10 EXACT Moments That Derailed Huge Movies

The Blind Side - which tells the story of a homeless teen turned American Football superstar named Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) - might be a much-maligned Best Picture nominee, and yet, to be fair, it's OK for the first two-thirds. Nothing particularly great but nothing terrible either, and more just a forgettable, well-acted feel-good movie. It's with the third act and the inevitable 'All is lost' moment that the feature goes right off the rails. 

After an interview for the University of Mississippi, Michael's adoptive mother, Leigh-Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock), is accused of unduly influencing Michael to play for her old university, and Michael suddenly distrusts her and runs off. This plays more like a desperate, unearned attempt to give the movie a third-act crisis than anything else. This is also where The Blind Side's portrayal of Michael Oher really becomes intolerable. 

The key reason why this film has been so disliked over the years is that it's not Oher's story at all. It focuses on the rich white family that took him in and portrays him as a passive, agency-free guy who possibly has learning difficulties of some kind - this is a flagrant misrepresentation of who Oher actually is. 

In this final act, he instinctively runs back to his violent former neighbourhood and only leaves once he's rescued by Leigh-Anne. This is the point where The Blind Side finally metamorphosises into a problematic white-saviour story that's earned all the ire it's received over the years.