What's Eating Gilbert Grape Movie Review
"I'm not gonna let her be a joke."
-Gilbert Grape
What's Eating Gilbert Grape was a really intense drama starring Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio from 1993. The film was directed by Lasse Hallstrom and was based on the novel of the same name by Peter Hedges. This was DiCaprio's oldest film I had ever seen and I was so surprised at simply how fantastic he was. He plays a mentally handicapped boy named Arnie who is looked after by his older brother Gilbert, played by Johnny Depp. The film was emotionally loaded with so many scenes that made you feel so bad for both Gilbert and Arnie but there were also scenes that made you dislike them. It's a rather unique film with lots of slow parts, but it wasn't painfully long, so that is a plus.
We are introduced to the Grape family which consists of their obese mother Bonnie, the oldest daughter Amy, younger daughter Ellen, and Gilbert and Arnie. Bonnie hasn't left the house in seven years since the suicide of her husband and since then became morbidly obese. Amy, while being a responsible older sister is not the most emotionally stable but definitely does her best in helping out. Ellen is at that point in her teenage years where she's just really annoying but you also can't help but feel bad for her when you see the circumstances she has to live in. Finally we have our two main characters Gilbert and Arnie. Gilbert clearly has the most responsibility thrust onto him after his father's death. He has to be emotionally stable for his family while working hard to provide for them and it starts to show. No one should have to live with all this pressure and Depp as actor portrays this breaking point beautifully.
The Grape family seems to be following a day to day routine. Gilbert works and cares for Arnie, Bonnie spends just about all day in front of the television having her children do everything for her, and Arnie when left unsupervised for too long tends to climb up the water tower in town. It's clear that this incident had happened numerous time and the police were just about fed up with it. At the first sign of trouble though everyone always blames Gilbert for not being attentive enough and it's really so unfair. The main conflict that this movie really revolves around is how Gilbert reacts when love enters his life. Juliette Lewis plays Becky, a woman that is just traveling through the country with her mother in a trailer home. He must face the fact that he has his own life to live and has internal struggles on how to cope with change. In such a small town word travels rather quickly and Bonnie is somewhat a myth to the younger kids in town who have never seen her before. Gilbert deals with Arnie on daily basis while trying to keep intact the way people view his family.
Like I said early there are a bunch of slow parts in the movies, and with any other actors of a lower caliber this movie would not have been so great. What really carried it was their performances and the emotional weight they brought with them. DiCaprio was absolutely amazing. His performance was up there with Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. Playing a mentally handicapped person must be incredibly difficult. Or to better phrase that, playing a handicapped person well must be incredibly difficult. DiCaprio pulls of such an impeccable performance that I'm not sure how he didn't win an Academy Award for it honestly. (Story of his life so far.) Depp while taking on a completely different role was also amazing in showing us the flaws and the great qualities of Gilbert Grape. He was a character you sympathized with and also critiqued. Along with a few other supporting roles like John C. Riley, the film was very enjoyable and emotional to watch. I give What's Eating Gilbert Grape an 8.5 out of 10. A film that really lives up to the hype. But be warned that is also not full of excitement.
We are introduced to the Grape family which consists of their obese mother Bonnie, the oldest daughter Amy, younger daughter Ellen, and Gilbert and Arnie. Bonnie hasn't left the house in seven years since the suicide of her husband and since then became morbidly obese. Amy, while being a responsible older sister is not the most emotionally stable but definitely does her best in helping out. Ellen is at that point in her teenage years where she's just really annoying but you also can't help but feel bad for her when you see the circumstances she has to live in. Finally we have our two main characters Gilbert and Arnie. Gilbert clearly has the most responsibility thrust onto him after his father's death. He has to be emotionally stable for his family while working hard to provide for them and it starts to show. No one should have to live with all this pressure and Depp as actor portrays this breaking point beautifully.
The Grape family seems to be following a day to day routine. Gilbert works and cares for Arnie, Bonnie spends just about all day in front of the television having her children do everything for her, and Arnie when left unsupervised for too long tends to climb up the water tower in town. It's clear that this incident had happened numerous time and the police were just about fed up with it. At the first sign of trouble though everyone always blames Gilbert for not being attentive enough and it's really so unfair. The main conflict that this movie really revolves around is how Gilbert reacts when love enters his life. Juliette Lewis plays Becky, a woman that is just traveling through the country with her mother in a trailer home. He must face the fact that he has his own life to live and has internal struggles on how to cope with change. In such a small town word travels rather quickly and Bonnie is somewhat a myth to the younger kids in town who have never seen her before. Gilbert deals with Arnie on daily basis while trying to keep intact the way people view his family.
Like I said early there are a bunch of slow parts in the movies, and with any other actors of a lower caliber this movie would not have been so great. What really carried it was their performances and the emotional weight they brought with them. DiCaprio was absolutely amazing. His performance was up there with Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. Playing a mentally handicapped person must be incredibly difficult. Or to better phrase that, playing a handicapped person well must be incredibly difficult. DiCaprio pulls of such an impeccable performance that I'm not sure how he didn't win an Academy Award for it honestly. (Story of his life so far.) Depp while taking on a completely different role was also amazing in showing us the flaws and the great qualities of Gilbert Grape. He was a character you sympathized with and also critiqued. Along with a few other supporting roles like John C. Riley, the film was very enjoyable and emotional to watch. I give What's Eating Gilbert Grape an 8.5 out of 10. A film that really lives up to the hype. But be warned that is also not full of excitement.
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