What's Eating Gilbert Grape

This was well-acted, interesting and a bizarre story but, man, one viewing was enough. That was because of Leonardo DiCaprio's title character, "Arnie Grape," is hard to take in more than one dosage. The young DiCaprio, in the beginning of what has become a solid acting career, plays this mentally-challenged kid who yells all the time. Who wants to hear someone ranting and raving all the time? Not me. That "act" wears thin, believe me. It's shocking to see a 400-pound woman (Darlene Cates) acting in this movie, but here she is, playing the boy's mother "Bonnie," and she does a fine job of acting as all do in here. That includes the weird Johnny Depp doing something really strange for him - playing a normal person, the title character of "Gilbert Grape." As with many stories dealing with dysfunctional families, the movie is not always a lot of fun to watch, but it's one you remember. Kudos to all concerned for a memorable film, even if I didn't care to watch it a second time....although I just might now that it's been a long time since the first viewing, and it's out on DVD. This is just one of many, many extremely interesting movies that came out in 1993, a year, I think, that was the best ever in films.

I saw this movie a couple of years ago and have seen it many times since. I have worked with special needs children for nearly 20 years, and Leonardo DiCaprio gives an excellent performance as a mentally challenged teenager. His mannerisms and vocal inflection as Arnie were dead on. I had never been a DiCaprio fan until I watched this movie, now I see him in a completely different light. He SO deserved an Oscar for this performance. It puts that whole Dustin Hoffman/Rainman performance to shame. Beyond this outstanding performance is an incredible movie. What is eating Gilbert Grape indeed? Oh, just a loony housewife that wants him at every turn, a mother who requires as much care as a child and a mentally challenged brother who requires almost as much care as a toddler. What is not eating him alive is a better question. The anger culminates in a harsh scene with Arnie. That scene is so real it tears my heart out. Fabulous film, fantastic performances. One of my favorites.

There's no doubting the quality of the acting in this film. Leonado in particular is outstanding and Depp plays his role well too. The subject matter presents such great possibilities and - thankfully - it certainly avoids all the potential Hollywood clichés that it would have been so easy to fall into. Unfortunately it avoids them so much that it just doesn't go anywhere much at all. The film felt like 4 hours not 2 - which I guess helps us empathise with the lead character! And if the directors aim was to get us to feel empathy with Gilbert Grape then he's done an outstanding job. I now know what it's like to feel trapped, bored, numb, like I'm just passing time. Sorry, for all those of you who love it (my wife did!) it just didn't do anything for me.