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What's Eating Gilbert Grape
(directed by Lasse Hallstrom, 1993)
Twenty years ago, in December of 1993, Lasse Hallstrom's What's Eating Gilbert Grape was unleashed upon the world. I don't know when exactly I first saw it, but I think it was probably only six or seven years ago, when I believe I rented it through Netflix. I liked it, but having just rewatched it, I like it a lot more now.
The film takes place in a small town called Endora (like Endora on Bewitched) in the state of Iowa. Johnny Depp plays a guy named Gilbert Grape who works in a little grocery store. Miles away, down by the interstate, a huge, Wal-Mart type grocery store called Food Land just opened and it's taking away all the customers, except those loyal to the small town grocery store that's been around for awhile.
Gilbert Grape has a lot of responsibilities. His mother (played by Darlene Cates) weighs over 500 pounds and has not left the house in years since her husband committed suicide by hanging himself in the family's basement. There are other kids -- two girls, one a mature young lady, the other a maturing young lady. And then there is Arnie.
Leonardo DiCaprio is recognizable and yet not recognizable as he completely transforms himself into Arnie Grape, Gilbert's younger brother, who is cursed with some kind of mental retardation. This, in my opinion, will forever be Leonardo DiCaprio's greatest role, even if it gets overshadowed by all the other things he's done. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role, but lost, which is a shame. He plays the most loveable and the most fun and possibly even the most original mentally retarded character that I know of in cinema. A solar system of energy, Arnie Grape is a monkey with the mind of the happiest four year old you could meet, who is constantly climbing trees and getting into trouble by also climbing the nearby water tower every chance he gets. His playful obnoxiousness is not unlike my own when I terrorize everybody on Movie Forums with my so-called "attention seeking." And Johnny Depp is responsible for looking out for him at all times.
Occasionally, Mary Steenburgen slutwalks her way into the grocery store to lead Gilbert back to her house for a "delivery", which is more like a deposit, if you know what I mean. Her husband wants to offer a better future for Gilbert in the land of insurance. But then Juliette Lewis and her grandmother drive into town one summer in their RV and Gilbert becomes smitten for her (Juliette Lewis, that is -- grandma got no love from Johnny Depp -- and YOU KNOW she's disappointed by that. Grandma, go cry in your RV.)
There isn't much of a narrative to What's Eating Gilbert Grape. It is simply a playing out of events between the lives of the characters I've just mentioned during this period of time. But it is a joyous, heartfelt, deeply moving movie that is original and splendid. It would make a great play, if it isn't already one. And it blows Benny & Joon, that other 1993 Johnny Depp movie, completely out of the water. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape is scene stealing and if Johnny Depp had been a newcomer to movies here, I wonder if he would have even become the actor he is now. He is almost overshadowed, but he holds down his own fort here.
The biggest surprise, I learned, in regards to What's Eating Gilbert Grape, is how Darlene Cates became involved and played Mama Grape. She actually WAS a housebound, obese woman who had spent years inside her own home and never left. She had never acted before and the director of What's Eating Gilbert Grape cast her as Mama Grape after seeing her appear on the TV show SALLY JESSE RAPHAEL!
YES! Mama Grape -- Darlene Cates -- WAS A '90s TALK SHOW CELEBRITY before she starred in What's Eating Gilbert Grape!
She went on Sally Jesse Raphael to talk about her life as a housebound obese woman. What's Eating Gilbert Grape is therefore almost semi-autobiographical for her. She didn't have a family like the Grapes, and she's actually from Texas, but she really did live like Mama Grape prior to doing the movie. Isn't that surreal? This woman spent YEARS locked up in her own home, afraid to leave because everyone would laugh at her in public, and suddenly she's in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp? (As well as John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen and Juliette Lewis)
Darlene Cates, your good fortune after such a hard time in your life makes What's Eating Gilbert Grape all the more inspirational.
I am incredibly disappointed that What's Eating Gilbert Grape didn't make the MoFo '90s Movie List, but even I didn't nominate it. I would have if I had rewatched it in time.
Give this movie a watch if you haven't yet. It's absolutely wonderful.
(directed by Lasse Hallstrom, 1993)
Twenty years ago, in December of 1993, Lasse Hallstrom's What's Eating Gilbert Grape was unleashed upon the world. I don't know when exactly I first saw it, but I think it was probably only six or seven years ago, when I believe I rented it through Netflix. I liked it, but having just rewatched it, I like it a lot more now.
The film takes place in a small town called Endora (like Endora on Bewitched) in the state of Iowa. Johnny Depp plays a guy named Gilbert Grape who works in a little grocery store. Miles away, down by the interstate, a huge, Wal-Mart type grocery store called Food Land just opened and it's taking away all the customers, except those loyal to the small town grocery store that's been around for awhile.
Gilbert Grape has a lot of responsibilities. His mother (played by Darlene Cates) weighs over 500 pounds and has not left the house in years since her husband committed suicide by hanging himself in the family's basement. There are other kids -- two girls, one a mature young lady, the other a maturing young lady. And then there is Arnie.
Leonardo DiCaprio is recognizable and yet not recognizable as he completely transforms himself into Arnie Grape, Gilbert's younger brother, who is cursed with some kind of mental retardation. This, in my opinion, will forever be Leonardo DiCaprio's greatest role, even if it gets overshadowed by all the other things he's done. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role, but lost, which is a shame. He plays the most loveable and the most fun and possibly even the most original mentally retarded character that I know of in cinema. A solar system of energy, Arnie Grape is a monkey with the mind of the happiest four year old you could meet, who is constantly climbing trees and getting into trouble by also climbing the nearby water tower every chance he gets. His playful obnoxiousness is not unlike my own when I terrorize everybody on Movie Forums with my so-called "attention seeking." And Johnny Depp is responsible for looking out for him at all times.
Occasionally, Mary Steenburgen slutwalks her way into the grocery store to lead Gilbert back to her house for a "delivery", which is more like a deposit, if you know what I mean. Her husband wants to offer a better future for Gilbert in the land of insurance. But then Juliette Lewis and her grandmother drive into town one summer in their RV and Gilbert becomes smitten for her (Juliette Lewis, that is -- grandma got no love from Johnny Depp -- and YOU KNOW she's disappointed by that. Grandma, go cry in your RV.)
There isn't much of a narrative to What's Eating Gilbert Grape. It is simply a playing out of events between the lives of the characters I've just mentioned during this period of time. But it is a joyous, heartfelt, deeply moving movie that is original and splendid. It would make a great play, if it isn't already one. And it blows Benny & Joon, that other 1993 Johnny Depp movie, completely out of the water. Leonardo DiCaprio's performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape is scene stealing and if Johnny Depp had been a newcomer to movies here, I wonder if he would have even become the actor he is now. He is almost overshadowed, but he holds down his own fort here.
The biggest surprise, I learned, in regards to What's Eating Gilbert Grape, is how Darlene Cates became involved and played Mama Grape. She actually WAS a housebound, obese woman who had spent years inside her own home and never left. She had never acted before and the director of What's Eating Gilbert Grape cast her as Mama Grape after seeing her appear on the TV show SALLY JESSE RAPHAEL!
YES! Mama Grape -- Darlene Cates -- WAS A '90s TALK SHOW CELEBRITY before she starred in What's Eating Gilbert Grape!
She went on Sally Jesse Raphael to talk about her life as a housebound obese woman. What's Eating Gilbert Grape is therefore almost semi-autobiographical for her. She didn't have a family like the Grapes, and she's actually from Texas, but she really did live like Mama Grape prior to doing the movie. Isn't that surreal? This woman spent YEARS locked up in her own home, afraid to leave because everyone would laugh at her in public, and suddenly she's in a movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp? (As well as John C. Reilly, Mary Steenburgen and Juliette Lewis)
Darlene Cates, your good fortune after such a hard time in your life makes What's Eating Gilbert Grape all the more inspirational.
I am incredibly disappointed that What's Eating Gilbert Grape didn't make the MoFo '90s Movie List, but even I didn't nominate it. I would have if I had rewatched it in time.
Give this movie a watch if you haven't yet. It's absolutely wonderful.