Rating: 
Summary: Utter Crap
Review: This movie was disgusting. It makes jokes about obesity & retardation. I find neither one of these issues to be humorous. I also found the movie to be quite depressing. I expected so much more from Johnny Depp. Also I never believe it to be a good idea for a non mentally handicapped person to portray one in movies. To think Dicapprio was nominated for an Oscar is enough to make me doubt the sanity of the Oscar committee.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing Character Study
Review: Certainly one of Lasse Hallstrom`s better movies ("Chocolat" and "The Cider House Rules", anyone?), this little and subtle drama resembles TV-movie-of-the-week territory, but the honest emotion of the plot and the fine, believable acting turn this into an above-average cinematic experience. Yet another indie movie about dysfunctional families, offbeat characters, little towns and boring lives, "What`s Eating Gilbert Grape" presents a simple yet well-crafted story with some big league actors around (Johnny Depp, Julliette Lewis and a surprising Leonardo DiCaprio). Hardly innovative, this effort proves that what you need to make a good movie is to have solid acting, a decent plot and competent cinematography.Not a masterpiece, just a pleasant and genuine drama.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful Film, Great Acting
Review: This is a completely beautiful and poignant story that is not too mushy and yet not too depressing. When you first start to watch the movie, you think "oh man, this makes me literally want to kill myself", because it so vividly describes the miserable life that Gilbert Grape (Depp) lives. And yet, there is light for Gilbert in many of the moments with Arnie (played wonderfully by DiCaprio), and especially when he meets Becky (Juliette Lewis). She is a sort of wayfarer that happens to be broken down in this town when the truck pulling her grandmother's camper failed. To me, she is more like an angel type of figure that has come to help Gilbert, and set him free. In this process, she gets him to open up, and after she has helped him do this, she leaves. Now Gilbert finds the strenghth to break free from his opression, and save his family. The already afflicted, overweight mother dies, and now Gilbert symbolically purges his old life from him and his family by burning the house down. After that, everyone is free.
Rating: 
Summary: Early DiCaprio is great
Review: This is a great movie, which features Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a role which is so distant from any other roles he's ever done, and he really shines. If you've seen Titanic, and a couple of his other movie roles, you'll be really shocked, that he can play a totally different role. He's not a pretty-boy as he normally is. It's never really explained what's the matter with Leo's character, Arnie. He has a lot of different characteristics which relate to different special needs people. I tend to think he's autistic, but he never comes across as especially autistic. So it does get a bit confusing. There is a really powerful connection between Johnny Depp's character, Gilbert, and Arnie. Gilbert is really protective of his younger brother, and ashamed by everyone else in his family. This relationship comes to a terrific climax later in the movie, which will shock everyone who's enjoyed their relationship up until then. Juliette Lewis plays the girl Gilbert falls in love with, and who he gives up his older, married lover for. Most people in other reviews I've read don't seem to like her character, but I do. She was great for the part, and although I wasn't keen on her too short hair, I loved everything else about her role. Darlene Cates plays the abnormally obese mother, who hasn't stepped out of the house in 7 years, until Arnie gets arrested. I'm not sure whether the sheer size of her was for real, or whether it was body padding/suit kinda thing. Her size is almost too realistic to be a body suit. All in all, this is a terrific movie, which wrenches at your heart strings, and has you in tears with the dramatic finale.
Rating:
Summary: Poignant Drama with Stellar Performances
Review: A truly beautiful work of art, this film excels in all areas: screenplay, cinematography, direction, casting and performances. Its bittersweet tragi-comedy never crosses the line into schmaltzy and DiCaprio showed such amazing promise (resulting in a deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor) that one wonders why he never found another role as powerful. Johnny Depp shines and proves (yet again!) that he is arguably the most talented actor of his generation. All the supporting players bring their roles to exquisite life in this wonderful, moving film you will want to enjoy and examine many times.
Rating:
Summary: What's eating Gilbert Grape? Only the title.
Review: The only thing wrong with this movie is the title which is too artsy and too misleading. It sounds like a bad Nickelodeon show for pre-k kids. I would bet that three times as many people would have seen this movie if it had had a better title. WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE, really, is a sensitive look at a family that doesn't like its own members. They don't hate each other, but each member is in its own little orbit that happens to revolve in the same house. The eldest child, Gilbert (one of Depp's best early roles), however is burdened the most. His impulse to establish himself and go after his own needs are one of the hinges of the plot. Fatherless Gilbert and his sister are left to feed themselves and their quarter-ton mother; no easy task. The mentally challenged younger brother Arnie (frighteningly well played by DiCaprio) compounds Gilbert's already growing list of responsibilities. In a strange but not illogical way, he is also responsible, unwillingly, to satisfy the carnal urges of a local housewife. It seems that everything in Gilbert's world has come to a deadly stop: his mother doesn't leave the couch; he can't leave his dead-end job (the only other potential for employment is the brand new mega-burger diner); he has no love interest; and the passing through of hundreds of hundreds of motor homes on their way to some vacation Mecca is the only source of entertainment in town. Only Arnie seems to be able, in his own way, to communicate the need to get out--he climbs the town's water tower on an almost weekly basis. He knows he has to get out. Only Gilbert can talk him down, as if Arnie wants to share with his brother the desire for escape. When one of the campers in the convoy breaks down, Gilbert finds his love interest (Juliette Lewis in a quiet but convincing portrayal) dropped on his lap. Her presence in town and its effect on Gilbert set everything on its ear. Gilbert starts asserting himself--to the point of dangerously neglecting Arnie. The seductive housewife inherits her husband's money--the husband, by the way, dies in the strangest way--and leaves Gilbert to the girl. And mother decides she will finally get off the couch and go sleep in her own bed. And then even more things are set off. There's too much to tell. The point is that WHAT'S EATING GILBERT is one of those films where all the elements blend together seamlessly to create a perfect, mature film. Everything except the title that is.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Touching
Review: In all its 90 minutes or so, What's Eating Gilbert Grape touched me by its truthfulness to life, and the discovery of beauty in things you might not always want to look too closely at.
Gilbert Grape (Depp) is a smalltown kind of guy who doesn't seem to be looking for anything in life for himself. He seems particularly interested in the well-being of others, esepcially his mentally challenged brother, Arnie (DiCaprio). DiCaprio's performance as Arnie immediately warmed my heart the first few seconds into the movie. I found myself watching and saying over and over, "Ok, when's Arnie going to come on?" His performance was so convincing that if I didn't know who Leonardo was, I would have thought he was mentally challenged in real life.
Everyone in that movie was so amazing, I am drawn to watching it over and over again, and I may very well never stop.
Rating:
Summary: Very touching!
Review: This is a very touching story about a dysfunctional family and caring for a child with learning disabilities. The humor, while underlying, is hysterical and unexpected. Johnny Depp is a natural. Performance by Leonardo DiCapro is superb! Highly reccommend.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Movie!!!!
Review: Whats Eating Gilbert Grape is a enjoyable quirky movie about a young man named Gilbert Grape played by the talented and gorgeous Johnny Depp (The Pirates of the Caribbean) who being the eldest son of a dysfunctional family where the father having walked out and abandoned them having to take on the responsibilities of taking care of his disabed and depressed 500 pound mother who is made fun of by the people in their small town, his mentally challenged teenage brother played by Leonardo Dicaprio (Titanic) and his two sisters one of whom is extremely self centered and Gilbert is a very caring young man but sometimes his mother and sisters just don't seem to appreciate all that he does for them and all of the pressure he is under which is complicated by a very bad relationship he is in with a very needy manipulative married woman but soon he meets a nice free spirited young woman played by Juliette Lewis (National Lampooon's Christmas Vacation) who trys to help the troubled Gilbert. This is a very good movie and I highly recommend it! Great performances from the whole cast but especially Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis! Parts of the movie are pretty sad so you may want to have the tissues close by!
Rating:
Summary: Characters make it charming
Review: The acting in this movie was amazing--it didn't need a fast-paced plot or lots of action to keep it interesting. What was wonderful about it was its subtleties, its characterization, and its realistic portrayal of realistic people. I highly recommend this movie to anyone looking for a good film.
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