‘What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?’

The dysfunctional Grape family, who live in a ramshackle house in a small Iowa town, is held together by the brother, Gabriel (Johnny Depp, right), who has a gift for sanity. He’s the family savior who neglects to save himself. The Grapes’ heartbreak began years ago with the suicide of Gilbert’s father. Gilbert’s younger brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio, left), about to turn 18, is mentally disabled, his mother (Darlene Cates) weighs about 500 pounds and hasn’t left the house in seven years, and his two sisters grouse about their lives. Gilbert needs an angel to match his own angelic self, and he gets her with Becky (Juliette Lewis), an itinerant free spirit who camps on the outskirts of town in her grandmother’s trailer. The relationship between Gilbert and Arnie strikes a responsive chord, with most of the credit going to DiCaprio’s astonishing performance (Cinemax Friday at 8 p.m.).