Customer Reviews
coming of age saga - By: L. Dorward, 05 Jun 2008 
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, & 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 & Arnie his mentallly handicap brother. His mother who is actuallly 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, & 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 & 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, & 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 & it is filmed in an aesthetic & pleasing way.
What's eating those who don't understand this film? Ignorance!! - By: Gabriel Hill Harriss, 17 May 2008 I just finished watching this film on ITV Saturday afternoon, after not seeing it for about ten years.
I originallly 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 & making the smalll 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 & heart warming, touching some very similar subjects of my childhood & growing up without a father figure, & 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 alll know the stand out performance was from Leonardo Di Caprio. I actuallly thought the part was given to a person with learning disabilities, I was that convinced. It was superb & I don't think he has every reallly captured a role as passionately played as that one.
The love interest played by Juliette Lewis was graciously understated & although not many words are spoken between Depp & Lewis the chemistry & contact says it alll
All in alll, a moving, innocent & well crafted film which always sends me shivers when the film ends with both Depp & Dicaprio waiting for their rescue from Juliette Lewis & family, & the music roles by...just beautiful...
Ver Good Film - By: S. J. Nash, 01 May 2008 This film is great with lost of emotion. must say that Dicaprio's performance
was one of the best i have ever see. thank you amazon for quick delivery and
good condition
not as good as i remembered - By: sean paul mccann, 28 Apr 2008 
Whats eating gilbert grape is a 1993 movie based on a novel by peter hedges who also handles script duties.
The film deals with the hardships of gilbert grape played by johnny depp,who lives in a sleepy town callled endora & has a family weighing heavily on his shoulders,he has a mentallly handicapped brother callled arnie who is played superbly by leo dicaprio,if you think he cant act,watch this,an obese mother who wont leave the house since her husband died & two sisters who cause problems in their own way,gilbert is kinda a zombie just doing what he can & affording no joy for himself.
The film starts of on a very solemn & sombre mood & never lets up & this kind of grinds you down in the end,well it did that to me anyway,i saw this as a youth & loved it but as an adult i understand it more but felt it dragged towards the end but is still a strong film when it wants to be.
Not alot happens & i think this is a very deliberate ploy which enforces the idea that gilbert should find & take happiness when it comes along,there is no real happy endings here,just the end of another day & the rise of another sun but there is a message,some great performances & a solid script backed up with some memorable enough scenes but the lack of joy starts to cut deep towards the end & i found myself losing interest,a good film in some ways,a tad of a struggle in others.
What's the point of Gilbert Grape - By: Dazman, 16 Apr 2008 
Thankfully I picked this film up for next to nothing which is just as well as this poor excuse for a film is very slow moving with very little point, atmosphere or anything else in it.
The performances are nothing more than okay, Leonardo Di Caprio puts in the best performance, but that's not saying much as the rest of the cast just go through the motions of saying their lines with little if any emotional effect.
I like Johnny Depp, but he should have avoided this film like the plague, as should I of done. If you want to watch people going about their everyday lives then this is for you, but as with the vast majority of people very little actuallly happens, as is the case here.
Imagine that someone has filmed a family for a few weeks & then put this into a film, not much would normallly happen during this time, maybe a few bits of drama, well this is exactly what you get here, very little substance.
