Whats Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993)

The Cast/Crew:

Directed by Lasse Hallstrom (the Cider House Rules)
Written by Peter Hedges (Source Writer)
Starring: Johnny Depp (Gilbert Grape,) Leonardo DiCaprio (Arnie Grape,) Juliette Lewis (Becky)

The Basic Synopsis:

Gilbert Grape lives a horrible life. He is poor and lives on a farm with his mentally ill brother (DiCaprio,) his morbidly obese mother (Darlene Cates,) and other siblings who only try to ruin his life more. Gilbert's brother Arnie likes to climb the water-tower. Arnie is about to turn 18 and cannot live without the help of Gilbert. All this time, Gilbert works at a grocery store and when he is making a delivery, one of the desperate housewives seduces him right as her husband is coming home. Bottom line: his life sucks. He's about to reach his breaking point which is sort of what this movie is trying to be about. It's kinda hard to tell by the time the film finishes.

How it Turned Out:

Not all bad, but definitely no where near all good. Leonardo DiCaprio gives the performance of a lifetime as does Johnny Depp. But when you get down to it, the script for this film was painfully bad. Hallstrom (as usual) brings the incredible shots one after another. Overall (time to use a critic term,) if this film found out what it wants to be when it grows up, it would be an incredible one. It doesn't succeed on any of the darker themes it tries to bring out. It could be interpreted that Gilbert has duties, and he must do them (as we all do.) It could be interpreted that Gilbert has to suffer for other people (as we all do.) It could be about how Gilbert has to take care of himself (as we all do.) It tries very hard to succeed in all of these, yet (in the end) fails at all of them very miserably.

What's incredible about it:

There is not a single bad performance in this film. Everyone is incredible (even the much younger actors.)

What's even more incredible about it:

That Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars out of 4 (I guess that's not really about it but still incredibly strange.)

Bottom Line:

See it only if you want to. It is very missable. The script is bad, performances are incredible the directing is incredible. 2½/4 Stars