A TVM with a Hollywood cast – solid but nothing more than that

Rating: Null/10 (25 March 2010)

Sandra Bullock's Oscar was perhaps a given but the award gave this film a bump for those who have not already seen it – which is all of us in the UK as the film only came out recently. Watching it though it is hard to shake the feeling that in about 10 years (once the terrestrial premier etc has died down) this will find its rightful home on daytime television surrounded by other overly sentimental "true-story" movies. If you take the couple of Hollywood faces out of this film then there is very little else to it that you wouldn't get there.
This is not to take away from the basic story which is engaging and quite touching when you go through it, but rather the way it is done. The material is delivered without any insight or depth and what this results in is a rather schmaltzy film that has regular musical cues to let you know how to feel and never really gets to the heart of any of the characters. In doing this it is still an OK film and the actual story is warming and solid enough to do the job – albeit even those who don't know the outcome will have that spoilt for them by the film opening with the assumption that everyone already knows who Michael Oher is. It wonders along with lots of touching moments, sad looks, cute kids and lots of "overcoming" but it doesn't manage to lift itself above the clichés in any way other than how professionally made it all is.
Bullock doesn't deserve her Oscar for this but who could begrudge her since she is as charming as she is profitable. She does have good moments and she does get the mix of tough exterior and inner emotions but she doesn't do more than that and it is hardly a brilliant performance. Aaron is suitably large and quiet and, from the archive footage at the end, certainly seems to capture the manner of the real person, even if there is always a sense of "air brushing" about his performance. Head is irritating as one would expect while McGraw and Collins are so-so. Bates adds another famous face to the mix but nobody really does more than the basics.
It is not that The Blind Side is a bad film because I did actually quite like it in an obvious sort of way; it is more that the film itself is sentimental and clichéd without anything in the way of genuine grit or character to get into. The performances are solid and Bullock does her stock no end of good with an engaging "professional conservative Mom" turn that has sold well in the areas you would expect, but nobody can do a great deal with this material.