What's Eating Gilbert Grape

1993
PG-13
1h 58m

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

259K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:11

Coming-of-Age Teen Drama Tragedy Drama

A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.7/10

259K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,875

371

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 8 wins & 7 nominations total

Videos3

Trailer 2:11

Official Trailer

Clip 4:29

The Rise of Leonardo DiCaprio

Clip 4:29

The Rise of Leonardo DiCaprio

Video 4:07

What Roles Did Leonardo DiCaprio Almost Play?

Photos104

+ 98

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Johnny Depp felt bad about having to ridicule Darlene Cates' character, "Momma," and would often apologize to her after shooting. Depp once said to Cates, "Man, I want you to know how much I hated having to say those things about you, or about your character."

Goofs
Gilbert never says that his father died 17 years ago. He said that his father was "hung out to dry 17 years ago", meaning he probably lost a business or a lot of money, and a few years later committed suicide, so he really is Ellen's father. Arnie is also pretty aware of his father's method of dying. If he had died 17 years before, Arnie would just have been a baby, therefore not knowing exactly what happened.

Quotes
Becky: Tell me what you want, as fast as it comes to you.
Gilbert: Uhh...
Becky: Okay?
Gilbert: 'Kay.
Becky: Okay. What do you want?
[He's thinking about it]
Becky: Faster!
Gilbert: Okay. I want a new thing. House. I want a new house. And a family.
[He sighs heavily]
Gilbert: I want Momma to take aerobics classes. I want Ellen to grow up. I want a new brain for Arnie. I want...
Becky: What do you want for you? Just for you?
Gilbert: I want to be a good person.

Crazy credits
The cast is listed with all capital letters in the ending credits. Leonardo DiCaprio's name is listed in capital letters with smaller font size for character "I" in "Di".

Connections
Featured in Siskel & Ebert: The Pelican Brief/Beethoven's 2nd/Philadelphia/What's Eating Gilbert Grape/Wrestling Ernest Hemmingway (1993)

Soundtracks
This Magic Moment
by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman
Performed by The Manor High School Marching Band

User reviews435

Review

Featured review

9/10

can you believe Leo is not brain damaged?!

As many have said, the first time I saw this slice of "unusual" life film, I was certain that the actor playing Arnie was mentally handicapped. This was the performance to end all. I have been around mentally challenged people who were the carbon copy of the character that Leonardo portrayed. I do no think that anyone else could have pulled this off without looking ridiculous. Our protagonist, Mr. Johnny Depp did his usual amazing work, but it is the performance by Leo that makes this film a must see. I just saw it again tonight, and was blown away again. Acting schools must have copies of this in their files!! Will always be a Leo fan for this one film alone.