‎Benny & Joon (1993) directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

Benny & Joon

1993 Directed by Jeremiah S. Chechik

A romance on the brink of reality.

A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.

Johnny Depp Mary Stuart Masterson Aidan Quinn Julianne Moore Oliver Platt CCH Pounder Dan Hedaya Joe Grifasi William H. Macy Liane Curtis Eileen Ryan Lynette Walden Waldo Larson Don Hamilton Leslie Laursen John Grant Phillips Irvin Johnson Shane Nilsson Faye Killebrew Ramsin Amirkhas Amy Alizabeth Sanford Brian Keevy Tony Lincoln Noon Orsatti Dan Kamin Gregory Cook Aaron Haedt

98 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★½ 2

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Film #18 of the "Scavenger Hunt" Challenge!
Task #19 : A film featuring a physically or mentally challenged person!
letterboxd.com/naughty/list/scavenger-hunt/

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If you are looking for a serious film dealing with mental illness this would not be the film for you! However as a fairly lighthearted film with a bit of romance thrown into the mix, and touching ever so slightly on elements of mental illness it's actually turns out to be quite an amusing film!

For me the success of the film quite frankly is due to Johnny Depp! He plays an eccentric young man whom idolizes and mimic's Buster Keaton! His Buster Keaton-esque performances will put a smile on your face and lift up your heart!
Review by Andy Summers ★★★ 1

Romantic comedies that feature an illiterate Buster Keaton wannabe and a schizophrenic don't come around too often, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Jeremiah S Chechik's early nineties drama. Featuring a youngish Johnny Depp as the eccentric Sam and Mary Stuart Masterson as Joon, this has a quirky but enjoyable script that although never really tackling any of the real mental health issues, does give us an unorthodox love story with a heart. Joon's schizophrenia is shown in small bursts when she seems to feel stress, and although there are serious implications to her actions, some of it does feel as if it's played for cheap laughs. Anyone of course who's lived with someone with this sort…
Review by Mr. DuLac ★★★

You can't throw him out, I won him!
-Joon

If you suffer from mental illness please seek out the advice of a mechanic, washed up actress and/or a Buster Keaton enthusiast. Just ignore trained mental health professionals as they simply exist to "keep you down".

You can either nitpick the film's portrayal of schizophrenia, which they simply call "mental illness", or you can let the cuteness of the film wash over you. Screenwriter Barry Berman might have something to say about how we treat the mentally ill and his view might even be the correct one, but everything in the film is too overly simplified to have anything meaningful to say about it.

What we end up with from "hit…
Review by James ★★★½ 2

A really sweet and endearing look at mental illness packaged up as a delightfully quirky romcom. Depp has made a career out of playing eccentric characters so naturally shines as Sam, a well dressed oddball with a talent for physical comedy in the vein of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton.

Its intentions are totally benevolent but if you look past the comedy and charming love story it does come across naive and slightly ignorant of its subject matter; it totally skims over Joon's illness. (We never actually find out what she has if I'm not mistaken).

If you're looking for realism you won't find it in Benny & Joon but I was won over by its whimsy and a brilliant early performance from Depp.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★

A whimsical romantic comedy with enough dark edges to make it all stick, Jeremiah Chechik's "Benny & Joon" is a delight. Starring Aidan Quinn, Mary Stuart Masterson, and a fresh-faced Johnny Depp, the film is a stirring look at love between the marginalized.

Taking place in the verdant, urban rough of Spokane, Washington, "Benny & Joon" revolves around a brother taking care of his mentally ill sister. When a film-obsessed tramp wanders into their lives, the sister finds herself in an adult relationship and staring at an uneasy romance directly in the face.

The story blends light and dark with little effort, and, though it does not get under the skin of its protagonist's illness, the affair is refreshing thanks to the…
Review by Matt Grillo ★★★ 4

Benny and Joon is a sweet trifle of a film that rests heavily on its performances; it would be hard to imagine this film working without Johnny Depp or Mary Stuart Masterson holding it all together. Aidan Quinn is also notable in a role that's easy to pass over for it's subtlety. Makes a good (and forward-thinking) case for person centered recovery in mental health, even if it avoids any other complexity on the topic. I like that the film never gets bogged down in the melodrama these kinds of movies often revel in, and it resists many of the easy clichés to be found in similar fare. A good film to see Johnny Depp in before his acting persona calcified, and a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. Not the best tutorial on making grilled cheeses, however.

Recent reviews

Review by Todd G ★★½

Mentally ill and don’t know what to do? Easy. Get you’re own apartment with your mime lover and make grilled cheese on the ironing board.

Dalata!
Dalata! Dadadundadadundadadundadadundadada-da-daaa
Review by ennaih ★★★★★

Is it weird that I have apartment envy? I always have 90s apartment envy. Also, a little distressed for Sam's fate in the video store industry. Mebbe he transitions into something like FilmStruck. Also, it's kinda ridiculous how many awesome people are in this cast.
Review by Peter MacDonald ★★★½

The plot isn't the most original, but the film builds its characters enough to where I always cared about what was happening regardless of whether or not it was just hitting the beats. Johnny Depp performs very well here as the talented weirdo, a role he has now been performing for a very long time. The other two leads are pretty good, too, but the movie is most fun when Depp is doing the silent comedian shtick.
Review by Robyn Hamilton ★★★½

How many characters can Johnny Depp make me fall in love with?
Review by mystery_mouse ★★

just really love sam
Review by Deej Oster ★★★

@ Oak w/ Pat joe Tim & hannah

Enjoyed every scene Johnny d was in, that mimey physical comedy shit is the tops.
Review by Smoreni Zmaj ★★★★

Beautiful story

Mary Stuart Masterson plays a mentally ill girl who lives with her brother. His life is reduced to work and taking care of the ill sister, without any privacy or dedication to himself and his own life and future. And then in their lives enter Johnny Depp in the role of a weird semi-literate boy, a fan of Chaplin and Keaton, and Oscar-winning Julianne Moore in the role of local waitress. Nothing pretentious, pretty much predictable, but sincere, strong, romantic and most of all fun.

8/10
Review by Paul Giamatti ★★★★½

two pinots way up for john bon and his bustery antics
Review by J Rose ★★

Oof. It had its funny moments, but overall I did not enjoy this at all. I probably would have tolerated it better in, like, 2009 or something, when I didn't know anything about mental health issues and thought Johnny Depp was a pretty cool actor, but uhhhh... yikes