Sports movies are typically niche affairs. I mean, a group of athletes or single athlete triumphs over adversity and achieves greatness in his or her sport, becomes accepted by the team, and earns the respect of their rival thanks to a gutty performance. That description covers every sports film from Rocky to 1940’s Knute Rockne: All American. In a sense, The Blind Side is exactly as I described the stereotypical sports film. In a lot of ways, The Blind Side is going to do for Sandra Bullock what Erin Brockovich did for Julia Roberts. Both women are very popular leads in romantic comedies, but neither of them are taken very seriously as actresses for most of their careers. Brockovich turned a corner for Julia Roberts. The Blind Side is doing the same for Bullock. She’s getting a lot of well-deserved buzz for her performance in this movie, and she definitely deserves it, as she manages to add texture and subtlety to her role that was kind of surprising. Bullock has always been a likable actress, and she handles the more amusing aspects of Leigh Anne’s character well, but she really captures the essence of what I’d call a steel magnolia; she has a hard exterior and a business-like attitude to cover up the sweet soul within. The movie also has an excellent supporting cast, with Quinton Aaron as Oher and Jae Head as Sean (SJ) Jr. having particularly nice interplay in their scenes together. Coach Cotton (Ray McKinnon) is a scene-stealer. Characters like Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) and Collins (Lily Collins) get much less screen time to work with, but there’s no real bad performance in the list. The movie itself is a little bit too long, and loses its way slightly in the middle, but it doesn’t overstay its welcome. Hancock has a nice way of letting scenes unfold without dragging on too long, and he wisely avoids the traps that most movies of this ilk fall into by not letting things get sickeningly sweet. It’s a very warm and pleasant experience, but it never gets too feel-good for its own good. I didn’t go in expecting much from The Blind Side, despite all the praise. However, what I got was a really incredible performance from Sandra Bullock and a nice, uplifting movie experience. The movie never gets too earnest or preachy, it’s merely a strong woman doing what she feels is the right thing to do, both for her biological children and her adopted one.