'The Blind Side' - movie review

Sandra Bullock plays a steel-willed Memphis belle in "The Blind Side," based on a true story about a well-heeled family that took in a near-homeless, barely schooled African-American boy, Michael Oher (newcomer Quinton Aaron) and set him on the road to success as a football star. (He now plays for the Baltimore Ravens.)

It would all seem a bit patronizing if it wasn't true. The filmmakers pay lip service to the story's racial undertones without ever really rocking the leaky boat.

Bullock is fun to watch, though. Aaron, who looks to be twice her size, is impressively impassive, and country star Tim McGraw, as Bullock's infinitely accommodating husband, is a natural.

Best performance, minute for minute, comes from Adriane Lenox, whose cameo as Michael's drug-addled mother is the film's standout.

Grade: B (Rated PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug, and sexual references.)