Leonardodicaprio.com is one of for Arnie's favorite places to visit!

If you know Arnie, you know that he is always disappearing. Gilbert never knows where he will find him, but we all know his favourite places, and one of them is his favourite branch in his favourite tree!

He has always been fascinated by a certain water tower in town, and whenever Gilbert's back is turned, away he goes....up the water tower, much to the chagrin of the townspeople and Gilbert! To convince him to come down, Gilbert calls to him through the loudspeaker...

"Match in the gas tank...BOOM....BOOM!"

Just some of my favourite quotes from critical reviews of What's Eating Gilbert Grape?

NY Daily News - 1996

"Next for DiCaprio was the project that would prove to be the turning point in his film career. The quirky, offbeat ‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape’ was the story of a young man and his family, which primarily centered around his mother, and his mentally handicapped brother. Gilbert Grape, played by Johnny Depp, longs to leave his mundane life behind, but has deeply rooted obligations to a mother who has not left her farmhouse for seven long years, due to her husband’s death. and his mentally challenged brother Arnie, played brilliantly by DiCaprio. To prepare for the role, DiCaprio studied and met with several mentally challenged individuals. He was relentless in his dedication to details, mastering gestures and speech patterns to the letter. The performance was flawless and intense. Being a relatively "unknown" actor at the time, many thought that perhaps the part was being played by an actor who was indeed mentally challenged. For his work, DiCaprio earned nominations for both Golden Globe and Academy Awards. In addition, he won several highly coveted critics’ awards."

Gannett news service - 3/3/94

Leonardo DiCaprio, the vibrant young star of This Boy's Life, givesan audacious and technically amazing performance as Arnie, theretarded 17-year-old whose soul, for all its anarchic buoyancy,remains trapped inside a compulsive network of grunts, guffaws, andgrimaces. This is one nowhere boy who commands your attention.

Oscar picks, Newsday - 3/9/94

...Which brings us to my favorite, Leonardo DiCaprio, who does in"What's Eating Gilbert Grape" what Dustin Hoffman thinks he did in "RainMan." DiCaprio's Arnie Grape, Gilbert's younger brother, is turning 18,which is well beyond the doctor's predictions, and his antics aregetting out of hand. He's got the mind of a small child and the body,not of a man, but of someone else entirely. DiCaprio gives a wonderfullyphysical performance; Arnie's body works at cross purposes with itself,and his repertoire of tics and twitches is so convincing it would haveseemed beyond the ability of most actors. But, then, DiCaprio isn't mostactors.It's also a terrifically sympathetic role, which at the same time isbrutally honest about the mentally handicapped. Arnie is infuriating,out of control and he monopolizes not only his brother's time, but hislife. But he's no cartoon.DiCaprio is playing a handicapped person, which is never adisadvantage when it comes to Oscar. But he's also the youngest, whichis unlikely to win him much sympathy from academy voters. There's alsothe question, of course, of how many of those voters actually saw"Gilbert Grape"; you know they all ran out to see "The Fugitive," butwhen they see director Lasse Halstrom's name in the ads, they probablygot an attack of the subtitle heebie-jeebies. In any event, it's safe tosay that DiCaprio will have another chance to prove himself a winner.And besides, in this year's Best Supporting Actor category there aren't any losers.

Cosmopolitan 94....

..Hang in there to find out if afflicted brother Arnie can work a miracle and live to see his eighteenth birthday? Surely, you'd do the right nutty thing--stay in Endora and get caught up in the harrowing, hilarious events that screen-writer Peter Hedges has so skillfully carved from his own acclaimed novel.And you'd be in sensational company. Leonardo DiCaprio, who shone as the fiercely intelligent youth in This Boy's Life, lends a lovely nobility to the role of the mentally handicapped Arnie. Brilliantly embodying innocence and bravado, he both enchants and terrorizes with the mysterious suddenness of his death-defying deeds. This is a star-making turn.