To my suprise, this was an interesting, worthwhile portrait of a small town, with a focus on the Grape family. There are plenty of curious characters, secrets, and complex relationships. We don't get to see all of it during the course of the film, but what we do observe makes us want to learn more, not less, which is always a good sign.
A lot of credit for that goes to the minor character roles. John C Reilly is a scene-stealer as Gilbert's dependable friend Tucker, Crispin Glover is fun as Bobby, an undertaker upset that no one is dying, and Mary Steenburgen gives a nuanced performance as Betty, an older married woman Gilbert has an affair with.
Among the main cast, Johnny Depp is excellent as Gilbert, conveying all of the pressure he is feeling with a constant wistfulness while looking at the horizon. He's genuinely likable and plenty sympathetic. To my surprise, Juliette Lewis is terrific as his love interest Becky. She's less attractive than Betty, but one perfectly understands why Gilbert is drawn to her. She's different, being well-traveled, philosphical, and relaxed. She embodies a certain 90's hippie/indie girl vibe, but Lewis still makes her feel authentic and avoids being annoying, which is one hell of an accomplishment.
But even beyond the performances, these people and the town they're in are eminently real. They have hopes, dreams, and an inner life. There are no real "villains" in this picture. Gilbert and everyone else have both positive and negative traits, and the film doesn't shy away from either of them.
Visually, the movie is excellently shot, with a lot of beautiful shots of the sunset and rural Iowa. Many scenes also feature an important character moving and talking in the background without detracting from what is happening in the foreground, adding to the organic, genuine nature of the town.
Of course, the movie has its fair share of flaws, some standard, others less so.
The major events of this movie, which would have been plenty for two whole years in a small town, all happen during the course of a single week. This is a standard quality, but it really beggars belief and draws one out of any sense of realism.
Related to this, the movie lays it on very thick at times. A plot point is that the townspeople gawk at how fat Gilbert's mother is. It starts out reasonably enough, with neighborhood kids wanting to sneak a look at her.
But later, it culminates in a scene where the townspeople just crowd around her like she has two heads, and one, an old man, no less, takes a goddamn picture.
You mean to tell me that a small town, where everyone knows everyone, and there is a premium on manners, has an older man openly taking a picture of a woman because he thinks she's so fat? Townspeople might laugh behind her back, sure, but such horrendous, unconscionable bad manners are unknown in small-town America. It's unnecessarily cartoonish and also draws me out of the picture.
There are various minor nitpicks I have, too; Gilbert's mother's speech to him at the end about being a "knight in shimmering armor" was so trite and eye-rolling I couldn't believe the scriptwriters left it in, and while Darlene Cates gives a solid performance, she isn't quite talented enough to turn chicken shit into chicken salad.
I think the biggest issue, however, is that Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Arnie, isn't endearing at all. His performance is decent enough, if nothing special. But even if he can't help himself, why are we supposed to like him? He's intensely selfish and generally rude, creating unnecessary headaches and problems not only for his own family, but for the entire town by climbing up the water tower. He laughs about most things, including his father's suicide. He's often outright terrible to his sisters and especially Gilbert.
Okay, maybe we don't hold any of this against him. But is him being retarded reason to be sympathetic for him?
And this is no small element. It ruins a major plot thread near the end,
Spoiler!
Lastly, I have to compare this movie to one of the worst cinematic atrocities I've ever seen, Hillbilly Elegy (2020), which I gave a/100 to.
Both movies deal with small, podunk towns in the middle of nowhere, America. "Flyover country", as my fellow coastals like to call it. But look at the difference in presentation here.
The town in Gilbert Grape features living, breathing, human characters, with actual thoughts and a meaningful inner life. They're generally decent, too. Sure, there is a slightly depressing quality and Gilbert wants to get out, but other characters, like Tucker and Bobby, manage to find hopes and goals there. I can definitely see a slight condescension from the Hollywood filmmakers towards these small-town denizens and a sense of strangeness, but it's restrained. There is also a strong degree of understanding and sympathy.
Compare that to how Appalachia is presented in Hillbilly Elegy, an infernal hellhole where damn near everyone is a drug fiend, violent sociopath who beats their wife or children, foul-mouthed idiot who has to say "fuck" every second syllable, or all three. Not only do these people suck, but they're all cartoons. Note how utterly empty the protagonist's sister is in Hillbilly Elegy versus Gilbert's sisters, especially Ellen. Naturally, there is neither hope nor salvation in this nightmare except to get out and never look back, like the protagonist, who goes to Yale Law School and gets a racially diverse girlfriend. The Hollywood filmmakers present Appalachians as utter space aliens, and not just any aliens, but those who eat human flesh.
We've sure come a long way in just 27 years, and it reflects the divide in our present society.