Movie-A-Day #381: What's Eating Gilbert Grape

[KingLouieLouie]

Okay... I'll continue w/my theme today, however, with a slight variation to it.. Also.. another film which Johnny Depp had a major role in...He's certainly among my favorite actors.....

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Thanks yet again to amazon.com for the following:

This is the movie that Leonardo DiCaprio received an Oscar nomination for, five years before Titanic. And, in fact, this is the movie that should have made him a star, he's so good in it. Based on the novel by Peter Hedges (who adapted his own book) and directed by Lasse Hallström (My Life as a Dog), this is the funny, moody tale of a young man named Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) who lives at home in a small town with his 500-pound Momma (beautifully played by nonpro Darlene Cates), his mentally ******** younger brother Arnie (DiCaprio, utterly convincing), and his sisters. Not a lot happens--Arnie keeps climbing a water tower and getting stuck; Gilbert is involved with a married woman (Mary Steenburgen), then meets a nice new girl in town who's closer to his age (Juliette Lewis). And that's exactly what makes this movie so much more than your run-of-the-mill Hollywood product: it's not about some mechanical, formulaic plot; it's about these characters, and it allows you to spend some time with them and get to know them. Depp may have started out as a TV teen idol on 21 Jump Street, but his feature film choices since then--in such wonderfully offbeat and diverse movies as Cry-Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Benny & Joon, Donnie Brasco--have made him one of the most interesting, unpredictable, and risk-taking young actors in American movies. --Jim Emerson

Personal Reaction:
I honestly again don't have much to add to what has already been mentioned, but Depp and DiCaprio had two of the most spell-bounding performances in this extremely compelling tale....

 

[D-Dogg]

Great film....I love this movie. DiCaprio is fantastic in this. Between this, Marvin's Room and Basketball Diaries, I roll my eyes when people say Leo can't act.

 

[thirty-two]

I have never seen this movie. I probably should, ay?

 

[D-Dogg]

I have never seen this movie. I probably should, ay?

Yes.

 

[Jersey Girl]

I have never seen this movie. I probably should, ay?

You and me both, Kate.

 

[Ryanwb]

I was eating a ham sandwich during this movie

 

[Ryanwb]

I have never seen this movie. I probably should, ay?

Don't eat a ham sandwich while you watch it

 

[D-Dogg]

Don't eat a ham sandwich while you watch it

Don't eat anything.

 

[Bada0Bing]

Excellent movie. Both Depp and DiCaprio were outstanding. I think I remember seeing the woman that plays the mom on TV a few years ago. I think she was able to lose some of her weight (I can’t remember for sure though).

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Don't remember much about it, but I do remember I thought it was a great movie.