

What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Life is a terrible thing to sleep through.
Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver, Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky.
TMDB
7.7/10
4,423 votes
IMDb
Not rated yet
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- Status
- Released
- Budget
- $11M
- Box office
- $10M
- Language
- English
- mentally disabled
- sibling relationship
- based on novel or book
- widow
- iowa
- dysfunctional family
- obesity
- single mother
- grocery store
- mentally handicapped child
Top billed cast















Behind the camera
Director
Writers
Produced in
United Kingdom, United States of America
Where to watch
All optionsAvailability for United States. Provided by JustWatch through the TMDB API.
Gallery












Videos
Release dates
United StatesUS
- Theatrical (limited)PG-1317 Dec 1993
- TheatricalPG-134 Mar 1994
United KingdomGB
- PremiereRaindance Film Festival1 Oct 1993
- Theatrical126 Mar 1994
AustraliaAU
- TheatricalPG26 Jun 1994
CanadaCA
- TVPG17 Dec 1993
BrazilBR
- Theatrical1215 Jul 1994
DenmarkDK
- TV1117 Dec 1993
FinlandFI
- PhysicalK-1217 Dec 1993
FranceFR
- TheatricalTP6 Apr 1994
GermanyDE
- Theatrical627 Apr 1994
IrelandIE
- Theatrical123 Jun 1994
ItalyIT
- Theatrical3 Mar 1995
NetherlandsNL
- Theatrical619 Jan 1995
- TV6Nederland 325 Dec 2002
- Physical6DVD1 Mar 2006
Frequently asked questions
What's Eating Gilbert Grape was released on 17 December 1993.
Audience reviews
4- P7/10
Peter McGinn
12/11/2021
I recently watched this movie again after many years, and was surprised how many details I had forgotten. It features a great ensemble cast who seem to mostly share a screen rapport. Leonardo DiCaprio previews his future star career with a stellar performance as the difficult Arnie. I thought the scene where husband Mr. Carver comes home from work and obsesses over the burnt cookies and the unused swimming pool wa…
- F3/10
Filipe Manuel Neto
11/27/2022
**A rather conventional and average family drama, where DiCaprio and Depp's performances turn out to be the only truly worthy note.** Sometimes, what makes a film remarkable is the extraordinary performance of an actor, and that becomes even more admirable when that actor is extremely young. That's what we have in this film, a conventional family drama, where a young adult tries to live his life as normally as pos…
- G10/10
GenerationofSwine
1/11/2023
So, I had no idea who Leonardo was when I saw this back in the 90s, it was before Titanic, before he made it big, and I thought they hired an intellectually disabled man to play the part. And it dropped in '93 so that would make Dicaprio about 19? Maybe 18 when they made it? I doubt they would give an Oscar to a kid that young, but see that he's CLEARLY not Intellectually Disabled and how believable he was, wel…
- C7/10
CinemaSerf
4/23/2024
With his mother (Darlene Cates) morbidly obese and equally embarrassed about her image, and his younger brother "Arnie" (Leonardo DiCaprio) dealing with mental health issues, it falls to "Gilbert" (Johnny Depp) to try and provide as best he can for his family. He has a job in the struggling local grocery store that sees him deliver to the "Carver" family. "Betty" (Mary Steenburgen) is the bored housewife there with w…
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