The only conflicts that comes up are of external forces and are immediately resolved with Tuohy ingenuity. The next day as the Tuohys pile up plates of their catered feast and plop in front of televized football games, Oher, having seen the Norman Rockwell version on the cover of their own coffee table book, makes an example by sitting at the dining room table. Oher is first given shelter on Thanksgiving Eve. Does Leigh Ann get mad? Of course not! So long as her two boys are safe, an accident's an accident that could happen to anyone (oddly, it is clearly portrayed as Oher's fault). The Tuohys buy Michael a brand new truck (by which point in the movie Aaron's face just lights up like Christmas morning, gone the urge to reject charity) which he promptly totals with S.J. Hancock obviously has a thing for underdog stories, but here he has forgotten to give his protagonist opposition. If Michael thinks of his teammates the way he thinks of his new family, the opposition is toast. It's Leigh Ann, apparently, who is responsible for Oher's field success as well, as only she could determine the proper way to coach him - by accentuating that protective instinct. Former basketball star and current fast food restaurant magnate Sean Tuohy (C&W star Tim McGraw, "Flicka") affectionately rolls his eyes at everything his bossy wife does, including calling Coach Cotton on his cell phone during a game. (Later, seeking legal guardianship, Leigh Ann tracks Denise Oher (Adriane Lenox, "Black Snake Moan") down and has such a dignified conversation with her one wonders when tea will be served.) Leigh Ann rejects her ladies-who-lunch group after one asks if she's afraid to house Oher under the same roof as her pretty, cheerleading daughter Collins (Lily Collins, daughter of Phil), then asks Collins (who names a baby girl Collins?) if she's OK with things (Collins has been so OK with things that at one point it seems like she's flirting with her new big brother). Oher's pride initially resists, but when he has Leigh Ann take him to his crack addicted mother's home in the projects, he discovers the apartment has been evicted. Then S.J.'s mom gets her hooks into him and he gets a new wardrobe, room and a bed, the first he's ever had. advises the big guy to smile (Oher/Aaron has such a perpetual frown on his face, it's curved a visible 'C' into his forehead). When Oher attempts to talk to two little white girls on swings, they run (the scene is reminiscent of "Frankenstein's" misguided attempt to play), but the effervescent S.J. Boswell (Kim Dickens, "Things Behind the Sun," "Thank You for Smoking"), the science teacher, begins to notice that although he barely speaks or participates in class, Oher is indeed slowly absorbing class material. Despite his unknown age and dubious scholastic record, Mrs. The film begins with Bullock narrating some facts and plays over real footage of Oher in action, making a tackle to protect his quarterback's blind side before segueing to Oher's introduction to Wingate Christian School. To all this gooeyness, add Sandra Bullock made up to look like Kathie Lee Gifford with too much pancake on and the overall result is, well, just a bit off putting. In "The Blind Side," the Tuohy family are both wealthy Republican conservative material consumers and angelic do-gooders who never experience conflict of any kind and Michael Oher is a kindly gentle giant who scores a 98% for protective urges and whose 80 IQ doesn't stop him from becoming a B+ student when a little interest is taken in him ("Precious" again). More the problem is how that story, adapted from the Michael Lewis book by director John Lee Hancock ("The Rookie," "The Alamo"), is told. There will be those who declare "The Blind Side" another liberal white guilt movie like "Precious," but unlike that film, "The Blind Side" tells a true story.
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