• Dude Review: The Blind Side

  Filed under A Dude's Guide to Life
  Dec 6

  by Richard

  Every so often I’ll make an ill-informed decision about a movie, based on nothing more than an occasional trailer. Which means that the likelihood I’ll go see that movie is very, very small. This time, though, the family wanted to see a movie I thought was going to be garbage and so I went along. This thing, you should excuse the expression, blindsided me.

  The Blind Side is a fantastic, family-friendly movie that wrings just about every emotion from its audience during the course of its too-short runtime. Starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Quinton Aaron, this movie chronicles the rise of an unlikely hero and it’s all based (loosely, quite loosely) on a true story.

  Michael Oher was a huge kid growing up with even bigger problems in the projects. With no family to speak of, he comes under the care of a friend’s father. This father manages to get both his son and Michael accepted to a ritzy private school, mostly on the recommendation of the coach, who’s awed by their athletic ability. Micheal, however, is soon moved out from his friend’s house and becomes homeless. He’s floundering in school and not enjoying much of anything.

  Until, that is, a fateful rainy evening encounter with the Touhy family. Seeing him trudging along a rainy road, they take him in for the night, offering a safe, dry place to stay. Which leads Leigh Anne Touhy, played amazingly well by Sandra Bullock, to more and more involvement in Michael’s life.

  Through the love and support of the Touhys and his own hard work and ability, Michael becomes a star left tackle on the football team and improves his grades enough to get a scholarship to Ole Miss. Just this year, the real Michael Oher was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens and is now the starting tackle on their team. An amazing success story.

  Now, this story was fictionalized. I know that. In fact, you could tell almost exactly at which places the story got a little boost from writerly imagination. Still, while those bits were the least believable of the movie, they were at least funny enough to carry it along without losing too much momentum.

  When we came out of the movie, all three little dudes, from age 10 to 16, all swore up and down how great this movie was. The youngest one, Speed Racer, actually used the word inspirational when he talked about the movie. And I had to admit that I was completely wrong. This was a great movie. Go see it.

  I’ll give it four (4) dudes out of five. It’s a fantastic family-friendly flick that will leave you feeling uplifted as you drift back to your own life.

  • Spread the word, dude!

  Tags: A Dude's Guide to Life, Athletic Ability, Baltimore Ravens, Blind Side, Blindside, dude, Emotion, family, Fantastic Family, father, fiction, football, Football Team, friend, funny, Garbage, growing up, Hero, Imagination, kid, Leigh Anne, Likelihood, little dude, little dudes, love, Man, men, Michael Oher, mom, movie, Ole Miss, Private School, Quinton, Rainy Evening, Ravens, review, richard, safe, Sandra Bullock, Speed Racer, Success Story, Tim Mcgraw, True Story, Unlikely Hero
  
  Tagged as: Athletic Ability, Baltimore Ravens, Blind Side, Blindside, dude, Emotion, family, Fantastic Family, father, fiction, football, Football Team, friend, funny, Garbage, growing up, Hero, Imagination, kid, Leigh Anne, Likelihood, little dude, little dudes, love, Man, men, Michael Oher, mom, movie, Ole Miss, Private School, Quinton, Rainy Evening, Ravens, review, richard, safe, Sandra Bullock, Speed Racer, Success Story, Tim Mcgraw, True Story, Unlikely Hero
  
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