What's Eating Gilbert Grape" is a wonderfully rambling film that relies wholly on its characters to see it through to the end. There's no elaborate plot structure, and the only central conflict is general angst and unrest. Therefore, it is up to the main characters of the small town of Endora, Iowa to create a meaningful existence on-screen.
The film feels like Peter Bogdonavich's "The Last Picture Show," in the town's backward sleepiness, and the central character's unresolved restlessness. It creates a real sense of life, which everybody knows is often plodding and mundane, even when it feels like the world is about to strangle you.
Which is exactly how Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) feels. In his mid-twenties and saddled with responsibility for his family, Gilbert is trapped in the dying, small town world of Endora, a place he compares to dancing without music. He works at the local grocery store and frequently indulges in an affair with the local insurance salesman's wife......
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