Benny & Joon wears its sensitivity on its sleeve and though it's a little hard to take at times, these actors make it all passable.
Comment
01/01/00
Benny & Joon (1993)
72
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:29
Fresh:21
Rotten:8
Average Rating:5.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Joon, a mentally disturbed young woman, lives with her older (and over-protective) brother Benny. He puts up with the untenable situation because of his love for her and his dislike of... [More]
Starring: Johnny Depp, Dan Hedaya, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn
Director: Jeremiah Chechik
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Reviews for Benny & Joon
Benny & Joon tries to get by on quirkiness alone, and, while something this offbeat frequently carries a unique kind of appeal, it needs stronger characters than Sam and Joon.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe movie suggests that love and magic can overcome madness, and for at least the length of the film I was prepared to accept that. Much of the credit for that goes to Depp...
01/01/00
Top CriticAwful as it sounds, the movie actually achieves a few poignant moments once it stops straining for eccentric charm.
01/09/02
It's acted out in the secondary emotional register of the glass menagerie: whimsical, delicate, idiosyncratic, barmy.
01/26/06
Depp is affably endearing and offers some hilarious, seemingly impromptu tributes to Chaplin and Keaton.
01/01/00
[Chechik] has crafted Benny & Joon not as a seamless whole but as a tumble of scenes. Unfortunately, too many of them are inspired by Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton, and they seem to spill from the screen like Bozos from a kiddie car.
01/01/00
Top CriticWhere the story does not work for me is on the contrivance and in the view of mental illness.
01/01/00
As the outsider who courts the mentally ill Mary Stuart Masterson, Johnny Depp renders a startling performance that elevates the romantic fable way above its writing and directing shortcomings; look for the young Julianne Moore in a small part.
04/08/06
Top CriticMr. Depp may look nothing like Buster Keaton, but there are times when he genuinely seems to become the Great Stone Face, bringing Keaton's mannerisms sweetly and magically to life.
05/20/03
Top CriticRiddled with insufferably contrived zaniness ... it deals as deeply with mental illness as The Sound of Music explored the genocidal advance of the Third Reich.
01/01/00
Top CriticThe cast is defeated by a cloying Barry Berman script that Jeremiah Chechik directs with the same flair for the obvious he brought to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
05/12/01
Top CriticThings are kept on the right side of mawkish thanks largely to a graceful and understated performance from the ever-reliable Depp.
06/21/09
If the performances were as cute and sweet as the characters, the film would need a warning label. But Depp's Sam is delicately touching, a maladjusted waif with both soul and grit, and Masterson resists the temptation to soften Joon.
06/21/09
Johnny Depp is superb, but the rest of the movie doesn't hold water.
03/02/03
Depp's portrayal of a Buster Keaton-ish type character is mesmerizing.
10/04/02
The stars make it palatable, but it's too much contrived cuteness.
09/04/03
3.5
07/18/03
One of my favorite romances. Quirky and magical.
10/23/03
RT On Current TV
What’s Hot On RT
Fresh Links
Featured
MSN's Year in Review 
Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.
Moviefone's Year End Movie Poll
What were your favorites? Least favorites? The funniest and scariest? Moviefone wants to know!
Tarantino's Characters
Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.
Top 10 Movies of 2009
TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.
Top 20 of the Decade
Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!
IGN RSS Feeds