As the movie introduces characters in the town, and the audience discovers Gilbert is starting the top of the show having an affair with a married older woman, we realize his character has much room to grow. At one point in the first act, I found myself asking the picture, "What ISN'T wrong with Gilbert Grape?"

In this work, Depp shows why is completely capable of being handed almost any role, especially when his character doesn't have many lines. After having seen this picture many times, it finally dawned on me that Depp's role is 80-percent in his responses and maybe 20-percent in line delivery; mostly cause he doesn't have a lot of lines. He has uncountable scenes where he simply sits and watches his family, people of the town and Becky express themselves.

Eventually, Gilbert has this side of a nervous breakdown when things start to get too him, again showing Depp a master of his craft starting in the early 1990's.

DiCaprio got an Academy Award® nomination with this performance, and rightly so. The little Hollywood brat melts away and you see only Arnie very quickly in the picture. His performance in "The Aviator," has been the only work I've seen him do to come close to matching his challenge of this picture.

One of my favorite performances came from Darlene Cates (Wolf Girl), as mother Bonnie Grape. Her character's husband killed himself and sent her into a fierce depression, justifying where the weight gain came from. Cates, who is performing the role without any body padding, did such a great job showing the pain she still carries.

The scene where Bonnie leaves the house for the first time in years to bail her son Arnie out of lock up is extremely strong for her. Cates was extremely well cast.

Director Lasse HallstrÖm (Cider House Rules, The Shipping News) didn't make any wild decisions in his shot selection. Visually, the picture is as boring as the town it was set in. I feel that was a deliberate choice of the director. It's the film's character objectives and interaction making it highly entertaining.

Screenwriter Peter Hedges (About a Boy, Pieces of April), who also penned the novel it was based on, obviously has a firm grasp on not only small town life and its people, but the toughts and aggrivations of someone who fears being alone in such a place.

I think if you like these very human condition driven movies, you'll like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" It has a solid script, but takes some attention to pick up on little nuances of the characters. Some folks with extremely short attention spans may not get through it. I have a pretty short span, and I love it. I guess my point is, if "Torque" is your favorite movie, you won't like this one. Otherwise, give "…Grape?" a try.