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Blind Side, The

7/10

Stars: Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Kathy Bates, Lily Collins, Jae Head, Ray McKinnon, Kim Dickens, Adriane Lenox

Director: John Lee Hancock

Although you may glaze over trying to figure the ins and outs of American football, this is an engaging film which tells the sometimes inspirational true story of a go-to Tennessee mom (Bullock), who took a homeless, hulking black teenager and integrated him into her family.

At first uncommunicative, Michael (Aaron) is gradually won over by the warmth and generosity that emanates not only from Leigh Anne, the mother, but from her husband (McGraw), teenage daughter (Collins) and 10-year-old son (Head), all of whom go out of their way to show their support. They buy him clothes and even a new car, which he promptly crashes.

Bullock takes on a different sort of role as the non-stop, whiplash-mouthed mom, who takes no prisoners but usually does the right thing; it's one of her most memorable characters and won her an Oscar. She even tells the football coach (McKinnon) what to do in her efforts to make Michael a success on the sports field.

The slowness of Michael's nature sometimes communicates itself to the stately pace of parts of the story, but Bullock sees it through to an inevitable happy ending, in which we see the real people over the end credits.



David Quinlan

USA 2009. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Technicolor.
128 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 1, Swearing 1.

Review date: 20 Mar 2010