A Rambling -- What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Turns out it was a flesh eating virus. Nah I'm just kidding, although given the things Gilbert has to put up with, he might take a flesh eating virus as a win. To those of you teens who complain about dealing with your annoying parents and maybe some bothersome siblings, you should go ahead and watch What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Gilbert is a young man who is being severely limited by his family that consists of a morbidly obese mother, an autistic brother, and two frustratingly unappreciative sisters. With a life so consumed by taking care of his family, the only time Gilbert has for himself is when he delivers groceries to Betty Carver, although the groceries aren't the reason she calls him, if ya know what I mean. When Gilbert finally does find a girl that he likes, Becky, he tries as hard as he can to start his own social life, but his family continually gets in the way.
I really wanted to like What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and there were some moments I genuinely enjoyed, specifically whenever Leonardo Dicaprio was on screen. However, the film is so drowned in mawkishness that I didn't find myself enjoying it. Johnny Depp, who plays Gilbert, and is one of my favorite actors, was vastly disappointing if I must say so. I was looking for him to really grab this movie by the horns and steer it in the right direction, but he couldn't get a good enough grip. His scenes with Becky (Juliette Lewis) were absolutely disastrous and I found myself pulling my hair waiting for them to end. The one bright spot in this movie that makes it somewhat worth watching is Leonardo Dicaprio's performance as Gilbert's autistic brother Arnie. His scenes were the only ones where I felt interested and they actually made me watch this movie through and through. As someone who has a relative with down syndrome, I tend to be a sucker for movies that explore mental disabilites.
I didn't really analyze What's Eating Gilbert Grape as far as direction and writing goes, because I had a headache and was just looking for a movie to pass the time. I probably should had just taken a nap. In other words, forget what I said in the first paragraph, I don't suggest anybody watches What's Eating Gilbert Grape.