What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
1993
*****
Director: Lasse Hallström
Cast: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen, Darlene Cates, John C. Reilly, Laura Harrington, Mary Kate Schellhardt, Kevin Tighe, Crispin Glover
Gilbert Grape is a young man trapped by obligation to his family, which includes his morbidly obese mother and his mentally challenged younger brother. Gilbert has paid little thought to his own plans, but this begins to change when he meets a free-spirited traveller passing through the town. Lasse Hallström's second English-language film is a funny, moving, and warm-hearted family drama that doesn't take the easy way out. The characters are wonderfully layered, and some of the performances (Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Darlene Cates, to mention a few) are excellent. Peter Hedges adapted his own 1991 novel.
