The Blind Side (2009)

The story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All-American football player and first-round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family.

Director:

John Lee Hancock

Writers:

John Lee Hancock, Michael Lewis (book)

Stars:

Quinton Aaron, Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw

Won 1 Oscar. Another 8 wins & 30 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sandra Bullock	...	Leigh Anne Tuohy
Tim McGraw	...	Sean Tuohy
Quinton Aaron	...	Michael Oher
Jae Head	...	S.J. Tuohy
Lily Collins	...	Collins Tuohy
Ray McKinnon	...	Coach Cotton
Kim Dickens	...	Mrs. Boswell
Adriane Lenox	...	Denise Oher
Kathy Bates	...	Miss Sue
Catherine Dyer	...	Mrs. Smith
Andy Stahl	...	Principal Sandstrom
Tom Nowicki	...	Literature Teacher
Libby Whittemore	...	Sarcastic Teacher
Brian Hollan	...	Jay Collis
Melody Weintraub	...	History Teacher

Storyline

Based on the true story of Leigh Anne Tuohy and Sean Tuohy who take in a homeless teenage African-American, Michael Oher. Michael has no idea who his father is and his mother is a drug addict. Michael has had little formal education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne soon takes charge however, as is her nature, ensuring that the young man has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes all out to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael's skills. They not only provide him with a loving home, but hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft.

---

Plot Keywords:

american football | rapping in a car | singing in a car | football star | high school football | 

---

Taglines:

Based on the extraordinary true story

---

Genres:

Biography | Drama | Sport

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references

Did You Know?

Trivia

When coaches are visiting Michael to tell him about their college, Coach Fulmer from Tennessee refers to SJ as "CJ" by mistake.

---

Goofs

In his first game, after the kickoff before their first play, you can see the scoreboard clock behind the team and the clock is running. Clocks don't restart after a kickoff until the next play has started.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Leigh Anne Touhy: There's a moment of orderly silence before a football play begins. Players are in position, linemen are frozen, and anything is possible. Then, like a traffic accident, stuff begins to randomly collide. From the snap of the ball to the snap of the first bones, closer to 4 seconds than 5.
[video rewinds]
Leigh Anne Touhy: One-mississippi - Joe Theismann, the Redskins quarterback takes the snap and hands-off to his running mate. Two-mississippi - it's a trick play, a flea-flicker. And the running back ...
[...]

---

Crazy Credits

Family, school and sports photographs of the real Michael Oher and of the real Tuohy family are shown during the initial credits.

---

Connections

Referenced in What We Do in the Shadows: The Curse (2020)

---

Soundtracks

That Thang
Written by Mighty Wyte (as Matthew S. Feher) and Soulstice (as Ashley J. Llorens)
Performed by Soulstice (as SoulStice) and Mighty Wyte
Courtesy of Whizbang, Inc.

User Reviews

Humorous, heartwarming, and satisfying

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan] Official site [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Blind Side

Filming Locations:

Agnes Scott College - 141 E. College Avenue, Decatur, Georgia, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$29,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$34,119,372, 22 November 2009

Gross USA:

$255,959,475

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$309,208,309

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alcon Entertainment, 3 Arts Entertainment, Left Tackle Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1