Not Approved

Whats Eating Gilbert Grape

Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) lives in a backwater Iowa town and is "man of the house" to his retarded brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio, who's never been better), a couple of sisters and his dangerously overweight mother. Despite all the crushing responsibility, Gilbert perseveres. But will he ever be able to live his own life? Directed by Lasse Hallström.
13
Negative Rating
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SexLanguageViolenceDrugsNudityOther
0
Positive Rating
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FaithIntegrity

Dove Review

“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.

Dove Rating Details

0
Faith

None

0
Integrity

A character loses his temper in one scene and strikes his brother three or four times; a character throws a potato through the window from the house at kids who are staring at the mother.

3
Sex

Kissing between two different couples; a married woman is having an affair with a single man and kisses him on the neck in one scene; oral sex is implied in one scene.

4
Language

F-2; G/OMG-9; S-3; D-4; H-3; A-1; Slang for breasts-1

1
Violence

A character loses his temper in one scene and strikes his brother three or four times; a character throws a potato through the window from the house at kids who are staring at the mother.

2
Drugs

The drinking of cooking sherry; smoking.

1
Nudity

Mild cleavage; shirtless young man as he receives a bath.

2
Other

The death of two characters; a mortician says he and others sometimes make jokes about the corpses; the stress of raising a mentally challenged young man; jokes are made about overweight woman; a house is purposely set on fire.

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