What's Eating Gilbert Grape

"Life is a terrible thing to sleep through."

What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 film starring Johnny Depp as the eponymous Gilbert Grape. The story deals with the Grape household and their friends and acquaintances from Endora, Iowa. Picking up a few years after the suicide of Gilbert's father we see its impact on everyone involved.

One of the main difficulties the family is having concerns Arnie Grape (played by Leonardo DiCaprio), who is developmentally disabled which creates a great deal of problems for everyone involved, especially the multiple times he climbs the town water tower and refuses to get down for everyone, except his brother Gilbert.

Gilbert ends up chafing against his role as the new man of the house, along with having to find his way through romantic tensions with a married woman, preparations for a grand party for Arnie's 18th Birthday, his morbidly obese mother's declining health, and worrying about his future career.


 * Big Eater: Bonnie Grape is a very tragicomical example of the fat version.
 * Book Ends: The trailers going through Endora.
 * Bratty Teenage Daughter: Ellen Grape
 * Driven to Suicide: Mr. Grape, before the movie begins.
 * Hollywood Pudgy: Averted, when Gilbert says his mother is the size of a beached whale, he is not far off.
 * I Was Quite a Looker: Bonnie Grape, in a picture (a real picture of the actress), taken before she gained the weight
 * Kids Are Cruel: The kids of Endora likes to hang around the Grape residence, hoping to have a chance to catch a glimpse of, and laugh at the morbidly obese Bonnie. Curiously enough, they are never shown to bully Arnie, and are actually very accepting of him.
 * Kill It with Fire: The family's solution to  at the end of the film.
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Gilbert does everything for his family without complaint, but is secretly resentful about it to his friends.
 * Make It Look Like an Accident: discussed by Gilbert's friends about Mr. Carver (who also happens to be offering Gilbert a job while his wife tries to get Gilbert to sleep with her) after he drowns to death in a kiddy pool party, argued to be subverted because he had a heart attack that caused him to collapse in such a way that he drowned in a kiddy pool.
 * Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Becky seems to be one for Gilbert.
 * My God, What Have I Done?: At the beginning of the movie, Arnie - the mentally challenged young man - kills a grasshopper by beheading it, and then cries to Gilbert about it. Later on in the movie, Gilbert loses his cool - leading him to slap Arnie around, after being so protective of him.
 * No OSHA Compliance: The town water tower is incredibly easy to climb up. All access to the ladder should be locked off.
 * The One Who Made It Out: Janice and Larry.
 * Pun-Based Title
 * Small Town Boredom: Welcome to Endora, Iowa where they look up to the majestic happenings of Des Moines, Iowa.
 * Super Drowning Skills: Arnie fears that he has this and refuses to go in or near water after he is left in a bathtub all night and almost drowns.
 * Those Two Guys: Gilbert's friends, a handyman and a mortician who often discuss the new Burger Barn that's about to open and how much better then other fast food chains they are.
 * Two-Person Pool Party: With their clothes on no less, and while Arnie watches...
 * What the Hell, Hero?: When Gilbert lifts up a little boy to gawk at his obese mother, his friends chastise him for it.
 * Your Cheating Heart