In the fact-based film The Blind Side, a burly homeless black teenager Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) is taken in by the family of Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock),a spunky white Christian mother of two and assisted through school until he achieves success as a football player in high school and college, eventually being drafted in the first round by the professional Baltimore Ravens. The film, written and directed by John Lee Hancock and adapted from a book by Michael Lewis, is undemanding entertainment that lacks a great deal of subtlety but is continuously entertaining and emotionally involving and redefines the true meaning of family values.

Michael who is known initially as "Big Mike" has been abandoned by his drug-addicted mother and survives in the slums of Memphis, Tennessee only by his wits. He sleeps where he can find a warm place -- a friend's couch, a Laundromat, a school gym -- when a family friend intervenes and helps him enroll in a private Christian high school. Sensing the boys' potential, football coach Cotton (Ray McKinnon) convinces the administrators of the school to admit him although he knows that he will not be eligible to play football unless he can keep up his grades. Seeing Michael alone wandering the streets, he is given a lift and taken home and made a member of the family by Leigh Anne, an interior designer who lives with her husband Sean (Tim McGraw),teenage daughter Collins (Lily Collins),and SJ (Jae Head) an expressive little boy who provides most of the film's comic moments.

Living with the Tuohy family allows Michael to learn to trust and to begin to express some of his feelings from a life of poverty and neglect. Michael who is so big that Leigh Anne can hardly find any clothes to buy for him is also gentle and lacks the killer instinct required of a football tackle. Tutored by the adorable SJ and counseled by Leigh Anne to view the team as a family he has to protect, Michael begins to develop his aggressiveness as a left tackle and develops his skills, eventually turning the team into winners. To raise his grades to be eligible for a college scholarship, the Tuohys hire Miss Sue, remarkably performed by Kathy Bates, who admits to the Republican family that she is a Democrat, prompting Sean to remark that he "never thought they would have a black son before they met a Democrat." Besides his grades, however, Michael must overcome several more obstacles that stand in his way before he can enter college.

The Blind Side shows Michael Oher achieving a transformation in his life based on his relationship with the family who took him and nurtured him to independence and self-respect. Sandra Bullock delivers an emotionally resonant performance as a woman whose life is enriched by her simple act of kindness and courage to act from her values. While the film breaks no new ground stylistically, it also resists genre clichés, has no movie villains, avoids cheap sentiment, and, in spite of patronizing images in its trailers and advertising posters, is a humorous, heartwarming, and satisfying experience. Ultimately, The Blind Side is not a film about sports but about the rewards of showing love and support when it is not always accepted or understood by the community.

This is a can't-miss family movie. After all, EVERYONE seems to like inspiring family films--especially when it's based on real people. And, not surprisingly, I had a thoroughly good time watching it--though I do recommend you see it with a box of Kleenex nearby.

The film is about a young man named Michael Oher--an extremely large black teenager who has bounced from home to home in the foster care system. Currently, he's in a new school and no one realizes that he has no place to live. Yet in spite of having a crack-addicted mother, a father who was killed in prison and every other reason to be an angry powder keg, he's a very gentle and sad soul---who is also enormous and has amazing potential to play football.

A nosy but very nice lady (Sandra Bullock) convinces her husband (Tim McGraw) to bring Michael home...at least for the night. But this one night turns into a permanent living situation and he becomes an important part of the family. However, despite this new living arrangement working out well, Michael is so far behind in school and his GPA so low that he hasn't a prayer to play football in college. That's because although many schools are now offering him athletic scholarships, his GPA is too low to allow him to accept these offers. So, with his new family's help, perhaps he can pull up those grades and have a future.

This film is super-inspirational and sweet--mostly because it's true. I am sure that some poetic license was taken when making the film (I especially wonder if the little brother could be THIS precocious and adorable),but overall they did a good job of sticking reasonably close the facts. While I loved Sandra Bullock's performance (she's great as usual),I was a bit surprised that she received Oscar for it--I did see a few performances in other films that year that I thought were a bit better (such as the leading young lady in "Precious"). Also, Tim McGraw, while a lesser role in the film, did a surprisingly good job--especially as he's really known as a country singer, not an actor. All around, a very good film and one that is meant to inspire.

The Blind Side is a most inspiring film about Michael Oher a gentle giant of a kid who's not gotten too many breaks in life. But all he needed was a helping hand and he gets one from country singer Tim McGraw and Sandra Bullock and now Michael Oher is one of the top defensive players of the National Football League.

Quinton Aaron plays Oher and for most of the film he's pretty mute, almost catatonic answering in monosyllables. He's brought out of the Memphis ghetto by a man who would like to get him just off his couch. Aaron's mother is a crackhead and she's long abandoned him.

McGraw is a football coach at a private Christian High School and Bullock is his wife. The story here is how Bullock proves to be the mother figure this young man needs badly in his life. He becomes a member of the family as much as her two natural children with McGraw are. As for Tim McGraw he shows some acting chops and holds his own with Bullock and the rest of the cast.

Aaron is a catatonic gentle giant, big enough for defense on any team, but lacking in aggression. Best scene in the film is when Bullock teaches him the necessary aggression needed for that sport.

Rivaling that is a voice over narration of a composition that Aaron writes interpreting The Charge Of The Light Brigade. Aaron in the voice over proves to be quite articulate and definitely not stupid as was thought by many. I'd give the paper an A.

The Blind Side is a wonderful family film for which Sandra Bullock copped a Best Actress Oscar. The Blind Side was also in the running for Best Picture of 2009. Quite deservedly so.