I distrust the “Ain’t White Folk Grand” genre. You know what I’m talking about: films in which White Folks swoop down on some downtrodden Non-White Folk and save them from their squalid lives while learning an Important Life Lesson of their own.
It’s not that I don’t think White Folk are grand – I’m white, after all, and I consider myself reasonably grand. It’s not that I don’t think people should help those who need it. And it’s not that I’m against Important Life Lessons. It’s just that I find the genre so tedious. Uplift is great and all, but hardly anyone ever blows up a car.
All of which is meant to give you some context when I say that THE BLIND SIDE is about as good as “Ain’t White Folk Grand” movies get. Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw are great at playing White Folk, Quinton Aaron does a fine job of getting rescued, and everything rocks along right through a closing credits sequence that shows us photos of the actual family upon which the film is based. It’s fine, really, and it achieves its goals in an engaging and professional way.
In other words, it’s exactly what you expect when you plunk down your money for a film of this genre. If only they’d blown up a car.
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