The true story is of how Michael Oher was saved from a life as one of society’s throwaway kids. Abandoned by both parents, and failed by the foster care system tasked with his care, he was literally taken off the street one night by a woman, Leigh Anne Tuohy, who chose not to look away. As a result of being welcomed into her home and her family, he fulfilled his potential and became a professional football player. The film, whose job it is to run through the requisite rounds of how this all comes to pass finds a new twist. Michael, though having endured years of abuse and neglect, is neither psychologically damaged, aside from some trust issues, nor is he violent, unless called upon to protect those he loves. He does, however, have difficulty with basic social interaction, and having been passed along through a school system that didn’t care, he never learned how to learn, in the conventional sense. In many ways, this would seem like a story too simple, too easy, to tell, but a well-tempered script and terrific performances make this a memorable, and, yes, heart-warming experience.

Sandra Bullock gives a fine performance as Leigh Anne, a wealthy socialite who knows how to run a decorating business without being take for a ride, how to pull off a tight skirt after two kids, one of whom is in high school, and who has an unswerving sense of right and wrong that until now has never been put to the test in any meaningful way. She may not cook, a fact her family accepts with a grateful thank you to her for picking up Thanksgiving dinner from a vendor of same, but when she sees Michael walking alone wearing only a t-shirt and shorts on a freezing night, she does the right thing, without pausing so much for the time it would take to bat even one of her false eyelashes. It’s a move that raises the perfectly shaped eyebrows of her ladies-who-lunch friends, and certainly garners attention from her kids’ friends at school, but it’s also one that doesn’t disrupt Leanne’s family, it makes them, husband Sean (Tim McGraw) and kids popular cheerleader Collins (Lily Collins) and plucky wheeler-dealer SJ (Jae Head), better people, not in the ostentatious way that a manipulative film would demonstrate, but with a straightforward sense of doing the right thing because there is simply no other option. It also opens Leigh Anne’s eyes, to the part of Memphis she’s never seen, and a side of her friends that has also previously gone unnoticed.

Quinton Aaron as Michael has the harder role, playing a character who barely speaks, and, despite the physique of a small mountain, tries to disappear into his surroundings. He lumbers, but is obviously alert, speaks slowly, but with the deliberation of wanting to say the right thing after a lifetime of not being heard. When left alone for the first time in Leigh Ann’s house, he sees a book with a Norman Rockwell painting and the look on his face shows both the alien nature of the scene depicted, and the primal yearning for a life like it. He also makes Michael’s innate sweetness and gentleness a genuine strength. Michael’s unselfconscious admission that he’s never had a bed before shows only a quiet happiness without a trace of bitterness. Bullock‘s response, shock and pity, are quickly succeeded by a matter-of-fact assertion that he has one now. That‘s the best thing about Bullock‘s performance. While Leigh Anne never offers Michael pity, only the same unconditional love and push to be the best they can be that she gives her biological kids, there is never a doubt that this woman‘s heart is breaking in a way that makes her all the more determined to save Michael. Bullock also has the grit to pull it off, whether fighting government bureaucracy, or mouthing off to men bigger than she is who are getting in her way.

THE BLIND SIDE is irresistible. Sure, there are the inevitable mentions of the fast food with which Leigh Anne’s husband is associated. Sure, the teaching staff at the Christian academy where Michael is sent to save the athletic program, first dismiss Michael’s potential and then come around. Sure, there is little if any doubt that Michael will overcome his obstacles. It’s the deft, simple manner in which the story is told that brings it all together into a feel-good movie that rises above its inherent clichés.

Based on the 2006 book of the same name by Michael Lewis, “The Blind Side” is an overwhelmingly sentimental movie. But thanks to earnest storytelling by director John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) and a knockout performance by Sandra Bullock, its emotions are honest and earned.

Life was hard for young Michael Oher, known for obvious reasons as “Big Mike.” One of 13 children born to a drug-addicted mother, he grew up in Tennessee knowing nothing other than poverty, receiving little education and spending time both in foster homes and on his own.

The movie meets up with Michael as a teenager, played by relative newcomer Quinton Aaron. A friend’s father helps him enroll in Wingate Christian School, but given his background, he’s hopelessly behind his classmates. Most of his teachers are ready to give up on him before giving him a chance.

One cold night, well-to-do couple Sean (Tim McGraw) and Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock)—Sean owns dozens of fast food restaurants—spy Michael walking along the side of the road, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. Placing an unusual amount of trust in a stranger, especially when they have a teenage daughter, Collins (Lily Collins), and young son, S.J. (Jae Head), the Tuohys offer Michael a place to stay for the night.

The quiet, unassuming Michael quickly wins over the entire family, and that one night becomes many more. Before long, he has a room of his own and he calls Leigh Anne “Mama.”

Football is a logical calling for a young man Michael’s size, and with some helpful coaching by Leigh Anne, he’s soon starring at the crucial position of left tackle, protecting the quarterback’s blind side when he drops back to pass. College coaches, including Nick Saban, Lou Holtz and others all playing themselves, soon come recruiting, scholarship offers quickly on the table. The Tuohys hire a tutor, Miss Sue (Kathy Bates), to help Michael get the grades he needs to get into college.

Hancock avoids the melodramatic flourishes that often accompany this kind of material. There’s no need to insert conflict with the Tuohy children, both of whom accept Michael as an older brother, or Michael’s classmates. This is the story of Michael and Leigh Anne, so the emphasis is on his integration into the family, the teachers who doubt his ability to make the grades he needs, an NCAA investigator suspicious of Michael’s choice of college to attend.

This sort of story—especially with these actors—feels like it would direct itself. But it takes a steady hand to keep it from wallowing in schmaltz, and that’s where Hancock excels.

I have never met Michael Oher or read the book, but Aaron portrays him just as I’ve heard him described by sports writers and others—as a gentle giant in everyday life and a tenacious competitor on the football field. Though Michael says little, you can see more going on behind Aaron’s eyes.

Bullock does maybe the best work of her career as the strong, confident, fiery Leigh Anne. The achievement of her performance comes in balancing that with another side—tender, loving, maternal. It is an extraordinary circumstance, and Bullock—and McGraw, who does surprisingly good work himself—pulls us along and makes us believe Leigh Anne made the only choice a woman of her character could make.

“The Blind Side” is an unabashed feel-good movie and one of the best of its kind in recent memory.