Wonder (2017)

  This was nominated for Best Hair and Makeup and I honestly wonder why.  The facial prostheses don't look all that extensive but without them, you wouldn't really have a movie I guess.

August Pullman (Jacob Tremblay) was born with a rare genetic disorder that required him to have 27 surgeries as a child and left him with severe facial scarring.  After reaching the limits of her homeschooling abilities, Auggie's mom (Julia Roberts) decides to put him in what the promotional materials called "a mainstream school" but what is really an extremely elite private academy run by the world's most understanding and compassionate headmaster (Mandy Patinkin).  There, Auggie tries to make friends among the kids but still feels incredibly isolated because of his differences.  He is finally accepted when the children learn to look past the superficial and see him for what's really important:  his money.

This is Mask for the Upper-East-Side set.  Wealth and privilege are threaded all through this "inspiring" story.  It's never stated what his dad (Owen Wilson) does, but he makes enough money to be the single income bringer while his wife homeschools.  There's also the 27 surgeries, the prep school, and oh yeah, their other kid, Via (Izabela Vidovic), who also attends an expensive performing arts high school.  

There are no consequences here, no real struggle with anything deeper than "what if other kids are mean to me because of how I look?" which I get, that's a topic to be addressed but this movie is so heavily weighed down with false sympathy that it's unbearable to watch.  Everyone around Auggie has the patience of Job and no one ever calls him out for being a spoiled self-centered brat.  Which he is.  But he's handled with kid gloves constantly while being told he's being treated like a "normal" kid.  At no point does he experience character growth or any sense that the world doesn't revolve around him because of his deformity.

Can we stop with these bullshit, sappy, "inspirational" films about rich white people being rich and white?  I'm so over it.