, and not their alma mater. That being said, I totally understood the investigators point into setting a certain precedent. Recruiting practices for college sports are already hard enough to wrangle in – I would be concerned about giving other privileged families (who may not be as magnanimous) the wrong idea.

All things considered, I’m not saying this isn’t a great story. And maybe it was a story that was worth telling in 2009. But I’m just not sure if it’s a story that’s told in a way that we need in 2020.

I’m ready for the sports movies that are going to move us beyond where we’ve been as we enter into this new decade. Bring it on.

(Bring It On being truly one of the great female sports movies. Which is sad when you think about it.)

But seriously, let’s do this.

The Bottom Line

A sweet sports flick that tries to stand out from the rest, but ultimately falls flat in spite of Sandra Bullock’s performance. While it is certainly a cute family movie that is higher quality than many others I would describe the same way, there were enough cringy moments and questionable story dynamics that I’m going to say: pick something else. Only watch if you’re desperate for a family film or if you’re favorite genre is family sports movies, and even then, I’m not sure I can recommend it.