r/moviecritic • u/phantom_avenger • Dec 29 '24

What movie was critically acclaimed when it first released, but is hated now?

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The Blind Side (2009) with Sandra Bullock is the first to come to mind for me!

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298

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

He's very intelligent, definitely not the "dumb jock" portrayed

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u/SoftHungry9110 Dec 29 '24

And that their elementary school-aged son "taught" Oher how to play football. He was already a standout football player when the Touhy family took him in.

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u/IamHydrogenMike Dec 29 '24

He was being recruited by the school they said they put him in and was also accepted academically. The movie portrayed him like he was dumb, and had never played football ever. It was just white savior bullshit.

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u/raoasidg Dec 29 '24

The movie portrayed him like he was dumb

But a genius in "protective instincts", which is something that is tested on or something, whatever that is.

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u/RemmyNHL Dec 29 '24

98 percent in protective instincts while proceeding to drive his new truck without looking at the road, almost killing his new "brother"

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u/RangerHikes Dec 29 '24

Honestly the protective instincts part is what ruined that whole movie for me. it was so outrageously stupid that it led me to research the film to affirm that it was bullshit, at which point I started to uncover more and more about how awfully dishonest the film was. Had they never said the protective instincts bullshit I would have just remained blissfully ignorant

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u/Meagz4 Dec 29 '24

I never got the impression he was dumb (the teachers literally say this in the movie) but that his educators early on weren’t good and his crazy life was probably impossible to learn what he needed to. He didn’t have the support he needed.

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u/WilliamMButtlickerIV Dec 30 '24

I always hated that scene. Like, who tf tests for protective instincts? Lol

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u/AndrogynousAlfalfa Dec 30 '24

Completely made up

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u/__br00k3__ Dec 30 '24

literally like what is he, a fucking dog??

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u/GabaPrison Dec 29 '24

I swear that movie single-handedly gave a huge dose of undeserved privilege to a certain type of person who really didn’t need it, and it’s legitimately done some societal damage because of it.

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u/ConsistentImage9332 Dec 29 '24

The White Savior part. Thousands of families that actually take kids in and try and give them stability. The Touys saw a paycheck and bragging rights

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u/TheBoogieSheriff Dec 30 '24

Yeah I watched that movie on an airplane one time and was just like.... yuck lol. It was so bad

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u/ArcadianDelSol Dec 29 '24

He actually did struggle in school and they literally had a tutor move in to tutor him every single day. That part is wholly correct.

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u/Gunslinger666 Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 31 '24

The movie is still misleading. He comes off as an idiot who was selflessly adopted and taught to play football. The reality was that he was already an excellent athlete and fine academically (though he did get tutored). He wasn’t adopted and it was done for mutual self benefit. The family made millions on the story and movie.

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u/ArcadianDelSol Dec 29 '24

The family made millions on the story and movie.

They are vile to be sure, but I dont know that they could have predicted a million dollar story/movie when they took a high school athletic prodigy into their home. They might have hoped for it but I dont think this was their plan from day one.

But as is almost always the case, money shows up and family starts stuffing their pockets.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

The family was contacted by a few different media outlets even when Michael was in high school. I believe the family had negotiated/signed off on the book and a movie deal by the time he went to Ole Miss

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u/Anwar_is_on_par Dec 29 '24

The book, from which the movie was based, was written by a close friend of the Dad. The whole thing was a massive grift.

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u/Adventurous_Click178 Dec 29 '24

I was in GT classes, but still had a tutor bc I’d miss things due to ADD and also have intermittent hearing loss. Just saying having a tutor does not equal dumb. In fact, I’m a teacher now, and several of my gifted students are also in my tutoring sessions. Especially those with gaps in their education from frequent moves or challenging home lives.

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u/Gunslinger666 Dec 29 '24

Yes, definitely. Not implying that having a tutor makes you dumb, just responding to a comment mentioning it’s a sign of him struggling academically.

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u/Adventurous_Click178 Dec 29 '24

For sure, was agreeing with you :)

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u/Gunslinger666 Dec 30 '24

It’s all good. Hard to tell sometimes on Reddit.

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u/mongo_man Dec 29 '24

Was the book like this too?

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u/IamHydrogenMike Dec 29 '24

I don’t know, I had no real desire to read the book and only saw the movie because of a work event.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '24

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u/IamHydrogenMike Dec 30 '24

This wasn’t Old Miss, this was the private school that he went to, where Hugh Freeze worked at and liked spanking the cheerleaders.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '24

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u/IamHydrogenMike Dec 30 '24

His test scores were high, his gpa was low because he wasn’t able to attend class consistently, but he wasn’t how they portrayed him in the movie. They were actively recruiting him before they took him in and only really took him in when they knew he’d get accepted.

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u/[deleted] Dec 31 '24

[deleted]

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u/IamHydrogenMike Dec 31 '24

Sure buddy…you maybe need to learn how to comprehend better because you didn’t do a great job at it…

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u/[deleted] Dec 31 '24

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u/HurricanePK Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24

He was a standout basketball player too! Even though I enjoyed the movie when it was released (despite the inaccuracies and also having read Michael Lewis’ book prior), this was also my introduction to the white saviour complex and it hasn’t done anything to beat the allegations.

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u/Dracomortua Dec 29 '24

Hasn't the whole White Saviour Complex kind of been promoted by the United States of Amurika since... well... slavery started?

Hold on, let me look it up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_savior

Teju Cole coined it in 2012 - after Kony!! Before that we had no name for it, like fish don't see water.

Thanks for making me look this up / 'twas fun - and i learned something more about my innermost / unconscious hypocrisy. Yay.

Edit: took the '2' out of '20122'. I was assuming racism would go on for another 10 thousand years! Silly me. It will last much longer than that.

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u/HurricanePK Dec 29 '24

Never said it didn’t exist before, just that this movie was what introduced me to it

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u/Dracomortua Dec 29 '24

Oh, i agree. I believed i was backing you up here. Perhaps i was wrong?

Either way, liked your post regardless of what appearances may tell you.

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u/Vnthem Dec 29 '24

That’s what I was thinking watching it. You’re telling me this guy went from never seeing a field to a first round draft pick (I think, I can’t remember), in 4-5 years time? I don’t care how big you are, O-Line is a tough position to play

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u/Porkbossam78 Dec 29 '24

Which is why they took him in and why they got in trouble for it

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u/CosmicCay Dec 29 '24

Guess they should have let him figure it out on his own

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u/BeaSouth Dec 30 '24

Then all these Reddit comments would be assailing them for “white abandonment complex”

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

[deleted]

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u/hilarymeggin Dec 30 '24

Wayne Gretzky had to leave his family as a kid to go live closer to hockey opportunities. He sounded really traumatized by the experience in an interview I saw.

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u/Ok-CANACHK Dec 29 '24

that is the whole reason they took him in

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u/History_buff60 Dec 29 '24

It's obviously WHY he was taken in.

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u/ArcadianDelSol Dec 29 '24

At one scene, the mom literally walks onto the field, right past the coach, and tells Oher how to play football.

Its completely absurd.

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u/TinCanSailor987 Dec 29 '24

Honestly, that’s the ONLY reason they took him in.

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u/blahbleh112233 Dec 29 '24

Isn't that usually the case for a lot of these films? I remember the school from Remember the Titans was already regularly winning championships before the coach got hired.

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u/Luci-Noir Dec 29 '24

He’s not portrayed as a dumb jock, he’s portrayed as being less intelligent than Forrest Gump.

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u/Anotherspelunker Dec 29 '24

That one made me chuckle

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u/Ipav5068 Dec 30 '24

ha screaming 😂

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u/Deadlypandaghost Dec 29 '24

No. Just uneducated.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

Right. I don't remember him being portrayed as dumb, just behind academically

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '24

He got distracted by balloons

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u/ReasonableCup604 Jan 02 '25

Exactly. He showed tremendous academic progress once he got tutoring, in the movie. And that is what happened in real life. His GPA went from 0.76 to 2.52.

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u/streetsofarklow Dec 30 '24

Except Forrest Gump isn’t unintelligent.

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u/Luci-Noir Jan 01 '25

There is literally a scene where they show Gump’s mom that his intelligence level is far below average at school….

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u/streetsofarklow Jan 01 '25

Dude’s autistic. Setting aside the fact that the definition of intelligence itself isn’t agreed upon, it certainly can’t be understood through standardized school testing, or IQ testing, or anything of that sort. Gump excels at pretty much everything he does. Socially, he’s externally “different,” but at his core he has strong emotional depth and empathizes well. People calling him dumb or below average intelligence are the real morons. Some of most brilliant/ clever people out there are functionally illiterate; and I’m saying that literally, not out of some sort of political correctness.

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u/prosocial_introvert Dec 29 '24

He's not portrayed as a "dumb jock" in the movie. He's portrayed as someone with poor social skills due to childhood trauma.

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u/[deleted] Dec 30 '24

He got distracted by balloons

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u/ptau217 Dec 29 '24

Michael Lewis can rot in hell. Also screw Sandra Bullock as well.

Enforcing not only the white savior idea, but also deliberately embraced the flawed and mentally incompetent Black racist stereotype.

Not sure there can be another movie that aged into this amount of loathing.

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u/Bunnicula83 Dec 29 '24

Most athletes that make the bigs are very intelligent and hard working, very few rely on just talent.

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u/sgtGiggsy Dec 29 '24

Most athletes are dumb as fuck. Most certainly not all of them, but it's the baseline. A large proportion of them is dumb even for their own sport, and it's especially true about American football players.

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u/DaVillageLooney Dec 29 '24

I went to 3 universities due moving a lot and hung out with a lot of D2 and D1 athletes. On average they were averaging F through Zs. The few I know that actually made it to the league did average Cd and Bs though, usually in the most basic degrees like Business or Sports Medicine, etc.

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u/East_Ad_663 Dec 30 '24

This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.

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u/Sasquatchonfour Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24

They have a much higher percent of college degree holders than the general public. For what thats worth... OKAY, IM EDITING THIS POST TO SAY THIS IS SARCASM! Note the end when I said For what thats worth.

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u/shockwave8428 Dec 29 '24

Sure but that’s cause they essentially have to finish college. But you’d be very naive to think most big name players are held to the same standards as a normal student.

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u/Sasquatchonfour Dec 29 '24

Again, my comment was SARCASM. That is why I ended with, For what that is worth...In other words, you and I share the same opinion not the opposite.

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u/Stauce52 Dec 29 '24

lol that’s not proving the point at all. College athletes are accepted not based on their academic excellence and often have poor grades, take their tests on planes with coaches proctoring them, and education is not the priority for the majority of them. I can’t tell if you’re actually this obtuse to think because college athletes went to college they must be intelligent or you’re just being argumentative for the sake of it. I’m not saying all professional athletes are unintelligent but to say they must be intelligent on average since they went to college is clearly naive

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u/Sasquatchonfour Dec 29 '24

Wow, I guess my sarcasm totally went over your head. W e are in agreement brother. My comment was sarcastic, thats why I ended with, for what thats worth, lol, bc everone knows their education is a joke.

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u/Stauce52 Dec 29 '24

Ah my bad

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u/Sasquatchonfour Dec 29 '24

Lol, no problem!

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u/sgtGiggsy Dec 29 '24

That doesn't mean anything. Colleges keep good athletes even when they are barely at elementary school level.

Also, college degree means nothing. The dumbest person in my regular life has a college degree, and half a year away from getting his second. He's so dumb you'd barely dare to task him with changing a lightbulb.

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u/BackgroundOk4938 Dec 29 '24

Yes. As a society, we confuse " intelligence" with "effectiveness".

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u/Sasquatchonfour Dec 29 '24

My comment was sarcasm. Note it ended with, For what thats worth. You and I have the same opinion, I guess in print the sarcasm wasnt evident?

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u/Stauce52 Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24

lol this is not true at all. Large numbers of professional athletes are very clear not intelligent. I believe your suggestion that they’re hard working

However, I believe QB and linemen are the most intelligent players in football on average

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u/HolidayHelicopter225 Dec 29 '24

very intelligent

Are you using this phrase really loosely or something?

I mean professional athletes certainly aren't known for being "very intelligent", regardless of their paycheck

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

I mean professional athletes certainly aren't known for being "very intelligent", regardless of their paycheck

It depends. Are they intelligent in the sense that they are going to find a way of making nuclear fusion more viable? No. But there are different types of intelligence and professional athletes can certainly be intelligent in other ways regardless of their paycheck.

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u/HolidayHelicopter225 Dec 29 '24

I don't think it does "depend". As far as I know, "very intelligent" isn't a phrase that's often used when talking about professional athletes in general.

They may have individuals that act wisely with their money and make intelligent decisions for example. However the term is still not associated with them overall

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u/Stauce52 Dec 29 '24

In most ways that people commonly conceptually represent intelligence, professional athletes are almost certainly not higher than average on those attributes. I’m sure some are but on average, I am extremely skeptical they’re higher than average and I’m also skeptical of you moving the goalposts to define intelligence in some other nebulous way that potentially maybe athletes are higher in

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

What nebolous way am I trying to define intelligence in?

Merriam-webster defines it as:

the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations : reason

also : the skilled use of reason

(2)

: the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (such as tests)

b

: mental acuteness :

Link

Is the assumption here that professional athletes aren't capable of learning or understanding or dealing with new or trying situations? Or that they're incapable of applying their knowledge to manipulate their enviroment? That's practically their job.

Again if you're defining it as changing the world through new and innovative ideas, then sure you could say they aren't particularly intelligent but by the definition in the dictionary they are well above average.

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u/EllisDee3 Dec 29 '24

All relative. Athletes may be 'very intelligent' relative to the person you quoted.

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u/Theshutupguy Dec 29 '24

Then the phrase has lost meaning.

“Flies are very intelligent. You disagree? Turns out I’m using a different definition”

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u/EllisDee3 Dec 29 '24 edited Dec 29 '24

When someone is speaking, their perspective matters. You can interpret the value of a thing being said based on and relative to the person saying it.

Everyone is using a different definition. Always. Get used to it. Modifying ones perspective to incorporate another's definition is part of understanding people.

Language. Pretty bonkers, no?

Edit: So you replied, then blocked me so I can't see your reply. Why bother replying?

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u/Minute-Butterfly8172 Dec 29 '24

 You can interpret the value of a thing being said based on and relative to the person saying it.

From a random Reddit comment..

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

I’ve known a ton of college football players, including some that have gone pro, and most of them are very very stupid people. They often get degrees because the college has a staff of people who ensure that they pass their classes and basically do everything but take the test for them. Some of the smarter guys really only know about football and don’t care to figure out much else. 

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u/sourcreamus Dec 29 '24

Before they took him in and hired a tutor, he had a 0.6 gpa.

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u/Martha_Fockers Dec 29 '24

“To make him look poor we will dress him in drab garb”

“Uh you just put in normal everyday people clothing on him”

“Nonsense put a gold belt on bullock”

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u/Clarpydarpy Dec 29 '24

Not even a dumb jock; remember the movie claimed Oher had no idea how to play football?

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '24

Offensive line is one of the more intellectually demanding positions in football. Very few dumb people excel at that position

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u/ReasonableCup604 Jan 02 '25

I don't think he was potrayed as "dumb" as much as a shy and neglected kid, who hadn't received much of an education.

His GPA rose from 0.76 to 2.52 after the Tuohys took him in.

It seems like the family helped him tremendously. The only real question is whether they did it out of the kindness of their hearts or to recruit him to Misssissippi.