The Blind Side (the movie)

Do you know what the term "the blind side" means?  If you don't, you still won't after seeing this movie.  It's never explained, which I think is kind of strange, because IT'S THE TITLE OF THE DAMN MOVIE!  I read this book about five years ago, which I know is a bad way to start a review of any movie, but i can't help it, it's true, the book is better.  Not a LOT better, but still better.  At least it explains what the blind side is. 
The movie is about a wealthy white southern family taking a poor, hulking, black teenage boy into their hearts and home.  Good formula, true story.  The kid starts out with a terrible grade point average, he barely speaks, and clearly has some kind of torrid past.  He acclimates with the family, they teach him to play football, (left tackle--protecting the blind side) his grades get better, and he goes on to play football at a great university.  If that sounds kind of terse, and if you like it, go to this movie. Because that's how they tell the story.  It's like a flat rock skipping on a lake.  Why does the mother suddenly pick the boy up from the side of the road?  Don't know.  Why doesn't the wealthy white family feel afraid of having a large black kid from the projects live in their home?  Don't know.  What motivates the black kid to get better grades and play football?  Don't know.  No matter what happens in this movie, you never get to know why it's happening.  No character development whatsoever.
And then there's the cast.  Sandra Bullock does a wonderful job in this role.  It's a departure from her ususal whimsical roles, and she does it well.  However, she looks terrible as a blonde. Which is too bad, because the only reason to see a movie with her in it is because she is usually pretty hot.  In a suburban mom kind of way, which my friends will tell you, I tend to like.  The worst cast member is the little boy who plays the young son.  I think they tried to cast a little nerdy boy who is supposed to come across as endearing.  That did not work.  The kid could not have been more irritating.  Weird crooked teeth, cowlick in his reddish hair, and WAY TOO MANY lines.  He is like a fly buzzing around your head while you are trying to eat a sandwich.  They made that boy more of a main character than the main character himself.  God, he was annoying.  (no offence to his parents, i'm sure he's a great kid in real life)  Then, randomly, Kathy Bates played the black kid's tutor.  Love her, right?  NO.  She looked dumpy and fat, and for some reason I just kept noticing that her forearms looked like overstuffed sausages.  I don't think that was the plan, but I could not look away.  The most interesting thing about this movie was the white watch that Sandra Bullock wore in most of her scenes. It looked just like the one my manager Megan at work got from her boyfriend for Christmas.  I kept trying to get a better look at it too see if it was the same one.  Blind side, indeed.  More like blindsided.