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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412

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

[deleted]

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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

[deleted]

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u/IamHydrogenMike Dec 31 '24

Sure buddy…you can’t comprehend that I didn’t say that. What a maroon…

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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

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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.