Johnny Depp

Juliette Lewis

Leonardo DiCaprio

Mary Steenburgen

Darlene Cates

Laura Harrington

Mary Kate Schellhardt

Kevin Tighe

John C. Reilly

Crispin Glover

Penelope Branning

Tim Green

Susan Loughran

Robert B. Hedges

Mark Jordan

Cameron Finley

Brady Coleman

Tim Simek

Nicholas Stojanovich

Libby Villari

Kay Bower

Joe Stevens

Mona Lee Fultz

George Haynes

Daniel Gullahorn

David H. Kramer

Brent Bratton

Kirk Hunter

Buck Reynolds

David Stanford

Lasse Hallström

Peter Hedges

Jarrell Jay Knowles

Michael Kirchberger

Gail Levin

Peter Iovino

Dianne Dreyer

Jeff Cronenweth

Dwight Cary

David Matalon

Gary Price

Gretchen Rau

David Brownlow

Chris Reddish

Michael Palmer

Geoffrey S. Grimsman

Patty York

Bernt Amadeus Capra

Kevin Jewison

Scott Conn

John Lacy

Robert Beck

Björn Isfält

Alan C. Blomquist

Janet Brady

Bertil Ohlsson

Linda Brachman

Renee Ehrlich Kalfus

Sven Nykvist

John Myhre

Howard Jensen

Meir Teper

Lucy W. Corrigan

Patrick Reddish

Alan Parker

Mike Moad

David B. Householter

Rodd Matsui

Andrew Mondshein

Rusty McClennon

Richard J. Gelfand

John Vecchio

Kevin J. Ward

Jennifer Davidoff Cook

Wayne Nelson

Kathy Kiatta

David Brace

Mira Tweti

Charles Harrington

Joseph S. DeBeasi

Romance

Drama

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Paramount Pictures

United States of America

English

mentally disabled

sibling relationship

based on novel or book

widow

iowa

dysfunctional family

obesity

single mother

grocery store

mentally handicapped child

Peter McGinn

I recently watched this movie again after many years, and was surprised how many details I had forgotten. It features a great ensemble cast who seem to mostly share a screen rapport. Leonardo DiCaprio previews his future star career with a stellar performance as the difficult Arnie.

I thought the scene where husband Mr. Carver comes home from work and obsesses over the burnt cookies and the unused swimming pool was silly and a bad fit for the film, especially consider what came after the scene. Meanwhile the two sisters were great characters: they were emotional when the situation called for it, but gave an even and restrained performance. I would have like to have seen more of them.

Filipe Manuel Neto

**A rather conventional and average family drama, where DiCaprio and Depp's performances turn out to be the only truly worthy note.**

Sometimes, what makes a film remarkable is the extraordinary performance of an actor, and that becomes even more admirable when that actor is extremely young. That's what we have in this film, a conventional family drama, where a young adult tries to live his life as normally as possible while having to take care of everyone around him, particularly his mother, who is morbidly obese and depressed, and his younger brother, who has a mental problem that the movie never really specifies.

In fact, I didn't find the script particularly interesting. Cinema is full of family dramas, and this one has nothing really new or fresh to add. And if the script doesn't seem remarkable to me, the production values ​​and technical aspects deserve even less attention, with the film betting on very conventional and average visuals, and a pace that sometimes slows down and falters, the result of an editing not always well executed.

What makes the film more interesting is the cast, which includes two young actors, then very promising, called Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio. Depp is older than DiCaprio, and his career was relatively established when he agreed to star in this film. DiCaprio, on the other hand, was still an unknown young man and was beginning to emerge. However, the collaboration between them, in this film, is remarkable, and it seems that both knew how to get the best out of each other, to our benefit.

Although today we know Depp through a wide range of peculiar characters, what he did in this film is the complete opposite, and his character is one hundred percent ordinary, responsible, mature and strong. DiCaprio, however, stands out the most, even more than Depp. Playing a mentally disturbed teenager, DiCaprio had a lot of leeway to study and design the character and his mannerisms and tics. The result is truly credible and surprising.

Mary Steenburgen and Darlene Cates provide very effective support and give us the best female performances. In absolute counterpoint, Juliette Lewis doesn't have much to do, while Laura Harrington and Mary Kate Schellhardt practically disappear when they're on the scene.

So, I had no idea who Leonardo was when I saw this back in the 90s, it was before Titanic, before he made it big, and I thought they hired an intellectually disabled man to play the part.

And it dropped in '93 so that would make Dicaprio about 19? Maybe 18 when they made it?

I doubt they would give an Oscar to a kid that young, but see that he's CLEARLY not Intellectually Disabled and how believable he was, well, that's probably one of the best performances I've seen. That was Oscar worthy.

Besides that, it was really a Johnny Depp vehicle... as much as a 90s indy film can be, and he played a calm, low key, and utterly charming role in a film about a man that had to maybe grow up too fast and deal with too much at too young an age.

And, of course, a charming little love story. A charming story about family. About loyalty.

There is honestly absolutely nothing to criticize here, except, it's certainly a 90s story, a 90s movie, and if you are removed from Gen-X, it might not have the appeal. This isn't the over-the-top FX sort of films that are a hallmark of the Millennial generation...

...but beyond that, KUDOS to Leo for nailing it as such a young age, and a cheers to everyone else involved for making a brilliant and entertaining hidden gem of a film

CinemaSerf

With his mother (Darlene Cates) morbidly obese and equally embarrassed about her image, and his younger brother "Arnie" (Leonardo DiCaprio) dealing with mental health issues, it falls to "Gilbert" (Johnny Depp) to try and provide as best he can for his family. He has a job in the struggling local grocery store that sees him deliver to the "Carver" family. "Betty" (Mary Steenburgen) is the bored housewife there with whom "Gilbert" has some fun whilst her husband is off selling insurance. It's all a relentless cycle that's going nowhere until "Becky" (Juliette Lewis) comes to town and starts to give "Gilbert" a sense of a different purpose. She begins to help him see that he must live a bit of his own life too. When a fairly predictable tragedy ensues, everyone has to make some choices - and they're not easy. DiCaprio is pretty outstanding as the soon-to-be eighteen year old lad whose behaviour would test the patience of a saint. His loud and repetitive language and his child-like tantrums are just the tip of the iceberg and his performance - especially his grinning - gives "Arnie" an engaging amount of character. He's not going for the sympathy vote, either - his portrayal elicits feelings of affection, sure, but also of cheerfully wanting to strangle him! Depp holds this all together with assurance and there's plenty of humour to keep the melodrama at bay. It starts off strongly and continues for two hours of characterful and thought-provoking drama that can at times come across as just a little contrived, but it is still a good watch.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape - Trailer

What's Eating Gilbert Grape( 1993)

Life is a terrible thing to sleep through.

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A review by Peter McGinn

Written by Peter McGinn on Sat Dec 11 2021

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