42 What's Eating Gilbert Grape Trivia Questions & Answers

Answer: Lamson's Grocery

The supermarket chain Foodland has recently opened a store in Endora, and it threatens the livelihood of a number of small local shops, including Lamson's Grocery. This is one of the many issues eating Gilbert Grape (played by Johnny Depp) and causing him to feel unsettled. Dairy Dreme is the workplace of his younger sister Ellen.

Answer: He hung himself.

Gilbert says that his father "hung himself out to dry" at the beginning of the movie, when he is telling the audience about his life.

Answer: Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp, my all-time favorite actor, also appeared in movies such as "Edward Scissorhands", "Crybaby", and "Sleepy Hollow".

Answer: Insurance salesman

Betty's husband Ken is trying to sell the Grape family insurance. Gilbert is uncomfortable with his enthusiastic sales pitch, as he thinks it may be Ken's way of pressuring him to atone for the affair he had with Ken's wife.

Answer: Boom boom

Gilbert sings this to Arnie so that he would come down from the water tower.

Answer: Leonardo DiCaprio

Leo was also in movies like "The Beach" and "Titanic" but this is in my opinion his greatest performance.

Answer: He drowns in a wading pool.

The evening after Ken rescues his sons from the smoke-filled house (caused by Betty burning some cookies), he has a heart attack and falls into the sons' wading pool. Because he is unconscious and falls face-first, he drowns. Betty and the boys leave town.

Answer: Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio did such a great job playing Arnie that people thought he was actually mentally challenged.

Answer: Her camper broke down

Becky and her Grandmother needed a new part for their camper and couldn't leave until they got it. I guess it ended up being good news for Gilbert!

Answer: Climbs the water tower

Arnie, Gilbert's younger brother (played by Leonardo Di Caprio), is mentally challenged, and has some eccentric habits. One of them is climbing the water tower if left unsupervised. Gilbert has met a girl named Becky, and forgets to monitor Arnie closely because he is so deeply engaged in conversation with her. Arnie's arrest is the catalyst for forcing his mother to leave the house for the first time since her husband died, so that she can get him released from custody.

Answer: The campers

It's their yearly ritual. "They're doing the right thing, just passing through."-Gilbert

Answer: He is watching the sunset with Becky.

The blossoming romance between Gilbert and Becky leads him to go watch the sunset with her, and when he returns to the house he assumes that Arnie would have gotten out of the bath long ago. He gets up the next morning to find that Arnie is still in the bath, shivering with cold, and has (not surprisingly) developed an aversion to water.

Answer: Peter Hedges

Peter Hedges has been compared to John Updike.

Answer: As punishment for eating his birthday cake early

When Gilbert finds Arnie eating the cake scheduled to be part of the next day's birthday party, he decides to use it as an excuse to make Arnie wash himself, which he has refused to do since the incident of the overnight bath. Arnie resists, and Gilbert hits him to try and force his cooperation. Gilbert's revulsion at his own behavior is the final straw, and he drives away to escape the mess he feels his life has become.

Answer: Every year

Gilbert and Arnie see Becky's trailer break down while watching the trailers pass by.

Answer: Endora

"Describing Endora is like dancing to no music." Gilbert said this while...well describing Endora.

Answer: Becky

Arnie doesn't turn to any of the members of his family, he leaves the house to go find Becky. She looks after him, and even gets him to go swimming before Amy and Ellen arrive to take him home. After they have left, Gilbert arrives to discuss his problems with Becky.

Answer: 5

Some people might forget about the oldest brother, Larry that "got away". The names of the other kids in the Grape family are: Amy, Gilbert, Arnie and Ellen.

Answer: A grasshopper

He was playing with a grasshopper and crushed it in the mailbox laughing until he saw it was dead.

Answer: She dies in her sleep.

Arnie is the one to find his mother's body the next morning. When he realises she is dead, he leaves the house and starts to cut himself. This atypically destructive behavior alerts his sisters to what has happened, and the police are contacted.

Answer: Dairy Dreme

Ellen was Gilbert's younger sister who just got her braces off and couldn't stop staring at her teeth. The Dairy Dreme was one of the few places to eat that was shown in the movie before the Burger Barn came along.

Answer: To keep people from staring at their mother's corpse

Over the years of sitting in her house and eating, Bonnie had become morbidly obese. The police indicated that they would be returning with more men to be able to carry her body out of the house. Aware of the gawking crowds this would draw, the children decide to preserve some dignity in her death, and cremate her inside the house.

Answer: Burger Barn

Arnie started to yell when he saw the "Burger Barn" truck coming to Endora during the funeral.

Answer: Amy

Amy is Gilbert's older sister who is more like a mother.

Answer: Gilbert and Arnie

As Gilbert's voice explains, Amy has moved to Des Moines, and Ellen has moved there with her. When the campers make their annual return to Endora, Gilbert and Arnie join Becky and her grandmother, making a neat circular bit of plot. It was the arrival of the campers and the fact that Becky's camper broke down that started the film.