Benny & Joon

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source: Benny & Joon

Benny and Joon stars Mary Stuart Masterson, Johnny Depp and Aidan Quinn, and it's an okay movie, but the subject matter could have been a TV movie of the week just as easily as a silver screen release. Joon is a mentally ill woman who is taken care of by her brother and an endless line of caretakers. She "wins" Sam(Depp) in a poker game, and soon discovers love with the goofy and offbeat character. Quinn is her brother Benny, and he is first reluctant to take Sam in, then angered when he is told of their relationship before finally seeing the need to allow Joon to grow up without his constant direction. Depp is marvelous as Sam, and does a wonderful job in the physical comedy parts of the film as Sam is a devotee of movies, and imitates the comedy stars of the thirties.

I remember when I was a kid I was just so in love with Johnny Depp, you wanna know the reason why? Benny & Joon, this movie was just so awesome to me and it was so romantic and sweet. I didn't see the movies for a few years, so I decided to buy it when I saw it on sale. Re-watching this movie brings back so many memories and I still love this movie so much. Even though it's cheesy and predictable, this is just a charming romantic comedy. The reason why is because it does have something different, the main love story has two characters who are complete opposite, but find that happiness in each other, they also remind another what real love feels like. Johnny Depp plays Sam, based off of Buster Keaten, he pulls in great physical comedy and made this movie magical and enjoyable, believe me, Benny & Joon is a fun story that any one could fall in love with. Benny and Joon are brother and sister, their parents died in a fatal car accident when they were just children. Benny has promised to take care mentally ill Joon. But when Joon walks in on a card game with Benny's friends, she joins in without Benny's knowledge and wins something big, Benny's friend's cousin, Sam. Sam goes to live with Benny and Joon, his physical gags charm their hearts and brings in Ruthie, a waitress who Benny is just in love with but doesn't have the courage to admit it. But the plot thickens when Sam and Joon fall in love and over protective Benny intervenes. Benny & Joon is one of those rare memorable romantic comedies, while the rest of the cast like Mary Stuart Masterson and Aidan Quinn both pull in heart warming performances, it's Johnny Depp who takes the movie; a time when he was pretty much just known as Edward Scissorhands, he took something different and made it work. His scene in the park with Benny and Joon is just so wonderful and funny. I would recommend Benny and Joon, it's a good movie, terrific actors, and has a fun and catchy soundtrack, this is a movie not to miss. 8/10

Hey, as the owner of over 600 DVD's, and by far most of those from top movie lists, I can honestly, easily put this movie in the top 60 of all time. Including all the movies I've seen and aren't worth owning, B&J lands neatly into the top 2-3% overall. It's a simple fairy tale, but simple neither in its creation nor execution. The layers of theme and the reality and originality of characters, so well performed in every way, almost put it beyond genre, and certainly it is neither a comedy nor a drama. It precedes and predicts smart dramedies of the later 90's and beyond. But the tale's most significant moral, so subtly and honestly delivered--one real reason this movie stands out--is the prescient confronting of our society and culture's treatment, both legally and personally, of the so-called mentally ill. Finally today we are beginning to acknowledge how disgustingly medieval is our approach to mental illness via heavy drugging, chopping of brains and nerves, and even electric shocking "patients". Add to that the fact, highlighted in this movie, that our supposedly free society takes away any personal control from either the individual or the family when someone has been labeled "mentally ill" and gives that control to the pscyhiatric organizations (not to any legal or governmental body, you notice). It is estimated now that all these "mass control" methodologies, originated by Germans mostly in the early 20th century and polished in Nazi Germany and under Stalin, will be eliminated in the United States within 20 years. This movie has helped contribute to that motion and heralds a major positive turn in our society from the long trends of worsening education and rising crime that began when pscyhs were given control of our educational institutions and our mental health methodologies. The obvious, demonstrable fact is that changing the way one acts toward a person--any person--to a positive from a negative will assist them in improving their own ability to live their life. (Negative being absolutely any motion or communication that compromises or reduces their own control, confidence or positiveness toward the future). Many people are not even "insane", but just individual enough to cause the established mental health industry to label them with a disease so they can prescribe drugs for them. The old joke, "Are there really more insane, or just more definitions of insanity?" applies. Like Joon, simply being treated with dignity and as a regular person is all they need to lead a successful independent life--they really weren't a big problem until someone said they were and kept telling them so. But even without the tremendous significance of this thematic message, the movie is extremely clever and subtly entertaining. The DVD contains an excellent and different little piece where John Schwartzman, the cinematographer, comments over about 20 minutes of makeup and lighting tests of the lead characters. Much better than the usual 20-minute "making of". His comments plus the director's commentary give an excellent context for how the movie was conceived and made, and shows that they were well aware of the issues and challenges they faced. Of course, I believe they met all those challenges exceedingly well and produced a timeless little classic.

One thing that I hate is when someone rips off somebody and calls it "homage". Brian DePalma has made a career of it. Here Johnny Depp steals Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton bits. Call me an old crank but I don't remember anything in the movie saying where these parts originated. Why watch this pale imitation with good hair do it when it was does much better over 50 years ago? As for the story, two crazy mixed up kids find each other and love. Oh yeah, one happens to be suffering from mental illness and has a overly-protective brother. Sounds like a sure-fire winner to me. We can also thank this film for foisting Julianne Moore onto the critical radar (unfortunately). At least she didn't take her clothes off in this one. Interesting to see Dan Hedaya in a wimpy role though.

I had one of the worst days in my life as I came home to see this promising movie. And yet at the beginning as I heard the Proclaimers with "500 Miles" (I don't know why)I felt better. I knew this film was gonna be something very special. And it kept what it promised. This is the perfect movie if you feel terribly down.

This was a generally "pleasant" film, or even "cute," as some women might put it....but not more much. It's definitely a "chick flick." It was another early vehicle for Johnny Depp to play an oddball, something he's done ever since (and done well). He's fun to watch here, too. A highlight is his impersonation of some Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin routines. Frankly, I didn't care for the rest of the lead characters, those played by Aiden Quinn (too blasphemous) and Mary Stuart Masterson (nice at first, but then pouts all the time which gets tiresome). Quinn's girlfriend is also a brat. If you like Depp, then this is worth a look.

This movie stunk. I am serious. This was the third Johnny Depp movie I had seen and I was hoping it would be good, like the other two. I must say I did not know Depp had the capacity to be in a bad movie like this one. The only cool thing about this movie is his stunts, that's it. I suppose Aidan Quinn is okay, but not THAT okay. Mary Stuart-Materson is terrible. She pretends to be mentally challenged for a few quick laughs. Julieanne Moore COULD have been good, but sadly, isn't. Just avoid this movie and the people who say it's great and hilarious, it's not. 2/10

I haven't seen this before and i just thought that it was so cute. It pulled no punches in displaying the difficulties that Joon faced in her mental illness and how this affected the people around her while still being an absolutely adorable movie about romance between two misfits. I really loved this movie it is an awesome romantic comedy (which is still based in reality) and i would recommend it to people. Oh and Johnny Depp and Sam was hot and young and very very hot... i am not surprised he won sexiest man of the year as voted by People magazine.