Kyle: So, Stu, now that The Blind Side has wildly outpaced everyone's box office expectations, there's talk of Oscar buzz. And I don't just mean, "That line in the commercial that says there's Oscar buzz and we all laughed at it then but now we're not so sure."
S.T.: Well, I'm not so sure. In fact, if The Blind Side gets a Best Picture nomination, I will eat a pair of football cleats.
Kyle: At least there would be a silver lining, then! Video content, and whatnot.
S.T.: Call Les Blank, put it on the DVD extras. Anyway, Sandy for Best Actress yes, Blind Side for Best Picture, no.
Kyle: Well, I think it has a shot at a Best Pic nom, but let's take it one at a time. Sandy for Best Actress first! It's kind of amazed me how there's been a fifth slot open in that category and no one seemed to want it badly. Not Audrey Tautou, not Emily Blunt...
S.T.: Not Abbie Cornish, I don't think she's a lock at all. But Bullock really earned this one.
Kyle: Not only is the category ripe for someone to muscle in, it really is lacking for a star turn and Bullock is it.
S.T.: Very true.
Kyle: You have your ingenue (Carey Mulligan), your unknown (Gabby Sidibe), and you have Meryl Streep doing a character role, but Sandy brings star power, and she's never been nominated. My question to you is, do you think she deserves it?
S.T.: I actually do. It's a very difficult role in the first place. There's the accent, the swagger, the tenderness, and a benign sort of dogma that she gently tosses around, making it Christian catnip without alienating the secular audience, which is all this film wants to do in the first place. Moreover, she makes everyone around her better.
Kyle: I have to say, Sandra Bullock has been in some pretty bad films, but she's usually fine to good in most of them. Seriously though, Sandy, find someone else to read your scripts after this.
S.T.: Why should she? She's two for three this year. I mean, I really liked her in The Proposal. Like, a lot.
Kyle: But All About Steve...whoo boy.
S.T.: Of course. I mean, it'd be great if these were better films.
Kyle: To use an Eddie Murphy analogy, it's lucky for her that she already got her Norbit out of the way.
S.T.: I agree, but that said, could All About Steve undermine her chances for Blind Side?
Kyle: Hopefully for her, people will have forgotten about it and remember The Proposal instead. Anyway, she's a well-liked movie star who's never been nominated in a huge blockbuster drama, competing in a weak category. She's in. As for Best Picture...now, when the 10 nominations rule change was announced, everyone assumed it meant that a big populist success would make it in. I'm continually surprised by how many people are thinking that means Star Trek has a shot, which I think has more to do with the time frame that the rule change was announced. I think The Blind Side could be that populist film. It's a drama, Sandra may get nommed, and it's an enormous success.
S.T.: Good points all, but have you actually SEEN The Blind Side? It's HORRIBLE. It's racist, it's condescending, it's overlong, it's appallingly simple-minded compared to the book it's based on. Let the Academy see it and then decide.
Kyle: We all know that the academy HATES racist, condescending, simple-minded Sandra Bullock movies. Oh wait, Crash.
S.T.: LOL. But listen, this is Precious lite. The Academy already has its social-awareness message nominee to feel gooooood about.
Kyle: The funny thing about that comparison is that I agree, but not in the way you'd think. Precious offers the white liberals of the academy the chance to offer a fig leaf and understanding to African Americans. The Blind Side does the same, but to southern-accented Republicans. It's a Best Picture derby of reconciliation and benign tolerance!
S.T.: I can't live in a world where The Blind Side's Oscar creds are even debatable, let alone apparently legitimate. Just shoot me. It made its fortune, it won its audiences' hearts. Can't that be enough?
Kyle: I will not shoot you, Stu, but if you happen to get shot in the harsh inner city, I will take you in, give you a warm home, and teach you to Oscar-prognosticate with more accuracy. Deal?
S.T.: Thanks, deal.