What's Eating Gilbert Grape is a 1993 American coming-of-age drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, and starring Johnny Depp, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen, Leonardo DiCaprio, John C. Reilly and Darlene Cates. It follows a grocery store clerk, living with his dysfunctional family including his morbidly obese mother, his mentally disabled younger brother and two sisters, in the fictional rural town of Endora, Iowa.

Plot

In the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape is busy caring for Arnie, his mentally disabled younger brother who is about to turn 18, as they wait for the many tourists' trailers to pass through town during an annual Airstreamers' Club gathering at a nearby recreational area. His father had lost his business or money seventeen years earlier and committed suicide two years after. Since then, his mother, Bonnie, has spent most of her days on the couch watching television and eating. With Bonnie's obesity leaving her unable to care for her children on her own, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing the old house that his father built and being protective of Arnie, who has a habit of climbing the town's water tower, as well as trees, while his sisters, Amy and Ellen, do the other housework. Gilbert had an older brother named Larry who moved away some years ago. A new FoodLand supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery where Gilbert works.