Review of What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) by Nick O — 01 Dec 2013

Lasse Hallström, how you've fallen.

It's a testament to how good "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" really is when taken into consideration all the awards-bait schmaltz in director Hallström's acceding body of work. "The Cider House Rules", "Chocolat", the straight-to-DVD "Hachi: A Dog's Tale", last year's twee, pretty much forgotten "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen". "Gilbert Grape" stands tall above these sort of bittersweet works because, well, there's a show-don't-tell intrigue you sense something is truly eating at its titular shy protagonist (Johnny Depp), and even beyond that, the rest of his Iowa siblings as they struggle with raising autistic eighteen-year-old Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio, deservedly Oscar-nominated) and reassess both their personal and professional lives when their obese mother (Darlene Cates) becomes a shut-in after the suicide of their father.

It isn't that "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" is all that cinematic or stylish; actually, it's its lack of showmanship that makes sure no one actor overwhelms the moment to shine of another. (DiCaprio is so outstanding here and Gilbert so withdrawn it's amazing Depp's exceptionally downplayed lost boy doesn't get swallowed whole immediately.) The film has a rich, roughneck, almost Bogdanovich-like authenticity to it. It's slow-moving and melodramatic in certain aspects, but the script by former playwright, first-time screenwriter Peter Hedges is ultimately rewarding enough to forgive the story's occasional corniness. "Gilbert Grape" is less Broadway extension than it is soap opera, yet it's told with such fiery detail and tormented heart the viewer is finally left with the feeling of turning over the last page of a great book: the events foretold, effect still lingering, like a haunted high-wire act. (80/100).