What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Encyclopedia
What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 film directed by Lasse Hallström
and starring Johnny Depp
, Juliette Lewis
and Leonardo DiCaprio
. Peter Hedges
wrote the screenplay adapted from his 1991 novel of the same name. It was filmed in the Texas
cities of Manor
, Elgin
, and Lockhart
.
) is busy caring for his mentally challenged brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio
) as they wait for the many tourists' trailers to pass through town during their yearly camp ritual at a nearby recreational area. His mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates
) is morbidly obese after years of depression following her husband's suicide. With Bonnie unable to care for them by herself, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing their shanty of a farmhouse while looking after Arnie, who has a habit of climbing up the town water tower if left unsupervised for too long, all while his older sister Amy (Laura Harrington
) and younger sister Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt
) slave away in the kitchen. The relationship between the brothers is one of care and protection. In order to cope with his frenetic life, Gilbert has taken on a secret love affair with a housewife, Betty (Mary Steenburgen
), whilst her insensitive, unsuspecting husband Ken (Kevin Tighe
), is fully intent on selling Gilbert insurance for his family. A new chain supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery store where Gilbert works, as well as threatening all the other small-time businesses in Endora. The chain supermarket stocks all kinds of goods, rendering many of the local shops redundant. This is a key theme in the film - which constantly portrays the futility of goods made with love in light of ever sweeping corporate greed.
While the family prepares for Arnie's upcoming 18th birthday party, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis
) and her grandmother are stuck in town when their truck towing their trailer breaks down. Gilbert's unusual life circumstances threaten to get in the way of their budding romance. In order to spend time with Becky watching the sun set, Gilbert leaves Arnie alone in the bathtub by himself, believing he is now old enough to get out on his own. He returns home late and wakes up the following morning to find Arnie still in the bath, shivering in the now-cold water. Gilbert's guilt is compounded by his family's anger. As a result Arnie refuses to get near water, including the pond by Becky's trailer, and his fear causes him to become extremely dirty, adding to the many problems Gilbert faces. Betty's affair with Gilbert ends when she begins to make demands on him and tries to have sex with him while he's on the phone with her husband, Ken. Ken drowns after suffering a cardiac arrest and landing face down in his sons' wading pool. Many of the townspeople believe Betty killed her husband, despite the insistence of Gilbert's friend, Bobby McBurney (Crispin Glover
), one of the town coroners, that believes it was a cardiac arrest. Besides Bobby, Gilbert is the only one who believed Betty didn't commit murder, and she eventually leaves town in search of a new life.
Becky bonds with Gilbert and Arnie and helps Gilbert reflect on his feelings. They become deeply involved in conversation until Gilbert realizes that Arnie is missing. He has returned to the water tower he is forever trying to climb and this time has succeeded at getting to the top. Arnie is arrested, compelling Bonnie, who has not left the house in seven years, to rush to the police station to demand his release, causing her appearance to be ridiculed by the townspeople.
Later at home, Arnie prematurely eats some of his birthday cake, which Gilbert told him not to touch. Gilbert orders Arnie to take a bath as punishment, and Arnie resists when Gilbert tries to force him. Losing his temper, Gilbert strikes Arnie-hard. Appalled at himself and angry at his life in general, Gilbert drives away, leaving Endora. Arnie leaves the house to find Becky, who takes care of him. Gilbert returns to town and sees Arnie with Becky, who is able to get him to enter the lake, and thus Arnie overcomes his fear of water. After Amy and Ellen come to Becky's and take Arnie home, Gilbert approaches Becky and the two talk about his own frustration and the reality of his father's death. The next day he returns home during Arnie's birthday party to apologize.
Following Arnie's eighteenth birthday and meeting Becky for the first time, Bonnie climbs the stairs to her bedroom for the first time in years. That evening she passes away in her bed. Arnie tries to wake her, thinking that she is just playing. He runs out of the house and begins to hurt himself. As his sisters try to stop him, they realize that Bonnie has died. Jerry, the local sheriff, and his deputies tell the Grape family that they would need more men to get Bonnie out of the house (an officer on the radio inappropriately says they'd need the National Guard). After the police leave, Gilbert and his sisters soon cry over losing her. The siblings realize that her removal would draw a gawking crowd and want to protect their mother from being a spectacle. They empty the house except for their mother's body, then Gilbert sets the house on fire.
One year later, Gilbert and Arnie are looking out again to watch the trailers pass. Through voice over, Gilbert tells of Amy getting a job offer to manage a bakery in Des Moines, and Ellen being thrilled to switch schools. Arnie chases the vehicles, arms flailing, excited to see Becky again. Along with Becky and her grandma, Gilbert and Arnie hit the road.
, the film was given a 88% "Certified Fresh" rating. New York Times film critic Janet Maslin
praised DiCaprio's performance, writing "the film's real show-stopping turn comes from Mr. DiCaprio, who makes Arnie's many tics so startling and vivid that at first he is difficult to watch.... The performance has a sharp, desperate intensity from beginning to end." Roger Ebert
of Chicago Sun-Times
described it as "... one of the most enchanting films of the year" and said that DiCaprio deserved to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
for which he was nominated. Todd McCarthy of Variety
found the film a "bemused view on life" and remarked that "Depp manages to command center screen with a greatly affable, appealing characterization." Washington Posts Desson Howe
thought the film was an earnest but highly predictable effort. Film Review
praised Leonardo DiCaprio
as the mentally handicapped brother, calling it "a performance of astonishing innocence and spontaneity", bringing "a touching credibility to a very difficult part". Film Review quoted the actor:
In addition to DiCaprio's first Academy Award nomination in this film, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He also won the Best Supporting Actor Award
from the National Board of Review.
episode "Irregarding Steve", the film is parodied heavily, with the characters being squirrels.
Lasse Hallström
Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström is a Swedish film director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for My Life as a Dog and later for The Cider House Rules .-Life and career:...
and starring Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
, Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
and Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
. Peter Hedges
Peter Hedges
Peter Hedges is an American novelist, screenwriter, and film director.Hedges grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa, and attended Valley High School, where he was involved in the theater department, including the improv group and the mime troupe, "The Bakers Dozen". He later went to the North Carolina...
wrote the screenplay adapted from his 1991 novel of the same name. It was filmed in the Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
cities of Manor
Manor, Texas
Manor is a city in Travis County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Austin-Round Rock metropolitan area. The population was 1,204 at the 2000 census; it was 1,877 in the 2005 census estimate. The approximate population for the City of Manor is 5,500, which is calculated from the number of...
, Elgin
Elgin, Texas
Elgin is a city in Bastrop and Travis Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. The population was 5,700 at the 2000 census. By 2005, the population grew to an estimated 8,689...
, and Lockhart
Lockhart, Texas
-External links:* *...
.
Plot
In a small town of Endora, Gilbert Grape (Johnny DeppJohnny Depp
John Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
) is busy caring for his mentally challenged brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
) as they wait for the many tourists' trailers to pass through town during their yearly camp ritual at a nearby recreational area. His mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates
Darlene Cates
-Background:Rita Darlene Guthrie was born in Borger, Texas to Dorothy Ann and Truman Madison Guthrie. She made her feature film debut in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, alongside Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, in which she played the title character's housebound...
) is morbidly obese after years of depression following her husband's suicide. With Bonnie unable to care for them by herself, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing their shanty of a farmhouse while looking after Arnie, who has a habit of climbing up the town water tower if left unsupervised for too long, all while his older sister Amy (Laura Harrington
Laura Harrington
Laura Harrington is an American actress.Harrington is perhaps best known for her role as the main character's sister in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Her character was aged around 20 though the actress herself was 35 at the time...
) and younger sister Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt
Mary Kate Schellhardt
Mary Kate Schellhardt is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ellen in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Nadine in Free Willy 2, and Jim and Marilyn Lovell's eldest daughter Barbara in Apollo 13. Other films in which she has appeared include Mr. Blue Sky, The Great Mom Swap and 9-9-09...
) slave away in the kitchen. The relationship between the brothers is one of care and protection. In order to cope with his frenetic life, Gilbert has taken on a secret love affair with a housewife, Betty (Mary Steenburgen
Mary Steenburgen
Mary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.-Early life:...
), whilst her insensitive, unsuspecting husband Ken (Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe
Kevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
), is fully intent on selling Gilbert insurance for his family. A new chain supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery store where Gilbert works, as well as threatening all the other small-time businesses in Endora. The chain supermarket stocks all kinds of goods, rendering many of the local shops redundant. This is a key theme in the film - which constantly portrays the futility of goods made with love in light of ever sweeping corporate greed.
While the family prepares for Arnie's upcoming 18th birthday party, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis
Juliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
) and her grandmother are stuck in town when their truck towing their trailer breaks down. Gilbert's unusual life circumstances threaten to get in the way of their budding romance. In order to spend time with Becky watching the sun set, Gilbert leaves Arnie alone in the bathtub by himself, believing he is now old enough to get out on his own. He returns home late and wakes up the following morning to find Arnie still in the bath, shivering in the now-cold water. Gilbert's guilt is compounded by his family's anger. As a result Arnie refuses to get near water, including the pond by Becky's trailer, and his fear causes him to become extremely dirty, adding to the many problems Gilbert faces. Betty's affair with Gilbert ends when she begins to make demands on him and tries to have sex with him while he's on the phone with her husband, Ken. Ken drowns after suffering a cardiac arrest and landing face down in his sons' wading pool. Many of the townspeople believe Betty killed her husband, despite the insistence of Gilbert's friend, Bobby McBurney (Crispin Glover
Crispin Glover
Crispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...
), one of the town coroners, that believes it was a cardiac arrest. Besides Bobby, Gilbert is the only one who believed Betty didn't commit murder, and she eventually leaves town in search of a new life.
Becky bonds with Gilbert and Arnie and helps Gilbert reflect on his feelings. They become deeply involved in conversation until Gilbert realizes that Arnie is missing. He has returned to the water tower he is forever trying to climb and this time has succeeded at getting to the top. Arnie is arrested, compelling Bonnie, who has not left the house in seven years, to rush to the police station to demand his release, causing her appearance to be ridiculed by the townspeople.
Later at home, Arnie prematurely eats some of his birthday cake, which Gilbert told him not to touch. Gilbert orders Arnie to take a bath as punishment, and Arnie resists when Gilbert tries to force him. Losing his temper, Gilbert strikes Arnie-hard. Appalled at himself and angry at his life in general, Gilbert drives away, leaving Endora. Arnie leaves the house to find Becky, who takes care of him. Gilbert returns to town and sees Arnie with Becky, who is able to get him to enter the lake, and thus Arnie overcomes his fear of water. After Amy and Ellen come to Becky's and take Arnie home, Gilbert approaches Becky and the two talk about his own frustration and the reality of his father's death. The next day he returns home during Arnie's birthday party to apologize.
Following Arnie's eighteenth birthday and meeting Becky for the first time, Bonnie climbs the stairs to her bedroom for the first time in years. That evening she passes away in her bed. Arnie tries to wake her, thinking that she is just playing. He runs out of the house and begins to hurt himself. As his sisters try to stop him, they realize that Bonnie has died. Jerry, the local sheriff, and his deputies tell the Grape family that they would need more men to get Bonnie out of the house (an officer on the radio inappropriately says they'd need the National Guard). After the police leave, Gilbert and his sisters soon cry over losing her. The siblings realize that her removal would draw a gawking crowd and want to protect their mother from being a spectacle. They empty the house except for their mother's body, then Gilbert sets the house on fire.
One year later, Gilbert and Arnie are looking out again to watch the trailers pass. Through voice over, Gilbert tells of Amy getting a job offer to manage a bakery in Des Moines, and Ellen being thrilled to switch schools. Arnie chases the vehicles, arms flailing, excited to see Becky again. Along with Becky and her grandma, Gilbert and Arnie hit the road.
Cast
- Johnny DeppJohnny DeppJohn Christopher "Johnny" Depp II is an American actor, producer and musician. He has won the Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild award for Best Actor. Depp rose to prominence on the 1980s television series 21 Jump Street, becoming a teen idol...
as Gilbert Grape - Juliette LewisJuliette LewisJuliette Lewis is an American actress and musician. She gained international fame for her role in the 1991 thriller Cape Fear for which she was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress...
as Becky - Leonardo DiCaprioLeonardo DiCaprioLeonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
as Arnie Grape - Mary SteenburgenMary SteenburgenMary Nell Steenburgen is an American actress. She is best known for playing the role of Lynda Dummar in Jonathan Demme's Melvin and Howard, which earned her an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.-Early life:...
as Betty Carver - Darlene CatesDarlene Cates-Background:Rita Darlene Guthrie was born in Borger, Texas to Dorothy Ann and Truman Madison Guthrie. She made her feature film debut in Lasse Hallström's What's Eating Gilbert Grape, alongside Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio, in which she played the title character's housebound...
as Bonnie Grape - Laura HarringtonLaura HarringtonLaura Harrington is an American actress.Harrington is perhaps best known for her role as the main character's sister in the 1993 film What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Her character was aged around 20 though the actress herself was 35 at the time...
as Amy Grape - Mary Kate SchellhardtMary Kate SchellhardtMary Kate Schellhardt is an American actress. She is known for her role as Ellen in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Nadine in Free Willy 2, and Jim and Marilyn Lovell's eldest daughter Barbara in Apollo 13. Other films in which she has appeared include Mr. Blue Sky, The Great Mom Swap and 9-9-09...
as Ellen Grape - Kevin TigheKevin TigheKevin Tighe is an American character actor primarily known for his roles on television. Tighe is best known for his role as Roy DeSoto, a senior paramedic, on the NBC series Emergency! . He and Randolph Mantooth, his partner in the series, have remained close friends...
as Ken Carver - John C. ReillyJohn C. ReillyJohn Christopher Reilly, Jr. is an American film and theater actor, singer, and comedian. Debuting in Casualties of War in 1989, he is one of several actors whose careers were launched by Brian De Palma. To date, he has appeared in more than fifty films, including three separate films in 2002...
as Tucker Van Dyke - Crispin GloverCrispin GloverCrispin Hellion Glover is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, recording artist, publisher, and author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the...
as Bobby McBurney - Penelope Branning as Becky's Grandma
Release
The film had a limited release on December 17, 1993 and wide release on March 4, 1994. The wide release garnered $2,104,938 on first weekend. Total domestic gross for the film was $10,032,765.Critical reception and awards
The film received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, the film was given a 88% "Certified Fresh" rating. New York Times film critic Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for The New York Times. She served as the Times film critic from 1977–1999.- Biography :...
praised DiCaprio's performance, writing "the film's real show-stopping turn comes from Mr. DiCaprio, who makes Arnie's many tics so startling and vivid that at first he is difficult to watch.... The performance has a sharp, desperate intensity from beginning to end." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
described it as "... one of the most enchanting films of the year" and said that DiCaprio deserved to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
for which he was nominated. Todd McCarthy of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
found the film a "bemused view on life" and remarked that "Depp manages to command center screen with a greatly affable, appealing characterization." Washington Posts Desson Howe
Desson Thomson
Desson Patrick Thomson is a speechwriter in the Obama Administration and a former movie critic for The Washington Post.-Biography:Thomson attended boarding schools in England from the age of 7 until 17. He went to the Abbey School in East Grinstead, Sussex, and the City of London Freemen's School...
thought the film was an earnest but highly predictable effort. Film Review
Film Review (magazine)
Film Review magazine first appeared in 1950, initially for a 3-issue trial run. At the time it was titled "ABC Film Review" due to being tied in with ABC cinemas. At the time it was just 20 pages and cost 3 Old Pence. It was published by Associated British in association with Pathé and produced...
praised Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo DiCaprio
Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator , and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television...
as the mentally handicapped brother, calling it "a performance of astonishing innocence and spontaneity", bringing "a touching credibility to a very difficult part". Film Review quoted the actor:
"I had to really research and get into the mind of somebody with a disability like that. So I spent a few days at a home for mentally retarded teens. We just talked and I watched their mannerisms. People have these expectations that mentally retarded children are really crazy, but it's not so. It's refreshing to see them because everything's so new to them."
In addition to DiCaprio's first Academy Award nomination in this film, he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. He also won the Best Supporting Actor Award
National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor
The National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor is one of the annual film awards given by the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.- 1950s :- 1960s :- 1970s :- 1980s :-1990s:- 2000s :-2010s:...
from the National Board of Review.
Spoofs In Other Media
In the American Dad!American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
episode "Irregarding Steve", the film is parodied heavily, with the characters being squirrels.