What's Eating Gilbert Grape

I often say when I'm being entertained I like to feel and think, and maybe even laugh a little. Any movie about family is going to make me feel, and with What's Eating Gilbert Grape, once you add in that the family is dysfunctional with a mentally handicapped son, it makes me feel more and think as well, but I definitely wasn't laughing.

Leonardo DiCaprio plays the mentally handicapped son, and Johnny Depp plays the brother that is saddled with having to take care of his brother. Their mom is morbidly obese and hasn't left the house in years, similar to John Travolta's character in Hairspray, but a lot less fun. Again, I wasn't finding much humor in this movie.

It's hard to imagine the daily lives that this family is saddled with. DiCaprio and Depp, two of the better actors in their age group are outstanding in this movie. So much so, that it's hard to separate the actors from the characters afterward.

Blowout film for Leo, thats for damn sure. Depp and Dicaprio share the screen as brothers in the beautifully shot film in a fictional town call Ednora, or something along those lines. Gilbert takes care of his whole family: his two sisters, his mentally challenged brother and quite obese mother, while working at a the slwoly dying convenance store. The story is heart wretching and heart swelling at the same time, if you can imagine that. Gilbert meets Becky, a girl passing through the small town, but with all his responsilbility, he cant seem to fine the time to get to know her. The acting in this film is amazing, definitely a must see film.

I'm not going to lie. I first rented this movie as a teenager in order to watch Leonardo DiCaprio prance across the screen. Yeah, so sue me. However, I was delightfully surprised that this wasn't a movie where Leo was just another pretty face-on the contrary. In fact he was amazing in his role as a mentally handicapped teenager, so much so that I'm sure many fangirls could have put their crushes on Leo aside long enough to enjoy his sheer capabilities as an actor. This film is funny and touching at the same time and definitely worth a look.