The Wrath of ‘Grape’

If you want to see a serious comedy (not those typical of Hollywood) with dramatic elements that will relax your nerves, sooth your senses, make you cry and, at the same time, leave you with the good feeling that there is still hope in life, then the 1993 film “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” is the answer.

This adaptation of Peter Hedges’ pastoral novel of the same name, brought to life thanks to a mix of an A-list cast and noteworthy newcomers and under the direction of Lars Sven “Lasse” Hallstrom is utterly entertaining. At the same time, the story gives deep human issues such as loneliness, isolation, depression, love, hope and death remarkable gravity.

Despite his non-American background (he is originally from Sweden) and lack of experience with feature films (originally he directed music videos for the Swedish pop group ABBA), Lasse Hallstrom shows deep understanding of the psyche of the Midwest and demonstrates his ability of portraying it on the big screen.

No wonder he received an Academy Award nomination in the best-director category for another adaptation, “The Cider House Rules,” based on John Irving’s book and starring Tobey Maguire.

The title, per se, is a rhetorical question whose answer one can find in the plot itself. Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp), the protagonist and the narrator of the story, is a young man who desperately craves a change in his monotonous, dead-end, daily existence. Living in a remote farm house in the unknown town of Endora, Iowa, 20-year-old Gilbert is torn on a daily basis between working in a family-owned grocery store on the verge of running out of business, keeping his shackle house from completely falling apart and, last but not least, tending to the needs of his gravely obese mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates), and mentally retarded brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who has miraculously survived past the age of 10.

Not exactly a dream life, huh?

The only excitement, if one could call it so, for this young man comes when he has to assist the local police in bringing down the carefree Arnie from the water tower when he tries to save his mother’s honor from the jokes of the local kids, or when he discusses embalming issues with his friends at the local diner, or when he endures the brazen sexual advances of the hormone-driven desperate housewife, Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen, “Melvin & Howard,” “The Brave One”).

As Gilbert’s voiceover puts it, “Living in Endora is like dancing to no music.”

How true.

The portrayal of the selfless and humble Gilbert is one of the most realistic, touching and yet notable roles that Depp has had throughout his career. Known for displaying bizarre, eccentric characters such as those of Captain Jack Sparrow in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” trilogy, Ichabod Crane in “Sleepy Hollow” and Sweeney Todd in “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street” (for which he received an Oscar nod), Depp is convincing in portraying a typical small-town boy in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”

Just like Donnie Brasco in the movie of the same name, the role of Gilbert reveals the actor’s natural, ingenuous charisma. Depp shows strong chemistry with another highlight of the film, DiCaprio.

Having in mind that this is DiCaprio’s second appearance in a feature presentation (the first one is in “This Boy’s Life”), he is so deeply believable in the character of the mentally challenged Arnie (rumor has it some thought DiCaprio was really retarded), that it is a crime on the part of the Academy not to honor him with the Oscar for a best supporting actor for which he was nominated and truly deserving.

For those who know DiCaprio as the heartthrob sensation from his “Titanic” days and his crude masculine sexiness in “The Departed” and “Body of Lies,” the helpless and less-than-attractive Endora boy may leave some room for wondering.

Academy Award nominee Juliette Lewis (“Cape Fear,” “Enough”) is the perfect actress for the role of Becky, the frivolous, carefree girl whose arrival in town gives a green light to Gilbert’s mundane existence; having traveled all over the United States herself, Becky opens Gilbert’s eyes to the world, true love and the beauty of nature.

She also teaches him to appreciate himself. Since Lewis has taken many chances in her life (from earning emancipation from her father to overcoming drug problems), the image of Becky is an extension of her personality.

The biggest kudos should go to big-screen newcomer Darlene Cates for her realistic portrayal of Momma Bonnie. Even though Cates disappeared from the spotlight after “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” her natural obesity and down-to-earth acting will remain the trademark of the film.
John C. Reilly (“The Aviator,” “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story”) brings humoristic elements to the plot as the unsophisticated Tucker, Gilbert’s best friend. Mary Steenburgen’s acting as Betty Carver, on the other hand, is rather stiff and theatrical. Yet, it is respectable.

Even though the end is a little bit sad, it symbolizes the basis of a new beginning for the characters. The scenes of the burning house, the road and the trailers passing by suggest a liberation from the past and moving into the future. The accidental and happy (though a bit unrealistic) reunion of Gilbert, Arnie and Becky is the perfect end-of-movie tableau about the idea that hope and love are all around.

“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” is a chicken-soup-for-the-soul-film that should not be missed.