Date Movies » What’s Eating Gilbert Grape http://datemovies.org Mon, 30 Mar 2009 04:43:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 What’s Eating Gilbert Grape http://datemovies.org/whats-eating-gilbert-grape.html http://datemovies.org/whats-eating-gilbert-grape.html#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2009 07:21:55 +0000 Mr Love http://datemovies.org/?p=15 The main thing that drives this remarkable story is acting. There plot is interesting, enough, and the romance is fine, but neither of them are in themselves interesting enough to create a compelling movie. The two people who do that are Depp and DiCaprio. Leonardo DiCaprio is 100% convincing as Arnie Grape, a mentally retarded young man from a dysfunctional family. After seeing it for the first time, my pop-culture staved friend asked me if the person playing Arnie was in fact mentally retarded. Depp is also convincing as Gilbert Grape, and performs as much through his face as through his voice. Juliette Lewis, however, is just…weird. She talks and acts basically like a druggie, and her performance in the trailers alone almost prevented me from seeing the movie.

The plot is basically a chronicle of the weeks leading up to Arnie’s 18th birthday. He has a morbidly obese mother, a resentful 15 year old sister, and his older brother and sister who act as the mother and father figure for the family. He also has a penchant for climbing water towers, which eventually leads to trouble.

Cast

  • Johnny Depp as Gilbert Grape
  • Leonardo DiCaprio as Arnie Grape
  • Juliette Lewis as Becky
  • Mary Steenburgen as Betty Carver
  • Darlene Cates as Bonnie Grape
  • Laura Harrington as Amy Grape
  • Mary Kate Schellhardt as Ellen Grape
  • Kevin Tighe as Ken Carver
  • John C. Reilly as Tucker Van Dyke
  • Crispin Glover as Bobby McBurney
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