John Lee Hancock's The Blind Side is an unabashedly feel-good movie. Yes, the producers undeniably overlook the darker tones of its true story, but sometimes audiences want to focus more on the inspiration than the reason for it. There have been dozens of films that ignored the reason for the fall to focus more on the climb and, if you look past the softening of the less family-friendly or controversial elements of the true story of The Blind Side and approach it much like you would Hancock's moving and underrated The Rookie, then this is an effective film with career-best work by Sandra Bullock. It’s a feel-good movie that could have been a more intellectual, honest exercise, but it’s still a feel-good movie that works on its own terms.

Bullock stars as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a Southern wife and mother who changed the life of a homeless young black man named Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) when she took him in and helped him get an education. When the Tuohy family (including Tim McGraw as the patriarch and Jae Head and Lily Collins as the children) first come across Michael, he is homeless, uneducated, and has never even played a game of football in his life. Leigh Anne takes him in, lets him sleep on her couch, and eventually becomes his legal guardian. Of course, when you see the size of Michael Oher, especially in the South, it’s natural to see if he knows how to play football. The rest is history.

Some critics have argued that we don't need another story of a white person saving a black one from poverty and that the film does a disservice to everyone involved by making it more Leigh Anne's story than Michael's, while both Hollywood-izing the projects that this young man came from and ignoring controversial issues related to the NCAA in general. I understand and can’t really argue with that criticism, but I would say that The Blind Side never pretends to be that movie. Call me old-fashioned and perhaps less cynical than some of my colleagues, but sometimes it's okay for a filmmaker to make a movie that is unapologetically "feel-good" and that's precisely what is promised and delivered with The Blind Side.

Most of the overall charm of the film can be attributed to the performance by Bullock, who perfectly balances the surprisingly comedic scenes and, believe it or not, holds back the melodrama that a lot of actresses would have turned to for this part. She fully embodies a woman who does right by Michael because that's what she believes is right. She understands that this gentle giant merely needed someone to guide him in the right direction. The film is about using Michael's protective instincts as a human being on the football field, but it is Leigh Anne's maternal instincts that changed and arguably saved this man's life. Bullock, so awful this year in the horrible All About Steve and merely mediocre in The Proposal, proves that she can be a much more interesting and multi-faceted actress than she usually is. Aaron is good but it sometimes feels like the story has been mis-focused and that Michael is merely a pawn in the greater story when it arguably should have been all about him. It's kind of like Precious from the viewpoint of Ms. Rain.

The biggest problem with The Blind Side is merely that it's too broadly sentimental and by the time it gets to the serious material in the final act, Hancock doesn't have a grip on the film to make it feel like anything more than an after school special. There was room in this story to make a truly thought-provoking, great film, but that doesn't mean that the movie that was made didn't end up a good one. Instead of an intellectual approach to poverty, football, and education and how they can intertwine, especially in the South, the producers of The Blind Side arguably took the easy way out by making a sentimental, feel-good film. But it still feels good nevertheless.

Rating: THREE BONES

Reviewed by Brian Tallerico (MovieRetriever.com Film Critic)