The Blind Side 2009

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: If Frank Capra was still around, director John Lee Hancock might have had to fight him for the job. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The Blind Side fumbles a remarkable, true story of an African-American product of the West Memphis projects who ended up at a Christian school and in the care of a wealthy white family, and then went on to professional football glory. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: 'The Blind Side' may not make the All-American sports movies team, but it plays with plenty of heart. Read more

Glenn Whipp, Associated Press: Writer-director John Lee Hancock wisely lets the true story of Michael Oher speak for itself. Read more

John Hartl, Seattle Times: Except for a few crude exchanges,The Blind Side is almost as squeaky-clean as an old Disney movie. Unfortunately, it can also be just as cute and condescending. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: There's real ambiguity in the Oher case, but writer-director John Lee Hancock papers over it; it's possible to see the Tuohys as generous, caring people without brushing off their less-altruistic reasons for sponsoring Oher. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Ohera(TM)s life is meant to make us feel good, and it mostly does. But how good we feel about his story is proportional to how blind wea(TM)re willing to be about how ita(TM)s told. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: As a fable about the power of giving, it hits pretty hard. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: The filmmakers pay lip service to the story's racial undertones without ever really rocking the leaky boat. Read more

Michael Granberry, Dallas Morning News: Upon seeing [Bullock's] Oscar-worthy performance is "finally!" followed quickly by, "Why the heck did it take so long?" Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: We never learn why Leigh Anne is so fearless, but Bullock is the force here. McGraw is an amiable anchor to her bull-by-the-horns portrayal. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: It's a cute, touchy-feely crowd pleaser that wants nothing more than to wrap audiences in a warm holiday embrace. In a sense, it achieves that goal, but it is overly sentimental in a Lifetime movie kind-of-way. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: What The Blind Side offers is a kind of liberal Hollywood version of conservative values: all rock-solid valor, all the time. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: The movie is done with crispness, vigor, down-home humor, and an over-all tang of good feeling, but the pushing of buttons is the work of extraordinary calculation. Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Director John Lee Hancock's only aiming for a crowd pleaser, and by not challenging the established playbook for inspirational sports dramas, he's no doubt got one. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Writer-director John Lee Hancock has turned Oher's remarkable life into a Hollywood fable that trades difficult truths for easy cliches. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: What makes The Blind Side a Thanksgiving treat is director Hancock's subtle touch and admirable refusal to yield to sports movie cliches, something he did previously with The Rookie and Remember the Titans. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: The movie's a pretty conventional feel-good sports drama in many ways. But Bullock and Aaron give it heart that transcends the genre. Read more

David Hiltbrand, Philadelphia Inquirer: However obvious, The Blind Side is touching -- despite its habit of dropping major character notes into the melody without warning. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Some will doubtlessly dismiss The Blind Side as another example of a heroic white person saving a black victim but, although there is an element of truth in that perfunctory description, it misses the point. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: If someone were telling you this story, you might say, "Wow. That's something." Even so, the narrative is not quite big enough to bear the weight and significance that writer-director John Lee Hancock tries to attach to it. Read more

Josh Levin, Slate: The problem with a story that's almost too good to be true is that someone in Hollywood will try to make it better. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Watching The Blind Side, I felt my emotions being stage-managed, but once or twice I got something in my eye. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: It's hard to overlook that while Michael's benefactors are white, the villains in the movie are black. Read more

Stephen Cole, Globe and Mail: What a drag that, one year into Obama's presidency, American films remain so careful about depicting black actors. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: The movie glosses over the deeper issues of the tale, ones dealing with race, poverty, privilege and ethics, opting for the feel-good quick hit that makes the overall experience unsatisfying. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: It's just blinkered middle-class pandering at its most shameless. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: Quite how Sandra Bullock deserved an Oscar for her one-note turn as bleached supermum Leigh-Anne is a mystery, since it transforms a potentially worthwhile character study into a grandstanding star vehicle. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Its superficiality keeps it from being the moving story it could have been. Read more

Joe Leydon, Variety: Another uplifting and entertaining feel-good, fact-based sports drama. Read more

Melissa Anderson, Village Voice: In every scene, Oher is instructed, lectured, comforted, or petted like a big puppy; he is merely a cipher. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: While it's possible to be enormously entertained and moved by The Blind Side, it's also possible to harbor a twinge of misgiving. Read more