What's Eating Gilbert Grape

So, I had no idea who Leonardo was when I saw this back in the 90s, it was before Titanic, before he made it big, and I thought they hired an intellectually disabled man to play the part. And it dropped in '93 so that would make Dicaprio about 19? Maybe 18 when they made it? I doubt they would give an Oscar to a kid that young, but see that he's CLEARLY not Intellectually Disabled and how believable he was, well, that's probably one of the best performances I've seen. That was Oscar worthy. Besides that, it was really a Johnny Depp vehicle... as much as a 90s indy film can be, and he played a calm, low key, and utterly charming role in a film about a man that had to maybe grow up too fast and deal with too much at too young an age. And, of course, a charming little love story. A charming story about family. About loyalty. There is honestly absolutely nothing to criticize here, except, it's certainly a 90s story, a 90s movie, and if you are removed from Gen-X, it might not have the appeal. This isn't the over-the-top FX sort of films that are a hallmark of the Millennial generation... ...but beyond that, KUDOS to Leo for nailing it as such a young age, and a cheers to everyone else involved for making a brilliant and entertaining hidden gem of a film

With his mother (Darlene Cates) morbidly obese and equally embarrassed about her image, and his younger brother "Arnie" (Leonardo DiCaprio) dealing with mental health issues, it falls to "Gilbert" (Johnny Depp) to try and provide as best he can for his family. He has a job in the struggling local grocery store that sees him deliver to the "Carver" family. "Betty" (Mary Steenburgen) is the bored housewife there with whom "Gilbert" has some fun whilst her husband is off selling insurance. It's all a relentless cycle that's going nowhere until "Becky" (Juliette Lewis) comes to town and starts to give "Gilbert" a sense of a different purpose. She begins to help him see that he must live a bit of his own life too. When a fairly predictable tragedy ensues, everyone has to make some choices - and they're not easy. DiCaprio is pretty outstanding as the soon-to-be eighteen year old lad whose behaviour would test the patience of a saint. His loud and repetitive language and his child-like tantrums are just the tip of the iceberg and his performance - especially his grinning - gives "Arnie" an engaging amount of character. He's not going for the sympathy vote, either - his portrayal elicits feelings of affection, sure, but also of cheerfully wanting to strangle him! Depp holds this all together with assurance and there's plenty of humour to keep the melodrama at bay. It starts off strongly and continues for two hours of characterful and thought-provoking drama that can at times come across as just a little contrived, but it is still a good watch.