Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver, Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky.
What's Eating Gilbert Grape is anchored by extraordinary performances, most famously Leonardo DiCaprio's astonishing portrayal of Arnie, which earned him an Oscar nomination and remains one of cinema's great acting feats. Johnny Depp is quietly compelling in the lead. The plot is a fairly quiet, slice-of-life character study — effective but not particularly eventful or surprising in structure. Cinematography is competent and evocative of small-town Iowa without being visually distinctive. Novelty is moderate: the film's specificity of character and place gives it a unique texture, but the 'stagnant young man awakened by free spirit' framework is familiar. The ending is earned emotionally but understated, satisfying rather than remarkable.