Product Description

Johnny Depp, Leonardo Di Caprio, Juliette Lewis Meet Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) a young man who lives in Endora, lowa population 1,901. "Describing it", says Gilbert, "is like dancing to no music." Gilbert lives with his mother, whose 36 stone frame is slowly destroying the fragile Grape homestead, his brother, Arnie (Leonardo Di Caprio) who was never expected to survive childhood, and his two sisters. Gilbert's only excitement is his affair with Mrs. Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen), besides that, Gilbert's life is weird, and he doesn't seem to enjoy it. But one day a mysterious, beautiful girl named Becky (Juliette Lewis) moves into town with her grandmother and Gilbert's world begins to change.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5896 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-03-27
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Full Screen, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 118 minutes

Synopsis
Lasse Hallstrom directs this beautifully photographed, critically acclaimed drama about small-town life and the contraints that a young man's family responsibilities put on his independence. The screenplay is written by Peter Hedges who also wrote the novel of the same name. Bizarre, whimsical, and touching scenes mark WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE. Johnny Depp is Gilbert, the eldest brother in a large family of a very large (morbidly obese, actually) mother (Darlene Cates) who hasn't left the house since her husband committed suicide years before. Leonardo DiCaprio, who received an Academy Award nomination for his role, is Arnie, Gilbert's retarded teenage brother who needs constant supervision (he's often found scaling the town's water tower). Caring, passive Gilbert is burdened beyond reason, living a dead-end life in a dying small town, stacking shelves at a grocery store whose business is being taken over by the new supermarket. Gilbert's best friends (Crispin Glover and John C. Reilly) see their futures in the form of undertaker and Burger Barn owner, and Gilbert's other social life is taken up with a random affair with a frustrated and reckless housewife (Mary Steenburgen). Everyone needs the constantly patient Gilbert, whose future seems equally grim until well-travelled, straightforward Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her nonconformist grandmother (Penelope Branning) come to town. Their camper van is in need of repair, so Becky stays long enough to actually have an effect on Gilbert, making his new life spiral in wild ways, awakening him to the fact that he is not living his own life. Based on the novel by Peter Hedges (who also wrote the screenplay), WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE is quirky, irresistible, and endearingly eccentric without being a freak show.

Customer Reviews

Definitely Worth Watching!
I really like this film. Johnny Depp and Leonardo DiCaprio at their best.
A must see.

coming of age saga
I would put this film down as one of the great understated classics of the 1990's. It is a simple story of Gilbert ( Depp ) who lives in a hick town with nothing to do, very little aspiration, and is stuck in time. He has a larger than life family consisting of an older brother who has left the nest, an older sister, a brat teenage sister and Arnie his mentally handicap brother. His mother who is actually played by a lady who had never acted before is after years of depression, from her husband's suicide has become obese. The story focuses mainly upon the two brothers.
Gilbert feels trapped by this constant attention of Arnie, so when Lewis's character who is a traveller comes along, Gilberts world has a shining star in it once more. This is a wonderfully beautiful story which not only focuses on the morality of life, and not to judge but to love people as they are, it also questions the need for the family circle.
The acting is superb, Depp is once again sublime in his understated role. DeCaprio, who is not one of my favourite actors is quite simply perfect in this role, you can see that he painstakingly researched this role and well deserved the oscar he recieved for it. The lady who played the mother also deserves respect for her role in this film as she wasn't an actress, and I believe she did die quite soon after the film came out. This is a wonderful film it may be slow but with that you get truly fantastic acting and it is filmed in an aesthetic and pleasing way.

What's eating those who don't understand this film? Ignorance!!
I just finished watching this film on ITV Saturday afternoon, after not seeing it for about ten years.

I originally owned it on Tape after finding it in a closing down sale independent video shop in '95..the big blockbuster ones were just moving in and making the small shops close..sad

This is a beautiful piece of photography, which to those who dont appreciate this film ought to look more closely.

The story is very endearing and heart warming, touching some very similar subjects of my childhood and growing up without a father figure, and wondering where my loyalty layed.

The cast is perfect, as at the time Johhny Depp was choosing some alternative roles as he does so brilliantly, but as you all know the stand out performance was from Leonardo Di Caprio. I actually thought the part was given to a person with learning disabilities, I was that convinced. It was superb and I don't think he has every really captured a role as passionately played as that one.

The love interest played by Juliette Lewis was graciously understated and although not many words are spoken between Depp and Lewis the chemistry and contact says it all

All in all, a moving, innocent and well crafted film which always sends me shivers when the film ends with both Depp and Dicaprio waiting for their rescue from Juliette Lewis and family, and the music roles by...just beautiful...