Laura Harrington
Occupation
Actor
What's Eating Gilbert Grape Review
Extraordinary
His fans may love Leonardo DiCaprio best for his role as the scampy hero of a ship called Titanic, but I'll always know him best as a retard. DiCaprio's role as the severely autistic Arnie Grape -- a role which DiCaprio owned so wholly most moviegoers thought the then-unknown actor was truly retarded. He won a 1994 Oscar nomination, losing to Tommy Lee Jones' turn in The Fugitive, just one in a series of recent Oscar heresies.So who's Gilbert Grape, and what's eating him? Gilbert (Johnny Depp, in another outstanding performance from the film) is the unofficial caretaker of the Grape clan, a rural Iowa family that includes the aforementioned Arnie, coming up on 18 years old, and the enormous Momma (Darlene Cates), a 500-pound woman who hasn't left the Grape house in nearly a decade. Taking care of Arnie and Momma is enough work for three people -- but sisters Ellen and Amy don't carry their weight, leaving Gilbert to do the heavy lifting (no pun intended).
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