Review of Benny & Joon (1993) by Connor B — 18 Oct 2012

Benny and Joon is not like any other film I have ever seen before, while a lot of films seem to make a big deal of a characters disablilty or disease Benny and Joon seems to thrive off of not making that much of a deal over the characters faults and mannerisms. Aidan Quinn and Mary Stuart Masterson play the title characters who are brother and sister while Johnny Depp plays Sam who is a young man that eventually lives with Benny and Joon. Depp's performance really is up there with his best work and it is astonishing to look back on his box office performances in the 90's as his films never made great fortunes but frequently gave stellar performances and his role as Sam was one of them.

Benny and Joon are brother and sisters who live with each, Benny has become like a father figure to Joon since their parents left them and is extremely protective over her because she is mentally ill, Benny's one break from Joon is to play an eccentric game of poker with some pals once a week and it is during one of these games that Benny loses a bet which means he has to take care of Sam. Sam is like Joon in every way possible except he has no mental illness but he does portray a lot of his emotions through the use of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin routines. Sam and Joon naturally hit it off and begin a relationship which visibly angers the overprotective Benny, when one event leads to another Joon ends up in a mental home and Sam and Benny know they must put their differences aside to get her out of there.

Benny and Joon is a perfect example of a film where you can just shut your mind off for 90 odd minutes and just enjoy the characters on-screen as they are all fantastic. Depp and Quinn are superb in their roles.