'The Blind Side' pays it forward with more do-gooder tales

By Sarah Sluis

One way to measure The Blind Side's success is to keep track of the projects that try to emulate it. Today, two such projects cropped up.

Method #1: Substitute one downbeat character for another. Make sure they actually exist. Instead of an illiterate, homeless teenager, Alcon Entertainment, which produced The Blind Side, decided to follow up with the story of a tail-less dolphin. After losing its appendage in a crab trap, it is taken in by an aquarium and given a prosthetic tail. Lest audiences protest all the misfortunes suffered by the dolphin, this tail-less Flipper actually swims around in a Florida aquarium. The punning title? A Dolphin's Tale. While this treacly story is a nice counterpoint to the morning coffee (the story first appeared on the "Today" show), I'll take The Cove any day.

Method #2: Keep the Christian do-gooder. Keep the football-playing black kid, but multiply him into a team of jailed criminals. "Prison Break" actor Lane Garrison is penning the screenplay One Heart, which is being billed as take-off of The Blind Side. It's the story of a losing football team populated by juvenile offenders attending Texas' Gainesville State School. When they play against private Faith Christian School, the coach enlists community members to cheer for the other team (though they still lose, just not as badly). Whether this project receives financing or not, however, depends on how forgiving people are of Garrison. He just served an eighteen-month prison sentence for driving while under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. One of his passengers died and two were injured when he crashed into a tree. In fact, his move from acting to writing (his first) may be more a play to repair his reputation and artistically atone for his misdeeds. Whatever the reason, it's all a sign of The Blind Side's success at the box office. With the film wielding so much influence, I may just have to see it myself.