Blindside Movie Review by Jay Forry

Although I am blind, I can appreciate a good movie as well as sighted individuals.  I rely more on a good story line than special effects.  Visit my website at: blindsidereviews.com

A | So good, blind people like it
B | I’m glad I could hear it
C | I had one eye open
D | I’m glad I couldn’t see it
F | Blindness was a blessing

Based on a true story, Harrison Ford produces and stars in a film about a family with two children with rare genetic diseases titled, Extraordinary Measures. 

Just your typical American family, John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Aileen (Keri Russell) are parents of three children with one exception; two of them have Pompe’s Disease.   Pompe’s is a rare enzyme disorder that causes enlargement of the liver and heart, which resulted in the Crawley children needing respirators and wheelchairs.

Since there is no cure or treatment for Pompe’s, John begins to research and one name keeps popping up - Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford).  Dr. Stonehill doesn’t like to play corporate games to get funding so his experimental research never moves forward.  (It doesn’t help that he is crabby and hard to work with.)  To save his children, John jumps on a plane and shows up at the lab of Dr. Stonehill and promises to raise $500,000 to support his research of Pompe’s Disease. 

After he and his wife raise the money, John quits his high paying job, moves his family closer to Dr. Stonehill’s lab and begins his own bio-tech company – all to try and save his kids. I really enjoyed this story but the film itself is lacking on several levels.

First, the script should have been compelling and emotional but it’s just bland.  Second, the dialogue was just lame which could be a result of the directing, the script, or my last complaint, the acting.  Third, why did they pick Brenden Frazier for the lead role?  He’s a great action star when all he has to do is run, fight, and shoot a gun but not much, well — talking. 

Harrison Ford looks like an Oscar winner in this movie, not that his acting is so great but everyone else is so sub-par.  Now I know why this is the first time since 1983 Harrison Ford’s name isn’t the first one you see after the title.  I actually found myself interested in the story and I’m giving it a C rating.   

This movie has been given a PG rating by the MPAA