***
Starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Kathy Bates and Ray McKinnon.
Directed by John Lee Hancock.
Sports movies tend to come down to the last play with two seconds to go. Football movies tend to be about the quarterback, the running back, or the wide receiver. How nice to see a football movie that does neither. I don't believe I've ever seen a football movie about an offensive lineman. And while he's significant, it's just as much about his mama.
Based on the true story of Michael Oher, this movie's about a large homeless kid bounced around in foster care who's taken in by a Christian school (who eyes him for sports first, but he needs good grades too) and one wealthy woman who seems him walking alone in the dark and decides to take a chance.
This may sound like one of those Hollywood white liberal guilt movies where the white person saves the black person, but I didn't really feel that watching the movie. Sandra Bullock, in her best role in years, plays a tough Southern socialite who fixes whatever she sees needs fixin', and if you give her guff, she'll get back in your face. As she says to one thug, "I'm in a prayer circle with the D.A., I'm a member of the NRA, and I'm always packing." As she pats her purse.
Michael is a withdrawn giant, and it takes the efforts of this woman to figure out how to get him out of his shell and help him succeed. My hunch is the real Michael Oher wasn't this introverted, but maybe he was in high school and college is where he learned to truly fly on his own.
It hit all the right emotional notes at the end, and I came out satisfied.
P.S. Michael Oher still plays for the Baltimore Ravens, and in the Packers game I watched this week, I never saw Michael's guy make it to the quarterback.
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