The trailer for “The Blind Side” is a tale of two movies.

One tells the remarkable story of a family opening its arms to a stranger, someone who transforms their lives in beautiful ways.

The other makes a true event seem like so much fodder for a limp dramedy.

“The Blind Side” hangs on to the first narrative for the first hour, but ultimately succumbs to formula in the second, depressing half.

It still provides star Sandra Bullock with her best acting showcase in … well, maybe ever.

“The Blind Side” tells the true story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless black teenager taken in by a loving family led by a frosty-haired matriarch named Leigh Anne Tuohy (Bullock).

Michael’s past has been a nightmare, but he’s a gentle soul with plenty to offer others. Leigh Anne and her family, quickly learn that for themselves. It’s a bonus that Michael’s bulk gives him a better than average chance of making the high school football squad.

But adding Michael to the Tuohy clan isn’t as easy as having him photographed for the family portrait.

Bullock usually spends her screen time tripping over slapstick gags or pining for her eventual beau. Here, she sets aside her comic instincts, and her dark locks, to play a gritty woman eager to help others for all the right reasons.

She’s aided by her on-screen husband, played by country superstar Tim McGraw. He’s a natural on screen, even though he’s relegated to what’s usually known as the “wife role,” the bland, supporting character who exists to prop up the star.

One could say it’s progress to see a male actor get assigned that duty.

“The Blind Side” demands our attention, and respect, until its feel good tics emerge. The movie trots out oh, so familiar sequences, like Leigh Anne’s racist galpals, and the tutor with the heart of gold – played with gumption by the great Kathy Bates.

And can someone smack the cute out of young Jae Head’s performance? It’s not his fault, but director John Lee Hancock (“The Rookie”) doubles downed on the actor’s adorableness at great cost to the story in toto.

Cynics may decry the film as another example of affluent people showcasing their kindness by being decent to strangers. It’s a hollow argument, but the film doesn’t help itself by depicting Michael in such a narrow fashion.

Surely someone with as awful a past as he had would have an element of dysfunction to him, or an edge that’s hard to buff away.

Aaron conveys a sweet, unblemished soul and moves with a speed that belies his bulk. But when the story calls for more emotional range, his performance drifts rather than locks in.

There’s a great story to be told here, but “The Blind Side” ultimately falls back on tried and true movie vignettes to tell it.

(Photo: Tim McGraw, Lily Collins, Jae Head, Quinton Aaron and Sandra Bullock star in “The Blind Side,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Ralph Nelson)

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Audiences are more than overdue for a reminder as to why Sandra Bullock remains a box office attraction.

So along comes “The Proposal” and her place in Hollywood makes sense again.

Bullock, so lovable and feisty in “Speed,” gets her best role in years with her newest rom-com, but she has a little help.

Co-star Ryan Reynolds is officially peaking, and this has nothing to do with his marriage to Scarlet Johannson.

In “The Proposal,” Bullock plays Margaret, a rhymes with witch book editor who demands complete compliance from her assistant Andrew (Reynolds).

She’s knocked off her pedestal when she learns her paperwork to become a U.S. citizen is in jeopardy. She’s a Canadian working in the U.S., and it looks like she’ll be going back home.

But Margaret is anything if not inventive. She blackmails Andrew into marrying her to keep her stateside. He’d rather kiss a slug then spend so much as five minutes with Margaret, but he can skip a few rungs on the corporate ladder by going along with her scheme.

It’s the kind of forced premise that smells problematic from the get go, but the duo’s first awkward scenes together tell us otherwise. He’s uncomfortable but shrewd enough to play the situation to his advantage. She’s still in charge but one can see chinks in her armor.

Director Anne Fletcher (“27 Dresses”) gives the new “couple” time to get to know each other rather than force feeding us farce. We watch us they slowly acclimate to their ill-conceived plan, all the while humorous moments emerge from their confusion.

The supporting cast could use some better material. Mary Steenburgen and Craig T. Nelson aren’t given enough to do … or say … as Andrew’s parents. Betty White swipes a few scenes as Andrew’s earthy grandma, but she’s saddled with a few randy lines far too common for older characters these days.

Reynolds, who seemed such a disposable talent only a few years ago, delivers a punch line with a wiseacre’s smirk. It’s his method which keeps improving, and the script wisely gives him a few beauts.

Bullock, who often casts herself as clumsy types, pulls off some sophisticated slapstick bits here, using her sky-high heels and tight dresses to leave her panting while traipseingacross Andrew’s Alaska home turf.

“The Proposal” would be at least 25 percent better had two scenes been clipped. White yuks it up while performing a native dance ritual, and a male dance review bit proves painful and unnecessary – even if it jump-starts a running gag about Alaska’s hardest working fellow.

When “The Proposal” focuses on its two mismatched leads, it makes for one engaging rom-com.

(Photo: Ryan Reynolds (left) and Sandra Bullock (right) play a mismatched couple in “The Proposal.” Photo Credit: Kerry Hayes SMPSP “© Touchstone Pictures, Inc. All rights reserved.”)

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