MEMPHIS, WE HAVE A PROBLEM: COUNT THE THINGS WRONG WITH THE “BLIND SIDE” TRAILER
If you’ve devoured Michael Lewis’s endlessly fascinating The Blind Side (as we have) and followed the amusing updates of cameos by Saban, the Orgeron, et al in the upcoming film adaptation (ditto), then you’ve probably been waiting with bated breath for the film’s wide release in November. If that’s the case, then Chris Mottram is going to throw some very cold water on those dreams, for he’s got the film’s trailer up over at Mr. Irrelevant, and . . . well, see for yourself:
Got that? Did you count up all the things that looked wrong? Good, now check the answer key after the jump and let’s see how you did:
1. It’s all about Sandra Bullock. Not that the woman Bullock plays, Leigh Anne Tuohy, wasn’t an integral part of the story Lewis told in his book; she worked as hard as, if not harder than, anyone to lift Michael Oher up out of poverty. But she wasn’t the main character in the book; she looks like she’s going to be the main character in the movie. And that probably means that . . .
2. We’ve got another white-woman-saves-poor-aimless-black-people story on our hands. You could, if you were so inclined, condense The Blind Side down to that very cursory description, and to some extent film adaptations can only ever be stripped-down, USA Today versions of the books on which they’re based, but still, The Blind Side was so much deeper and more complex than that. We could’ve gotten at least an attempt at translating that complexity to the screen, but instead it looks like what we’re going to get is a lot more along the lines of Sandra Bullock being, in the words of Jack Donaghy, “Michelle Pfeiffer to your angry black kid who learns that poetry is just another way to rap.”
3. The “You threaten my son, you threaten me” scene. Is my memory of the book completely faulty, or did that never actually happen? Someone telling Mike Oher to “sleep with one eye open”? What are your cheap gangsta theatrics doing in my peanut butter?
4. The use of The Fray’s “How to Save a Life” in the first part of the trailer. Of the grown men I’ve known who have ever expressed any affinity for that song (or The Fray in general), all of them fell into at least one of two categories: a) Guys who had at least circumstantial evidence against their heterosexuality and b) guys who played it on their guitars so they’d look brooding and sensitive enough to pull in chicks. I’ve kind of gotten off topic here, but the point is The Fray has no place in any film that purports to be about sports.
Bright spots? Well, Quinton Aaron looks suitably mountain-sized to pass as Michael Oher (no mean feat), and Sandra Bullock is smokin’ hot as a blonde. And there’s always the cameos by Saban and Orgeron to look forward to. (Window treatments FTW!) Otherwise, it looks suspiciously like we’ve got some heavy football movie/chick flick miscegenation going on here, and the outlook, as the Magic 8-Ball might say, is not good. We’ll have to save the final verdict for November 20, of course, but this grand jury is still prepared to at least hand down an indictment.
Cross-posted at Hey Jenny Slater.









51
WhiteSpeedReceiver says:
@Miss Holly,
They’re going to bring you in to do the multimake that combines this with another predictable attempt at a football movie: The Blind Titans.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:10 am
52
arlo says:
“Not only is Bullock hot as a blonde, but she pulls off a Southern accent without sounding stupid or overly twangy… Pretty rare in Hollywood flicks.”
She grew up in Virginia, her dad’s from Bama, and she went to school in one of the Carolinas.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:41 am
53
panapet red says:
Was it the kid or Oher ripping the fart at 2:20? I still can’t figure it out after multiple plays.
August 5th, 2009 at 8:58 am
54
Stan Gable says:
Actually, Yoyoufutbawl, Sandra has a house on Tybee Island, she is not in the movie that is filming there.
Revenge of the Nerds is the best football/reference movie out there…but I am biased, of course….
August 5th, 2009 at 9:14 am
55
KJ says:
It doesnt look like the scene in the book where Oher titty fucks Tuohy’s daughter made it into the movie. I’m dissapointed.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:06 am
56
thebunkis says:
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
August 5th, 2009 at 11:45 am
57
BKDawg says:
Looks like a straight to Lifetime three-hankie special.
I was most disappointed that the swing-set scene didn’t become an inadvertent homage to the one in “Young Frankenstein”. “Weeeeee….”
I also wonder if Miss “must save the negroes” would’ve picked up dude had he not had 1st Round Draft potential written all over him. Is this really how Ole Miss recruits?
I can see it paired at a discount on Amazon with “The Legend of Bagger Vance.”
August 5th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
58
BrooklynGator says:
that laugh bled right out into the border
August 5th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
59
Tommy J says:
I’m going to be sick….
“You threaten my son, you threaten me”
I’m sick….
August 5th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
60
Grampa Fug says:
In Lewis’s book there was some, ah, “extra chemistry” synapsing between Mrs. Tuohy and Nick Saban when he came to call. One wonders if that will be depicted and if so, exactly how.
Saban: (speaking to Oher but gazing directly at Mrs. Tuohy) “Michael, we’d love to see you COME to Baton Rouge. We’ll take extra good CARE of him, Mrs. Tuohy. You’d be WELCOME to visit too, of course, to watch as he tries out for a VARIETY of POSITIONS. You could COME as OFTEN as you like.”
Oher: “Can I have any jersey number I want, Coach?”
Saban: (never taking eyes away from Mrs. Tuohy) “Michael, you can have MULTIPLE numbers if you have enough STAMINA.”
Tuohy boy: “Can I have my own locker in the dressing room, Coach Saban?”
Mrs. Tuohy: (blushing, momentarily averting eyes from Saban but looking back helplessly, er need like that of a junkie) “Now Fauntleroy, Coach Anal . . . ah (slight gag, shortness of breath), Coach Saban isn’t here to have a conversation with you.”
Saban: (exerting Draculaesque eye power mind control over Mrs. Tuohy) “Relative to our process, Mrs. Tuohy, we believe Michael would be a key part of the LSU family right off the BAT.”
Mrs. Tuohy: ” >>>+++*+++<<< "
August 5th, 2009 at 11:59 pm
61
pfhokie Abides says:
Looks horrible. I don’t know where to start. It’s like “Different Strokes” style of thing I thought we were done with a decade ago.
As for Bullock, I’ve always liked her but she looks poorly cast. Then again, I can’t think of anyone that isn’t poorly cast in this “feel good” movie. Maybe they should have gotten Jessica Simpson.
Sandra Bullock is from Arlington Virginia (or that’s where she went to high school). She then matriculated at East Carolina before heading to LA. Northern Virginians don’t really have southern accents.
August 7th, 2009 at 5:49 am
62
MCab says:
It’d be a Lifetime movie if Tim McGraw reprised his role from Friday Night Lights.
Oh, and to create a bigger fusion, it should be The Blind Radio Titans.
August 7th, 2009 at 11:52 pm