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To my shame, I have not read The Blind Side, the bestselling book by the outrageously talented Michael Lewis chronicling the rise of Michael Oher from poverty-stricken childhood to raw but drooled-over recruit to All-American offensive tackle at Ole Miss. (And now, since the book was published, to first round pick by the Baltimore Ravens.) So although I respect Lewis and I'm sure the book is great -- I gave it as a gift to my dad, and he loved it -- I have no special feeling for its story or characters. In other words, I can handle what I'm about to show you.

But if you did read Lewis' book, and especially if you liked Lewis' book, I'm going to advise you to do something I never would under normal circumstances: Click away. Or at least skip this post. Whatever you do, don't hit 'play' on the trailer below. I'm sure you're curious to see how Hollywood treated the master prose and storytelling of the best college football book of the decade. I know you've read about the numerous cameos and must have at least contemplated seeing this movie, if for nothing else but the magisterial on-screen splendor of Ed Orgeron. I say to you: Don't do it. Just ... don't do it. Let the book live on in your head as the solid piece of work you remember.

For everyone else, you have been warned. You have now been warned twice. Proceed with caution:

I had especially low expectations for this from the words "Sandra Bullock" and "Hollywood." (Which is saying a lot since, as a football fan, the only football movie I have ever remotely liked, ever, is All the Right Moves.) And yet this fails in so many more ways than anyone could ever possibly predict, even if they've seen every excruciating scene in every bad sports movie of the last 25 years. Somehow, The Blind Side: The Movie seems to be embracing all of them at once. By all indications, it's another by-the-numbers romp through clichéd taglines, bad emo music, annoyingly precocious children, latent racism, paternalistic guilt, forced feel-good montages, and tight, slo-mo pancake shots on helpless ninth graders wherein Oher is reduced to a wide-eyed naif whose potential can only be tapped when his surrogate mom -- not a front-and-center character in the book -- drops the suburban gloss for a little Dangerous Minds 'tude, puts the project thugs in their place and comes out of the stands to bawl out her 300-pound charge in front of the entire team. (I assume the coaches wouldn't dare.) My only question is how they'll devise a way for Big Mike to score the winning touchdown in the big game. Tackle eligible? Followed by some members of the team comically attempting to lift the man-child on their shoulders before settling for a congratulatory slap on the butt? And that's a wrap.

I mean, it's a thinly veiled chick flick. I'm sure they could cut it up to make a rocking, action-paced trailer for football fans, but we've seen its stripes, and they belong on a Prada handbag.

Which will certainly sell more tickets than the central insights on the evolution of the passing game and the emerging importance of the left tackle in scouting that gave the book its title. And at least Bullock's Mississippi accent isn't a total embarrassment. But no matter what happens to Alabama this fall, his association with this movie is destined to be the most embarrassing moment of Nick Saban's year.

- - -
Hat tip: Mr. Irrelevant, via EDSBS.

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15 Comments

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  1. jayblaze8587
    1. Posted by jayblaze8587 Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:22 pm EDT

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    OH. MY. GOD.
    The horror. ... The horror.
  2. squirrelyearl
    2. Posted by squirrelyearl Tue Aug 04, 2009 4:31 pm EDT

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    Ouch. Were you really that surprised though? I mean it's a "feel good" kind of story and Hollywood usually screws those up pretty bad by making them too trite. There are an obvious few exceptions, but I wouldn't expect this to be brilliant.
  3. Stewade
    3. Posted by Stewade Tue Aug 04, 2009 5:30 pm EDT

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    I should have clicked away.
  4. sycasey
    4. Posted by sycasey Tue Aug 04, 2009 6:50 pm EDT

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    This is a joke trailer, right? As in, not real? Right?
    Please?
  5. Jimmy H
    5. Posted by Jimmy H Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:02 pm EDT

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    I was warned. And I watched anyways.
    Wow, it's bad.
  6. Steve E
    6. Posted by Steve E Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:30 pm EDT

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    OK, you guys are taking this way too seriously. Blind Side was a outstanding football book... but, it was phenomenal human interest story and like it or not Leigh Anne Touhy is the pivotal person that allowed that beautiful story - Michael's successful life - to happen. I'd encourage you to try and enjoy the story that really matters.
  7. Gary J
    7. Posted by Gary J Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:39 pm EDT

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    I'm not sure why all the negative reviews. No, I didn't read the book- first time I heard of it or this movie. What do you expect from Hollywood? I can tell you this- every book I read that became a movie- the movie sucked! So don't read the book first. But /w that said, I'm willing to bet that this movie will do all right @ the box office. I'm not saying I will go see it- It's been 5 years since I stepped into a movie theater. So maybe I may not be a good judge. I guess what really got me to respond was not seeing why everyone says it will be so bad. Come on- it's Hollywood. They have to sell tickets. You guys probably thought Transformers was the best real life action movie you've seen in awhile. LOL
  8. Some Dude
    8. Posted by Some Dude Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:43 pm EDT

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    Oh god... Kill me now. It's OK to make a book, the movie wouldn't be bad if it was a documentary type thing, but... God... that's ridiculous.
  9. Jay
    9. Posted by Jay Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:44 pm EDT

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    Why oh why didn't I listen.
  10. breedless
    10. Posted by breedless Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:52 pm EDT

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    The movie does look cheesy but everything in that trailer was in the book. Trailers are designed to be cheesy. They never really represent the movie perfectly. The movie still is intriguing to me despite all the cliche moments. And if the movie turns out bad, it won't make me think any less of the book.
  11. PFJ
    11. Posted by PFJ Tue Aug 04, 2009 7:55 pm EDT

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    All The Right Moves is the only football move you've liked? You didn't like Friday Night Lights?
  12. Reed
    12. Posted by Reed Tue Aug 04, 2009 9:06 pm EDT

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    Sandra Bullock is for girls. (proved: http://fightingtheyouth.blogspot.com/2009/07/top-chick-flicks.html )
    So is this f*cking movie. I'd rather watch Quarterback Princess for the second time. Yeah, the one with Helen Hunt.
  13. ChrisB
    13. Posted by ChrisB Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:57 pm EDT

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    Seems to me like it matches the book exactly minus the half-hearted attempt to describe some great trend in football. The book was a softball attempt to canonize the Tuohys and pretend that people ought to be ashamed - ASHAMED - to even raise an eyebrow about prominent boosters of an SEC program "adopting" a kid, managing to get him miraculously eligible despite acknowledging he's functionally illiterate, and steering him to their favorite SEC program. Sorry, but if Lewis refused to cast a skeptical eye or to ask tough questions of his childhood buddy (which Lewis finally admits at the very end of the book), then how can you ask Hollywood to get tough?
  14. sodahq
    14. Posted by sodahq Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:01 am EDT

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    maybe the nutt and orgeron cameos will put it over the top
  15. ess-eee-seee
    15. Posted by ess-eee-seee Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:51 pm EDT

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    "Which will certainly sell more tickets..."
    It's this thinking that turns good source material into bad movies. It is a safer investment and more predictable for the studio, but not necessarily a better investment. It's like that RB Whathisname who's running style was famously described by his coach, 'If you need one yard, he'll get you three. If you need four yards, he'll get you three.'
    Some exec lacked the creativity or job security to go for a legitimate hit, and opted for the safe 30-40m grossing chick flick. If you must see it, buy a ticket for another film (preferably from a competing studio) and walk into The Blind Side theater.

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