What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Summary of What's Eating Gilbert Grape

What's Eating Gilbert Grape" was on the fast track to nowhere that was going to take it past the Twin Cities. Thank you, Oscar, for giving us the chance to see this touching film. It's easy to understand why Paramount was having a tough time getting theaters to pick up this movie. Even though "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" played to laudatory reviews on the East and West Coasts, its plot - a family struggling to cope with a teenager's mental retardation, a father's suicide and a mother's withdrawal from life as a 500-pound recluse who hasn't been out of the house in 17 years - is not the kind of material audiences tend to seek out when looking for a good time (Spike, 1996).

Johnny Depp plays the title character, the oldest offspring and the rock on which the Grape family is built. (Here's irony for you: After playing a Frankenstein-monster knockoff in "Edward Scissorhands" and an emotionally troubled youth in "Benny & Joon," he finally gets to play a normal person in a movie in which hardly anyone else is normal.) Working from a script by Peter Hedges, who adapted his own novel, the story takes place in the small, dusty Iowa town of Endura. As Gilbert struggles to keep his family from collapsing, the support he gets from the close-spun community is an important element in the story. Gilbert is showing signs of giving up on his mother (Darlene Cates, in her acting debut). He even makes jokes about her. Describing her to Becky (Lewis), who is stranded in Endura because of car trouble, he quips: "My mom is attached to the house. Well, `attached' is the wrong word. `Wedged in' is more like it" (Hedges, 1999).

Still, he goes to great lengths to protect his mother's pride. When he sees the floor sagging under her weight, he sneaks a handyman into the basement to shore up the area, being careful to keep his mother from discovering what he's doing. Gilbert's main responsibility is caring for Arnie (DiCaprio). Although approaching his 18th birthday, Arnie is forever stalled at a mental age of about 4. Because Arnie is almost full-grown, tending to him while trying to keep him out of trouble has become a battle for Gilbert. Gilbert is not one to complain, however. Unbending in his loyalty and fierce dedication to his family, he is willing to sacrifice his own life for the good of everyone else - that is, until Becky comes to town. She represents the freedom Gilbert has never had. For the first time, he confronts the notion that perhaps he has been cheated out of part of his life (www.uk.imdb.com).

DiCaprio is nothing short of sensational. Your heart goes out to Arnie the instant you see him: so pitiable, yet so oblivious to his state that he's perpetually happy. Depp also deserves high marks for his sensitive yet strong portrayal of ...