- 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.
- There isn't much for Gilbert to look forward to in the small, dying town of Endora. The only thing keeping him sane is his mentally-challenged brother, and his physically-challenged mother. Despite the challenges that are posed in this small town, Gilbert had forgotten that he has become challenged himself and, with the help of a marooned world traveler, begins to see the bigger picture.—Mal Fee Zants
- 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 dysfunctional family's broken dreams in tiny Endora, IA, Gilbert (Depp) serves as breadwinner and caretaker for his mother and siblings following his father's suicide and his older brother's defection. Momma (Darlene Cates) is a morbidly obese shut-in who hasn't left the house in seven years; her children include Arnie (DiCaprio), who's about to turn 18 despite a host of negative medical forecasts, and terminally embarrassed Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt), who's emerging from an awkward adolescence. When he's not taking care of the difficult but tender Arnie, Gilbert spends his time fixing up the family's tattered farmhouse, working at a failing mom-and-pop grocery store and hanging with local misfits Bobby (Crispin Glover), an overly ambitious junior undertaker, and Tucker (John C. Reilly), a handyman who hankers after a job at the new burger franchise. Into this complicated but essentially unchanging social universe steps Becky (Juliette Lewis), a thoughtful young woman who's been escorting her nomadic grandmother from state to state in a mobile-home caravan. As Becky teaches Gilbert to finally consider his own happiness for a change, she disrupts both his family obligations and his long-running affair with a lonely housewife (Mary Steenburgen).
- This film tells a story about Gilbert Grape. He is a grocery store worker who is burdened by his family's needs. He cares and provides for a intellectually disabled young adult brother and a morbidly obese mother. The Grape household has deteriorated since the suicide of their father and Gilbert bares the weight (no pun intended) of a struggling poor American family. In this tale, Gilbert has a string of risky affairs which complicates matters. This movie tells a more realistic version of the trials and tribulations of barely functioning family in the mid-west of America.
- Gilbert Grape (Depp) is a young man trapped in an eccentric family in a small American town. He works hard to care for his developmentally disabled teenage brother Arnie (DiCaprio), and their overweight mother (Cates) while trying to maintain their crumbling house. When Becky (Lewis) arrives in town, she befriends the Grape family and Gilbert develops feelings for her.
- In the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is busy caring for Arnie, his mentally disabled younger brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) who is about to turn 18, as they wait for the many tourists' trailers to pass through town during an annual Airstreamers' Club gathering at a nearby recreational area
Gilbert's father had lost his business or money seventeen years earlier and committed suicide two years after. Since then, his mother, Bonnie, has spent most of her days on the couch watching television and eating. His mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates) is morbidly obese after years of depression following her husband's suicide. With Bonnie's obesity leaving her unable to care for her children on her own, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing the old house that his father built and being protective of Arnie, who has a habit of climbing the town's water tower, as well as trees. All while his older sister Amy (Laura Harrington) and younger sister Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt) slave away in the kitchen.
The relationship between the brothers is one of care and protection.
In order to cope with his frenetic life, Gilbert has taken on a secret love affair with a housewife, Betty (Mary Steenburgen) to whom he delivers groceries. While her insensitive, unsuspecting husband Ken (Kevin Tighe), is fully intent on selling Gilbert insurance for his family. Gilbert had an older brother named Larry who moved away some years ago. A new FoodLand supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery where Gilbert works, as well as threatening all the other small-time businesses in Endora.
While the family prepares for Arnie's upcoming 18th birthday party, a young woman named Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother are stuck in town when their truck towing their trailer breaks down. Gilbert's unusual life circumstances threaten to get in the way of their budding romance.
To spend time with Becky to watch the sunset, Gilbert leaves Arnie alone in the bath. He returns home late and finds Arnie still in the bath the following morning, shivering in the now-cold water. Gilbert's guilt is compounded by his family's anger. As a result, Arnie refuses to get near water, including the pond by Becky's trailer, and his fear causes him to become extremely dirty, adding to the many problems Gilbert faces. Becky becomes close to both Gilbert and Arnie.
Betty's affair with Gilbert ends when she begins to make demands on him and tries to have sex with him while he's on the phone with her husband, Ken. When Ken finds out, there's a horrible scene involving Gilbert, the man's children, and their wading pool. Ken drowns after suffering a cardiac arrest and landing face down in his sons' wading pool. Many of the townspeople believe Betty killed her husband, despite the insistence of Gilbert's friend, Bobby McBurney (Crispin Glover), one of the town coroners, that believes it was a cardiac arrest. Betty eventually leaves town in search of a new life.
Becky bonds with Gilbert and Arnie and helps Gilbert reflect on his feelings. They become deeply involved in conversation until Gilbert realizes that Arnie is missing. He has returned to the water tower he is forever trying to climb, and this time has succeeded at getting to the top. Arnie is arrested, compelling Bonnie, who has not left the house in seven years, to rush to the police station to demand his release, causing her appearance to be ridiculed by the townspeople.
Soon, Arnie ruins two birthday cakes: the first, when he runs into Amy and she drops the cake she has lovingly made; and the second, a replacement from FoodLand, which he dips his fingers in to, having found it in the refrigerator. Arnie tries to run away from his bath, and in his frustration, Gilbert finally snaps, hitting Arnie several times. Guilty and appalled at himself, Gilbert flees, driving away in his truck.
Arnie leaves the house to find Becky, who takes care of him. Gilbert returns to town and sees Arnie with Becky, who is able to get him to enter the lake, thus overcoming Arnie's fear of water. After Amy and Ellen come to Becky's and take Arnie home, Gilbert approaches Becky and the two talk about his own frustration and the reality of his father's death. After some soul-searching, aided by Becky, Gilbert returns home during Arnie's 18th birthday party to make amends to his family for running out, and to receive Arnie's reluctant forgiveness. He also apologizes to his mother for his behavior, and vows not to be ashamed of her or let her be hurt anymore. She acknowledges how much of a burden that she has become to the family, and he forgives her. Gilbert also introduces Bonnie to Becky, something he had been reluctant to do.
Following Arnie's eighteenth birthday and meeting Becky for the first time, Bonnie climbs the stairs to her bedroom for the first time in years. That evening she passes away in her bed. Arnie soon realizes what happened, runs out of the house and begins to hurt himself. Jerry, the local sheriff, and his deputies tell the Grape family that they would need more men to get Bonnie's heavy corpse out of the house. The police make plans to return with a crane the next day. After the police leave, Gilbert and his sisters soon cry over losing her. The siblings realize that her removal would draw a gawking crowd and want to protect their mother from being a spectacle. The family instinctively knows that there will be a crowd of people there to get a laugh, instead of paying their respects. They empty the house except for their mother's body, then Gilbert sets the house on fire, not willing to see a crane remove her and for the inevitable ridicule to ensue.
A year later, Amy gets a job managing a bakery in the Des Moines area, while Ellen looks forward to switching schools and living in a bigger city. Gilbert waits by the side of the road with Arnie, whose 19th birthday is coming up, waiting for the tourist trailers to come again. As part of the convoy, Becky arrives with her grandmother and picks them both up. Gilbert tells Arnie, "We can go anywhere."
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