“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” is not only the movie’s title, but one of the main questions in this film. Gilbert (Johnny Depp) is the main caregiver for his mentally challenged seventeen-year-old brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), he works at a local grocery market, helps take care of repairs for the family’s run-down old house, and deals with his mother’s extremely overweight condition. In fact, he is embarrassed of her. A local older married woman calls for him to make house deliveries as she likes him and is having an affair with him. Then Gilbert meets a young woman his age who seems to understand the pressures of his life and is there for him.
Despite the fact that this film deals with real-life issues effectively, and the stresses of life, and includes great performances from Depp and DiCaprio, it also contains some strong language and the affair between the lead character and the married woman. Therefore, we are unable to award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this movie as a family-friendly film.
