What is the iRankMovies score for What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

Name: What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Director: Lasse Hallström
Genre: drama, romance
Released: 1993
Duration: 1 h 58 min
Rating: 7.7

What's Eating Gilbert Grape has an iRankMovies score of 79.6/100, based on a weighted combination of IMDb (×3.0), Rotten Tomatoes (×2.0), Metacritic (×1.5), and TMDb (×1.0).

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

Life is a terrible thing to sleep through.

Release:1993

Runtime:1h 58m

Country:United States

Director:Lasse Hallström

Language:English

Genre

DramaRomance

See the best drama movies →

Keywords

Mentally DisabledSibling RelationshipBased On Novel Or BookWidowIowaDysfunctional FamilyObesitySingle Mother

iRank80

What's Eating Gilbert Grape rating: IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic

IMDb7.7/10· 266K votes

Rotten Tomatoes90%

Metacritic73%

TMDb7.663/10· 4K votes

With 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, backed by 7.7/10 on IMDb and 73/100 on Metacritic, critical reception of this film has been very positive.

About What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Gilbert Grape is a small-town young man with a lot of responsibility. Chief among his concerns are his mother, who is so overweight that she can't leave the house, and his mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who has a knack for finding trouble. Settled into a job at a grocery store and an ongoing affair with local woman Betty Carver, Gilbert finally has his life shaken up by the free-spirited Becky.

Cast of What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Johnny Depp
as Gilbert Grape
Leonardo DiCaprio
as Arnie Grape
Juliette Lewis
as Becky
Mary Steenburgen
as Betty Carver
Darlene Cates
as Momma
Laura Harrington
as Amy Grape
Mary Kate Schellhardt
as Ellen Grape
Kevin Tighe
as Mr. Carver
John C. Reilly
as Tucker Van Dyke
Crispin Glover
as Bobby McBurney
Penelope Branning
as Becky's Grandma
T
Tim Green
as Mr. Lamson

What's Eating Gilbert Grape facts

Budget: $11M
Box office: $10M

Our take on What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Lasse Hallström's tender 1993 drama centers on Gilbert Grape, a young man tethered to his small town by family duty. He cares for a mother too heavy to leave the house and a mentally impaired younger brother, Arnie, who constantly courts trouble, all while working at a grocery store and carrying on a quiet affair. The arrival of free-spirited Becky finally jolts his becalmed life. Warm, unhurried and deeply humane, it trades plot mechanics for character and mood, finding grace in ordinary struggles. It suits viewers drawn to gentle, emotionally rich stories about family, responsibility and the quiet ache of feeling stuck. A softly moving portrait of longing and love.

Ranked by the iRankMovies editorial teamUpdated August 2026Methodology Data sources

Audience opinions

What the audience liked

•Dysfunctional family dynamics resonate with genuine emotional authenticity
•Coming-of-age themes explore small-town limitation with sensitivity
•Nuanced performances capture complex intergenerational relationships thoughtfully