Blind Side – Die große Chance

Film

The Blind Side is a Vorlage:Fy drama sports film written and directed by John Lee Hancock, and based on the 2006 book The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis. The storyline features Michael Oher, an offensive lineman who plays for the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL. The film follows Oher from his impoverished upbringings, through his years at Wingate Christian School, his adoption by Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, and on to his position as one of the most highly coveted prospects in college football.

The film stars Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher, Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy, Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy, Oher's adoptive parents and Kathy Bates as Miss Sue, Oher's tutor. The movie also features appearances by several current and former National Collegiate Athletic Association coaches, including Houston Nutt, Ed Orgeron, Phillip Fulmer, Nick Saban, Lou Holtz and Tommy Tuberville, and recruiting analyst Tom Lemming.

Plot

Vorlage:Expand section The Blind Side depicts the true story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless 18-year-old from a broken home. He enrolls in a private Christian School and struggles to fit in because he is woefully underprepared. Eventually, he is taken in by the Tuohys (Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Lily Collins, and Jae Head), a well-to-do Christian family who helps him fulfill his potential. At the same time, Oher's presence in the Tuohys' lives leads them to some self-discoveries of their own. Recognizing his potential talent as a football player, they encourage him get him private tutors and get involved in his football career. Living in his new environment, the 18-year-old faces a completely different set of challenges. As a football player and student, Oher works hard and, with the help of his coaches and adopted family, becomes an All-American offensive left tackle.

Cast

• Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy
• Tim McGraw as Sean Tuohy
• Kathy Bates as Miss Sue
• Quinton Aaron as Michael "Big Mike" Oher
• Lily Collins as Collins Tuohy
• Jae Head as S.J. Tuohy
• Ray McKinnon as Coach Cotton
• Kim Dickens as Mrs. Boswell
• Adriane Lenox as Denise Oher
• Catherine Dyer as Mrs.Smith

Production

The Blind Side is a film of Alcon Entertainment and was distributed by Warner Bros.. The film was partially filmed at The Atlanta International School and The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, and features many of their students. The film premiered on November 17 in New York City and New Orleans, and opened in theaters on November 20 in the United States and Canada.

According to Reuters, the film's production budget was $29 million. Sandra Bullock took a pay cut and agreed to receive a percentage of the profits.

Reception

Critical reception

The Blind Side received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 74% of critics gave positive reviews, based on 112 reviews. Metacritic reported 53% of the positive reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 31 reviews. Ann Hornaday of Washington Post gave a positive review of the film writing "Grounded in the direct, disarming truth of their experience, the movie has a straightforward lack of cheap sentiment that saves it from being either too maudlin or saccharine-sweet." Betsy Sharkey writing for Los Angeles Times "Wisely, Hancock has given the film as much heart as humor." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the film "a feel-good movie that never stops feeling good. The film is based on a true story (it was adapted from the nonfiction best-seller by Michael Lewis), but you never honestly feel that Hancock has captured what's true about it". Michael Medved gave The Blind Side four stars out of four, calling the film "..funny, touching, [and] enormously satisfying.." Medved added that, "Sandra Bullock's Oscar worthy performance is without question the best work of her career."

Audience reception and word of mouth was incredibly strong. The film received a stellar "A+" rating from CinemaScore.

Critics of filmCube praised the movie as being the "feel-good movie of the year" citing it as both inspiring and incredible, while recognizing an impressive performance from Bullock and McGraw.

latimesblogs.latimes.com stated 'The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock "is the kind of inspiring and solid upbeat studio release (directed by John Lee Hancock) that could, and should, put Bullock firmly in the race for best actress. This could be her "Erin Brockovich."Just like the film that earned Julia Roberts her Oscar'

Box office

"The Blind Side" opened in 3,110 theaters on its opening weekend, the weekend of November 20, 2009. It grossed a very strong $34,510,000 in its opening weekend, the second highest gross of that weekend. It was the highest-grossing opening weekend of Sandra Bullock's career. The per-theater average for "The Blind Side"'s opening weekend was $11,096. In its opening weekend, the movie already proved to be a financial success, having a budget of just $29,000,000. It proved to have remarkable staying power, taking in an additional $9.5 million, bringing its gross to $60,125,000 by the weekend of November 27, 2009. The movie enjoyed a very rare greater success for the second weekend than it did in its opening weekend, taking in an estimated $40 million, an increase of 18 percent, from November 27 to November 29, 2009, bringing its gross as of November 29 to $100,250,000 . In its third weekend the movie continued its trend of rare feats by moving up to the number one position with $20.4 million in sales after spending the previous two weekends in second place for a total gross of $129.3 million .

Critical reception

The Blind Side received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 74% of critics gave positive reviews, based on 112 reviews. Metacritic reported 53% of the positive reviews indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 31 reviews. Ann Hornaday of Washington Post gave a positive review of the film writing "Grounded in the direct, disarming truth of their experience, the movie has a straightforward lack of cheap sentiment that saves it from being either too maudlin or saccharine-sweet." Betsy Sharkey writing for Los Angeles Times "Wisely, Hancock has given the film as much heart as humor." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly called the film "a feel-good movie that never stops feeling good. The film is based on a true story (it was adapted from the nonfiction best-seller by Michael Lewis), but you never honestly feel that Hancock has captured what's true about it". Michael Medved gave The Blind Side four stars out of four, calling the film "..funny, touching, [and] enormously satisfying.." Medved added that, "Sandra Bullock's Oscar worthy performance is without question the best work of her career."

Audience reception and word of mouth was incredibly strong. The film received a stellar "A+" rating from CinemaScore.

Critics of filmCube praised the movie as being the "feel-good movie of the year" citing it as both inspiring and incredible, while recognizing an impressive performance from Bullock and McGraw.

latimesblogs.latimes.com stated 'The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock "is the kind of inspiring and solid upbeat studio release (directed by John Lee Hancock) that could, and should, put Bullock firmly in the race for best actress. This could be her "Erin Brockovich."Just like the film that earned Julia Roberts her Oscar'

Other critics though, like the Huffington Post, say that the movie may suggest a benevolent, controlling, authoritative attitude among southern whites who look after blacks, a descendant of the "good master" phenomenon: "She even helps him learn to play football. Yes! A skinny white lady teaches someone about football!"

The New York Times reports that the movie may simply use "reductive depictions of the complex realities of race and, especially, class."

External links

• Vorlage:Official
• Vorlage:Imdb title
• Vorlage:Amg movie
• Vorlage:Rotten-tomatoes
• Vorlage:Mojo title
• Vorlage:Metacritic film
• Reel People: Quinton Aaron is Michael Oher