I have been wanting to write a review of this movie for a long time because it made a major impression on me. Although I heard that there were many differences between the real life Rocky Dennis and his movie counterpart and in spite of melodrama and some cloying touchy feely cuteness , "Mask" often feels like real life , which can be both comforting and disturbing, especially considering that real people can and did have the disease presented in the movie (with frighteningly realistic makeup). Nevertheless, the movie really does go the extra mile. Cher and Eric Stoltz give the impression that they actually BECAME the characters. I almost disbelieved it was them although I saw other movies of theirs. The characters were three dimensional and the script was simply great, offsetting the heaviness of its subject matter with a surprisingly effective sense of humor. Rocky´s problems, social, physical and otherwise, were presented in a well balanced context that never wallowed in the problems but did not trivialize them either. In the end, it delivered the message that your problems are only as big as you make them as long as you never give up in pursuing your goals. To be sure, Laura Dern here is as mousy and awkward as in most of her other movies and Sam Elliot is mostly just there to look cool but all in all, this movie deserves 9 stars out of 10. It is sad on a macro level, cheerful on a micro level, and all around unforgettable.