what's eating gilbert grape

for whatever reason, when the film first came out, what's eating gilbert grape, i didn't go to see it, even though i had a chance to see it (all my friends were seeing it.) a friend of mine named katy kept saying to me, you have to see this film. and then a year or so ago my brother Jon again told me i should see this movie. so i ordered it and i have seen it, and i can say it's one of the best movies i've ever seen. there is a young romance in this film, and there is a handicapped person who doesn't really know how to behave, how to act his age, and through it all johnny depp is the centerpiece, the one holding the family together, a strange family, in a small town where being strange is a source of awe and amusement by the ordinary folks of the town. the mother is obese, and a lot of the plot is around that, her contention that she "never wanted to be a joke." johnny depp has to come to terms with his own family, accepting them as they are, and doing his duty taking care of the others.