/ 19 March 2010

Also opening

From an Oscar winning performance to a film strictly for the kids.

The Blind Side
It was obviously a sympathy vote that ensured this year’s best actress Oscar for Sandra Bullock. Her performance in this film is unsurprisingly average — safe-and-sweet Bullock, the one we’ve come to know. Her performance isn’t comparable to any of the recent winners who showed true guts on screen. Here Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a wealthy Southerner who takes in a homeless black youth, Michael Other, who becomes a famous all-American football giant. This is based on a true story. But what sounds like the premise of a critical film is simply bland banter that should leave redneck America pleased with itself. It’s problematic and, although it has inspirational moments, it’s mostly pedantic. The black kid is like “a fly in milk” as his white foster mother (who leads a comfy life with her husband and two kids) fends off questions about whether she’s helping him because of “some white guilt thing”. That’s about as close to interrogative as it gets. It fails to explore the black character — he seems like an extra on the set of a sitcom about Leigh Anne, who dishes out sympathetic glances at just the right cues. But she doesn’t really seem to face any meaningful challenges related to having adopted a black youth who is also overweight and has major learning difficulties. It’s all smooth sailing in a film that lies to its audience: surely this sort of thing doesn’t happen without greater drama in the American South? This is a sugar-coated fairytale with made-for-TV written all over it. — Yazeed Kamaldien

Tooth Fairy
Tooth Fairy stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Derek Thompson, an ice-hockey player past his prime who is turned into a tooth fairy as punishment for a bad deed. That, and the fact that the director’s previous forays into moviemaking include The Santa Clause II and The Santa Clause III are all you really need to know about this film. Johnson is just … horrible. He cannot act, and the sight of his bulk encased in a pale pink tutu will permanently scar one’s memory. The tooth fairies are utterly unoriginal (shiny satin ballet outfits in a range of pastel hues accompanied by gigantic furry white wings) and the plot, if one can call it that, is filled with tired, overdone themes and clichés. Not even Julie Andrews (oh Julie, what has become of you?) can save this mind-numbing film. The lone bright spots are Billy Crystal as Jerry, the tooth fairy gadget distributor and, at times, Stephen Merchant as Derek’s fairy handler Tracy. Tooth Fairy is one strictly for the kids. — Tarryn Harbour