Sassy, Sassy, Sassy

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2010)

The only thing separating "The Blind Side" from a made-for-TV movie on the Hallmark channel is the fact that Sandra Bullock is probably too expensive for Hallmark.
I know this film is based on the true story about an affluent white family who take in a homeless black youth and raise him as their own. But even though its origins are grounded in fact, the film felt like a congratulatory fantasy conjured out of white guilt. The film is so anxious to be family-friendly and palatable to the least sophisticated film goer that it almost avoids dramatic conflict altogether. Conflicts are there, but most of them are resolved within the next scene or two, never building to any kind of suspense or emotional payoff.
Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for the same reason Julia Roberts did -- Hollywood loves to recognize appealing actresses for being sharp and sassy. But Roberts had much better material to work with in "Erin Brockovich." The material in "The Blind Side" is usually just shy of gag-inducing, and at one point -- when Bullock's character confronts a group of gang-bangers with a "you go girl" attitude and actually succeeds in intimidating them -- downright ludicrous. At the very least, she would have been laughed at in that situation, and quite possibly would have been lucky to escape without physical harm.
The film also stars Kathy Bates as a sassy tutor, and uses the character of Bullock's younger son for...you guessed it...sassy and damn near intolerable "comic" relief.
The success of "The Blind Side" with middle America is clearly attributed to its religious and wholesome message and values. Fair enough. But it's precisely simplistic and dumbed down movies like "The Blind Side" that make me leery of anything geared toward the Christian community.
However, I will say that it's refreshing for once for a film to have actually been seen by the audience who needs to hear its message. And it's also nice, in the wake of "The Passion of the Christ" and other movies embraced by the religious community, to see Christianity associated with productivity and goodness rather than with pain and guilt.
Grade: B