The Blind Side

I have, I am sure, mentioned that I see a lot of Wednesday afternoon movies, in an effort to avoid adding a random 60 miles to my weekly drive schedule. I may also have mentioned that I welcome attendees, because that is a lot of filmage to see by oneself. The upshot is that I will sometimes see something that isn’t at the top of my personal list, or even something I didn’t really want to. In this particular case, the movie I didn’t much wanna see was The Blind Side, by virtue of it being one of those “feel-good picture[s] of the year” that is pretty much guaranteed via that descriptor to be twee and annoying.

But, y’know, I’m a big enough person to admit when I’m wrong, and right here? I was wrong. Through an unlikely (but not unthinkable) series of events, a white Memphis socialite family meets and takes in a black teenaged ward of the state, and they each learn a lot about the ways the world works; also there is football. And it still sounds pretty twee, plus I don’t know how to say only a little bit about it; it’s either keep adding details until I’ve told the whole story, or the probably better option of knowing only that much or even slightly less than what I wrote above, as I did. The important part is, it was a genuinely sweet, sincere movie about how people are only different if we insist that they are, and about whether opportunity can triumph over fate. And no matter how twee this review may be, the movie really wasn’t.

I’m honestly not sure if I’ve ever watched this genre of movie in my adult life without rolling my eyes. I hope I’m reporting accurately, instead of having somehow changed internally to become a sucker. That would be embarrassing.

4 thoughts on “The Blind Side

  1. Chris Post author

    A) IKR
    B) But, you think this was bad? I left out the sentence or two in praise of how unabashedly *Southern* the movie was, and how I sometimes forget that there are things about said South that I really do like a lot and sometimes forget to appreciate.
    C) It has been insisted to me that Precious is a feel-good movie as well, instead of an unabashed slog through Miserytown, USA. This one, at least, I expected to only be twee. If I ever see that movie? I weep for myself, and even more if I end up liking it too.

    Reply
  2. Mike Kozlowski

    Well, I didn’t SEE it, but dude, I saw the commercials. At this point, you might as well watch Mr. Holland’s Opus and the collected work of Robin Williams.

    If you give a good review to Precious: Based on the Novel Push By Sapphire, then I will also weep for you.

    Reply
  3. Jeffrey "Jeffem" Allan "Poe, Edgar" Morris "Morris the Cat" "The Pi" "III 11/17"

    I rolled my eyes probably 3 times during this movie, which might be a record low for movies in this genre.

    Precious is NOT in this genre. I don’t know who sold you that it’s a feel-good movie, but they’re retarded. It might, for some, be a slog through Miserytown, but it’s certainly not a pointless one. Anybody who sees Precious and thinks it doesn’t deserve a good review is so cynical as to have no soul left.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.