The Blind Side
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: November 20, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
53
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
10
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Film ThreatElias Savada
This may be Bullock's best performance. Ever. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
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. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
In a head-to-head comparison, one would be hard-pressed not to declare that "Precious" is the better film - it makes fewer compromises and doesn't shy from showing the true ugliness only hinted at in this movie, but The Blind Side is more accessible. It's easier to digest. In the end, both films tell stories of triumph over adversity - a category of drama that uplifts while offering a dollop of social commentary. Read full review
75
New York PostLou Lumenick
What makes The Blind Side a Thanksgiving treat is director Hancock's subtle touch and admirable refusal to yield to sports movie clichés, something he did previously with "The Rookie" and "Remember the Titans." Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
One of the reasons it's so effective is because it's based on a real-life, odds-defying story: that of mountainous Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher (played by Quinton Aaron). Read full review
75
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Without restraint or subtlety, but with a lot of heart and energy, this movie tells a real-life tall tale. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Best performance, minute for minute, comes from Adriane Lenox, whose cameo as Michael's drug-addled mother is the film's standout. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Bullock is an irrepressible hoot in writer-director John Lee Hancock's otherwise thoroughly conventional take on Michael Lewis' fact-based book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." Read full review
70
VarietyJoe Leydon
Uplifting and entertaining feel-good, fact-based sports drama. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The story is inspiring and involves sports, but to call it an inspirational sports story would be wrong; its real center is Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock in a fine performance), the strong-willed woman whose love and generosity helped turn a mute, hopeless boy with no social or academic skills into a functioning young man with a promising future. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Wisely, Hancock has given the film as much humor as heart. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
It’s not an altogether convincing portrait, but it is an entertaining, even moving one, and the forcefulness of Bullock's presence goes a long way in pulling the film back from the brink of cuddliness. Read full review
63
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Michael as a character is defined almost solely by his helplessness and gratitude. He's as lovable as a lost puppy, but a more perceptive movie than The Blind Side would have let us see him from another angle. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Bullock’s levelheaded acting frequently saves the movie from emotional garishness. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
An engaging if transparent tearjerker of the first water. Read full review
63
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Has strong performances and stirring football scenes. Read full review
60
SlateDana Stevens
For all The Blind Side's flaws, it's impossible not to get caught up in Michael Oher's life. Read full review
60
EmpireIan Freer
Bullock delivers a towering performance that grabs the movie and the Oscar race by the scruff of the neck. You will be moved, but at the price of any nuance or complexity. Read full review
55
NPRBob Mondello
Unlike the tale told in "Precious", however, The Blind Side's story is contrived, storybook sweet, credulity-straining and ... um, true. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A feel-good movie that never stops feeling good. The film is based on a true story (it was adapted from a nonfiction best-seller by Michael Lewis), but you never feel that Hancock has honestly captured what's true about it. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Veers perilously close to the concept of poverty tourism. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Never dull, but it's rarely more than gently entertaining. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
A football story that deserves a penalty flag every other play for piling on the sentiment. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
The film, not unsurprisingly for a holiday- (and football-) season release from a major Hollywood studio, plays this story straight down the middle, shedding nuance and complication in favor of maximum uplift. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
It's fair to say that Bullock's appealing portrait of a strong-willed Tennessee belle ranks among the best work of her career. It's just too bad the movie around her comes up short. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
A facile, feel-good fable that substitutes cliché for reality at nearly every turn. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Sports movies have a long, troubled history of well-meaning white paternalism, with poor black athletes finding success through white charity. But The Blind Side, based on Michael Lewis’ non-fiction book, finds a new low. Read full review
20
Time OutDavid Fear
It’s just blinkered middle-class pandering at its most shameless. Read full review
0
Village VoiceMelissa Anderson
Blind Side the movie peddles the most insidious kind of racism, one in which whiteys are virtuous saviors, coming to the rescue of African-Americans who become superfluous in narratives that are supposed to be about them. Read full review
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