MaskIf inner beauty were important Miss America would have a colonoscopy portion of the show.That is why the deformed student in this drama is having a hard time fitting in.Born with cranial disfigurement Rocky Dennis (Eric Stoltz) wasn't expected to survive. But with the love of his mother (Cher) and her biker gang, Rocky proved medical science wrong. And he'll do it again as his enter junior high.While students initially react poorly to his appearance, Rocky wins them and his teachers over with his humour and intellect. However, his health and his mom's addictions undermine his scholastic achievements. With believable performances, a touching script and remarkable make-up, this true story doesn't pander to the public to get its point of accepting others across. Hopeful, without being pretentious or exploitative, Mask is a bonafide tearjerker.Incidentally, facial disfigurement and scientific brilliance are the leading cause of super-villainy among teenagers. Green Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

This movie is the true story of a teen who is deformed named Rocky Dennis. I do not know how true it is, they usually change a lot of things around in Hollywood, but I am willing to guess a good portion of it is true with a few indulgences here and there to add some extra drama and stuff. I am guessing his friendship with the blind girl was made out to be more than it was. The make-up job was really good here as I saw a picture of the real Rocky Dennis and it is fairly close. The story follows Rocky through some events as you see how his daily life is up to a point. Nothing more to it than that really, you see how he is a rather smart guy with a likable personality. His mother, played excellently by Cher is a woman who loves her son, but it is thanks to her drug use that he was possibly born this way. Rocky tries to get his mom off the drugs using not so subtle means. Sam Elliot plays Gar, I believe his name was, a guy who is sort of a friend of Rocky's mom and a guy that Rocky seemed to look up to. The movie has some humor here and there and some drama too and quite a few scenes to make one feel a bit sad. A rather good film with generally good acting throughout the duration.

It's easy to point out that this story is based on actual events once the cameras start rolling. It is also backed up by excellent performances by Cher and Eric Stoltz. "Mask" is a tender, heart-warming story of a young teenager named Rocky Dennis who is very intelligent and emotionally sensitive as well. However, he is scarred badly due to a rare disease that has disfigured his face since he was born. As always people who pass him by or approach him a first glance feel slightly intimidated by his deformity. But by not letting these fears get to him, he becomes well over with his peers as they learn to accept him for who he is, not by what he looks like. Rocky also gets a boost of confidence from his mother, Rusty Dennis, played with sheer excellence by Cher. Rusty is a gorgeous, single mother with problems of her own too. She spends most of her time hanging around with biker gangs, she drinks, smokes, is addicted to drugs, but in spite of her problems, she continues to love her son and will bend over backwards to defend him from anyone who puts him to a lesser degree. For example, when the school principal who recommended that her deformed son be placed in a "special" school and how she told him off to his face that he will thrive with the normal students and threatened to sue him, shows that her love for her son will always be first before her. But with his progress and his strong academic showings, Rocky graduates as valedictorian of his class.Ever since he was born, Rusty delivered tough love towards her son, not to the point where he'll suffer a nervous breakdown, but just as way to keep him motivated and to blend in with people his own age like as though he was a normal child, without taking advantage of his deformity. And Rocky continued that legacy, from the morning he wakes up to face the world, inflate his self-confidence, keeping the glass half-full and just be happy with the world around him in what little time he has on this Earth. And eventually through tiring persuasion to get his mother to clean up her act, the audience finds more ways to love Rocky for what he really is. You love him because Rocky is a kid who loves people back which to this day is a precious commodity that you rarely see these days.I have seen "Mask" many times and every time I watch the movie, tissue paper is never behind. It is a coming-of-age story that deals with triumphs and failures of having an incurable disease and is handled in a believable and sensitive approach. But the great center in the story is not entirely centered on the kid's physical illness, but the bonding between a mother and her son.

If the lead actress was going to win an Oscar, it could have been for this, not Moomnstruck, because I preferred Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction much more. Anyway, this is the true story of Roy L.'Rocky' Dennis (a very convincing Golden Globe nominated Eric Stoltz), who suffered the extremely rare disorder Craniodiaphyseal Dysplasia, commonly known as Lionitis due to the disfiguring Cranial Enlargements that it causes. Obviously the story sees his journey through all the things a normal boy of his age would do, except it being with a not completely normal boy. Throughout the film, he collects cards, goes to school and achieves three graduation diplomas for his great skills (another thing that made him different), volunteers to help people in a camp, where he meets his true love Diana Adams (Laura Dern), and much more. His mother Florence 'Rusty' Dennis (Cannes Film Festival winner, and Golden Globe nominated Cher) is one of the problems in his life, she is a no nonsense mother with a drug habit and prostitution that sometimes stops him getting anywhere and can cause arguments, but he is happy when she is tender, protective and hanging out with her true love and good friend, Gar (Sam Elliott). Oh, in the film Rocky suffers many horrible head aches of some kind, and this is probably what killed him in the very sad ending. I didn't see the very ending, but I got the idea of how tragic his death was to his mother. Also starring Estelle Getty as Evelyn, Richard Dysart as Abe, Micole Mercurio as Babe, Harry Carey Jr. as Red, Dennis Burkley as Dozer, Lawrence Monoson as Ben, Ben Piazza as Mr. Simms, L. Craig King as Eric, Alexandra Powers as Lisa and Kelly Jo Minter as Lorrie. I can kind of associate with the story, I have a social problem called Asperger's Syndrome, it may cause problems in my social life and skills, but I do like the fact that in one of my schools, I became a student known by almost everyone in my final year (11), and the film story seems rather similar to mine in places, and it is a very good film. It won the Oscar for Best Makeup, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Make Up Artist, and it was nominated the Cannes Film Festival Golden Palm award for director Peter Bogdanovich. Very good!