A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.A young man in a small Midwestern town struggles to care for his mentally-disabled younger brother and morbidly obese mother while attempting to pursue his own happiness.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 8 wins & 7 nominations total
- Minister
- (as Rev. Robert B. Hedges)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJohnny Depp felt bad about having to ridicule Darlene Cates' character, "Momma," and would often apologize to her after shooting. Depp once said to Cates, "Man, I want you to know how much I hated having to say those things about you, or about your character."
- GoofsGilbert never says that his father died 17 years ago. He said that his father was "hung out to dry 17 years ago", meaning he probably lost a business or a lot of money, and a few years later committed suicide, so he really is Ellen's father. Arnie is also pretty aware of his father's method of dying. If he had died 17 years before, Arnie would just have been a baby, therefore not knowing exactly what happened.
- Quotes
Becky: Tell me what you want, as fast as it comes to you.
Gilbert: Uhh...
Becky: Okay?
Gilbert: 'Kay.
Becky: Okay. What do you want?
[He's thinking about it]
Becky: Faster!
Gilbert: Okay. I want a new thing. House. I want a new house. And a family.
[He sighs heavily]
Gilbert: I want Momma to take aerobics classes. I want Ellen to grow up. I want a new brain for Arnie. I want...
Becky: What do you want for you? Just for you?
Gilbert: I want to be a good person.
- Crazy creditsThe cast is listed with all capital letters in the ending credits. Leonardo DiCaprio's name is listed in capital letters with smaller font size for character "I" in "Di".
The casting worked perfectly to create family dynamics that were so very real that they did not even seem brandable as dysfunctional. I appreciated that the mother was never portrayed as less intelligent simply because she was overweight. I loved that the kids did everything they could to protect their mother and their disturbed brother from outside influences and hurt feelings. They stuck together until the end which actually became the beginning. A hopeful and joyous film.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- ¿A quién ama Gilbert Grape?
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $11,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $10,032,765
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $74,421
- Dec 19, 1993
- Gross worldwide
- $10,032,765
- Runtime1 hour 58 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1