Riddled with insufferably contrived zaniness ... it deals as deeply with mental illness as The Sound of Music explored the genocidal advance of the Third Reich.
Comment
01/01/00
Benny & Joon (1993)
72
%
Tomatometer
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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
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Reviews for Benny & Joon
Top CriticBenny & 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 CriticJohnny Depp is superb, but the rest of the movie doesn't hold water.
03/02/03
Where the story does not work for me is on the contrivance and in the view of mental illness.
01/01/00
No review available.
02/18/05
The 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 Critic[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 CriticIt's acted out in the secondary emotional register of the glass menagerie: whimsical, delicate, idiosyncratic, barmy.
01/26/06
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
Things are kept on the right side of mawkish thanks largely to a graceful and understated performance from the ever-reliable Depp.
06/21/09
One of my favorite romances. Quirky and magical.
10/23/03
Depp's portrayal of a Buster Keaton-ish type character is mesmerizing.
10/04/02
No review available.
02/20/04
Depp is affably endearing and offers some hilarious, seemingly impromptu tributes to Chaplin and Keaton.
01/01/00
No review available.
10/10/05
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 CriticNo review available.
07/04/05
Top CriticGreat early Depp performance and Masterson is equally terrific
10/07/04
Mr. 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
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