Sandra Bullock’s new feel-gooder "Blind Side" made over 40 million for the Thanksgiving weekend. R Patz and T Laut take notes on how to murder odds using personality and brains.
You heard right. Sandra Bullock’s *Blind Side*, in which she plays every liberal’s nightmare — a can-do Republican woman with more energy than a dozen Sarah Palins — racked up a gigantic $40.1 million for the Thanksgiving weekend. That’s only $2.4 million less than the juggernaut that is
*The Twilight Saga: New Moon*, which declined nearly 70 percent in its second week while *Blind Side* went up 18 percent. Team Edward and Team Jacob are hereby put on notice: There’s a new sheriff in town and she’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Let’s hear it for Team Sandy.
And who cares that her movie — a fact-based story — rings more Tinseltown than true. Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a real-life Memphis decorator who rescues homeless African-American athlete Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) from the West Memphis projects, gives him a home with her wealthy white family, and helps him build a career in football. Bullock has found a role that strikes a chord with audiences — critics be damned. She’s such a dynamo that I wouldn’t be surprised if — heaven help us — she scored her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress, right up there with Meryl Streep (
Julie and Julia), Gabourey Sidibe (
Precious), Carey Mulligan (
An Education) and Dame Helen Mirren (
The Last Station). Bullock has made her fair share of sappy comedies (hello,
All About Steve), but she once showed promise in
Speed, While You Were Sleeping, and two underrated dramatic turns in
Infamous and the Oscar-winning
Crash.
My question today is: Do you think Bullock deserves Oscar attention for The Blind Side? And what past performance of hers do you think showed off her talent best?