What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom's follow-up to the underrated Once Around earned far more attention than its predecessor thanks to the judicious casting of perennial thinking woman's heartthrob Johnny Depp and a certain up-and-coming thespian by the name of Leonardo DiCaprio. A prisoner of his ...more

This tender but unflinching examination of the tension between individual happiness and family obligation neatly condenses a large ensemble, a lengthy backstory and a lot of subtext into two delightfully cinematic hours. Just a touch of voice-over from leading man Johnny Depp sets the stage for a story that is told from his character's viewpoint even as it takes in a host of supporting players and deals with such tangential issues as frustrated infidelity and the strip-malling of America. After ...more