The Blind Side, The Movie

I just finished watching The Blind Side. For the second time, if you count the time I watched it in my head when I read the book. And, I do count that. On my 1-5 scale, I give this movie a 5. I am ready to watch it again. I think some books can be made into movies. Not all books. I have to read the book before I see the movie. When I read the book, I can usually tell if the movie will be good. That said, I suppose terrible acting and directing can still ruin a good book. The Blind Side as a movie had everything going for it. Sandra Bullock is one of my favorite actresses, it is a feel good, true story, and it has football in it. It would have been hard to not make a good movie from the book. For the most part, the movie stayed true to the book. The movie shortened how Michael met Leigh Anne Touhy. The same point was made from the movie version. Sandra Bullock was amazing in the movie, she deserved an Academy Award. (Side note, you suck Jesse James. May you spend the rest of your life knowing you threw away the greatest women you will ever know.)
Most of the time stuck up readers, (that includes me), do not enjoy seeing books made into movies. The key is knowing which books will make a great movie and only watching those. Off the top of my head here are movies I enjoyed after reading the book: The Bridges of Madison County, (As soon as I read that book, I wanted to have a movie made.), Grapes of Wrath, Tuesdays with Maurie, and A Time to Kill. Those are just a few.
What book should not have been made into a movie? The Horse Whisperer was such a beautiful book. The writing was like poetry. As soon as I heard it was going to be a movie, I knew it was a huge mistake. HUGE!!! Even with Robert Redford in it. The story could not transfer into a movie. I am going to say it, the writing touched my soul. That is not something I say very often.
It does not bother me if lame love stories are made into Lifetime Movies. I enjoy a lame love story book and a Lifetime Movie. It does not feel like anything is being taken away from the story.
My husband is not a reader. He would never use the word spiritual to describe a book or a movie. He hates to admit any movie is great unless it is black & white or a cowboy movie. He watched The Blind Side with me. I think the fact it had football in it was the draw. I asked him to rate the movie. He only gave it a 2.5. He is not a huge fan of "feel good" movies. He is not looking for any depth in the acting. It is almost impossible for him to go over a 2 for a movie that was made after 1960. His 2.5 would translate to a 4 for most people.
If you have not watched the movie, get it. If you have not read the book, just watch the movie. It has less details about football. You will still enjoy the story.