What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Directed by Lasse Hallström
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.
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What critics compared What's Eating Gilbert Grape to
All of these stages are part of Dear John, a drama directed by the inimitable Lasse Hallstrom ( My Life as A Dog , The Cider House Rules , Chocolat , An Unfinished Life , What's Eating Gilbert Grape ).
It’s surprisingly beside the point that the film is directed by Lasse Hallström, once the capable chaperone of “My Life as a Dog,’’ “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,’’ “Chocolat,’’ and “The Cider House Rules.’’
Director Lasse Hallström ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape," "The Cider House Rules," "My Life as a Dog") keeps things from getting too syrupy and Tatum and Seyfried have a sweet, easy connection.
And for Dear John, that task falls to Lasse Hallström, the once-great director of My Life As A Dog and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, who later settled into a career turning out polite, middlebrow prize-grubbers for the Weinstein brothers, like The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, and Casanova.
Working from a screenplay by Jamie Linden, director Lasse Hallstrom ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape") delivers a film that has its moments but comes across as far more formulaic than it needs to be.
His "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" is one of the more heartwrenching films about family and the desire to leave your hometown.
We are used to seeing developmentally-able actors playing developmentally-disabled characters, like Sean Penn in I Am Sam , Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape , Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man , Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi in The Other Sister , and John Malkovich in Of Mice And Men , to name just a few.
And whereas, on the surface, "I Am Sam" might simply be a shameless push by New Line Cinema to capture a Best Actor nomination in these closing For Your Consideration moments (in that "A Beautiful Mind"/"Forrest Gump"/"What's Eating Gilbert Grape" mold), underneath it's a well written, excellently acted, and perceptively directed drama.
His performance ranks with that of Dustin Hoffman in "Rain Man" and Leonardo DiCaprio in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
Set on a remote New England island under threat of a severe meteorological event (Hurricane Maybelline, 1965), Anderson has created a magical world that has hints of Lord of the Flies , Animal Farm , A Prayer for Owen Meany and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape .
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From the imitation-noir mode of "L.A. Confidential," Hanson here moves into the life-lessons epic mode that Lasse Hallström has mined so successfully, both in his current "The Cider House Rules" and in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."
Hirsch may now be where Leonardo DiCaprio was around the time of "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "The Basketball Diaries."
Redolent of Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and just a hint of Gummo, the film doesn’t always ring true, and the over-earnest dialogue has its share of clunkers.
From 1985's "My Life as a Dog" to 1993's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" to 2009's "Hachi: A Dog's Tale," director Lasse Hallström brings a gentle yet profound touch to his existential observations on the passage of time and the beauty of life's intimate moments.
Director Lasse Hallström, known for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Chocolat (not to mention My Life as a Dog, which, unlike this film, isn’t about an actual canine), isn’t notably clumsy, but given a script that called for repeatedly mashing that big, red button, he’s smacked on it like the bongos in a Santana song.
Director Lasse Hallström, a Swede with a résumé that includes My Life As a Dog, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Cider House Rules, and Chocolat — to say nothing of a treasure trove of ABBA videos — worked with canines before on Hachi: A Dog's Tale, an English-language adaptation of a Japanese hit about the relationship between man and dog.
However, “A Dog’s Purpose” is a lot harder to understand when you consider that it’s a kids’ movie featuring multiple dog characters suffering and dying — and when you consider that it’s directed by Lasse Hallström, who also gave us “My Life As A Dog,” “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” and “Chocolat.”
Director Lasse Hallström has helmed a plethora of fine movies, including "The Cider House Rules", "Chocolat", "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen" to name a few.
Filmmaker Lasse Hallstrom of “Chocolat,” “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” but more tellingly “My Life as a Dog” and “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,” films this with a lot of extreme and extremely cute puppy close-ups, snippets of the story seen through the dog’s eyes at a dog’s eye level.
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Even this film is directed by the esteemed Lasse Hallström (Chocolat, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Shipping News).
The glorious badness of Safe Haven comes from the way the veteran director Lasse Hallström applies the greeting-card tastefulness he’s used for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Something to Talk About, The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, Dear John, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen to a movie whose punch line is so delightfully absurd that even after you pretty much know what’s coming you spit out your Pepsi anyway.
And it's all directed by Lasse Hallström who—despite being capable of making such films as My Life as a Dog, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen—continues to make Sparks adaptations like Dear John and Safe Haven.
And secondly, the film benefits from the man at its helm, Lasse Hallstrom (the What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen director who also helmed Dear John, one of the better Sparks adaptations, though that’s hardly great praise).
His American work, mostly mainstream soft-focus fare like What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, has been uneven, but he still has considerable strengths.
Director Lasse Hallström, best known for his work in Chocolat and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, once again gets the best out of his performers.
Could this have been helmed by the same man who brought us "My Life as a Dog" and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"?
"My Life as a Dog"; "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"), has hooked up with two screenwriters, Jeffrey ("Stage Beauty") Hatcher and Kimberly Simi, to concoct a leaden farce that is neither sexy nor funny.
So neutered in his Hollywood pictures like The Shipping News and Chocolat, the Swedish director does his most freewheeling work since What's Eating Gilbert Grape.