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moments on incongruous juxtaposition, such as Ken Carver´s bovine head trampolining up from behind the garden hedge as Gilbert and Betty are getting down to a bit of illicit. Häagen Dasz-inspired passion, or Endora´s new mobile Burger Barn arriving just as Ken´s coffin is being laid to rest. Here, what´s humorous is the sequence of events, not simply the events themselves. "What´s Eating Gilbert Grape" is evocative in the way it draws - and draws on - minutiae, so the overall picture is the sum of accumulated detail. Bonnie Grape´s way of clutching her tub of popcorn with simultaneous resentment and possessiveness conveys more about her self-loathing and her defiance than any trite verbal exchange about why she slumped into obesity.
Like Hallsström´s earlier "My Life As A Dog", this is a film of sentiment that eschews sentimentality, despite the main storylines concerning Gilbert and his family and his relationship with the outsider Becky. There are moments ripe for cloying t...