Cast: Aidan Quinn, Mary Stuart Masterson, Johnny Depp, Julianne Moore
Director: Jeremiah Chechik
Producers: Susan Arnold and Donna Roth
Screenplay: Barry Berman
Cinematography: John Schwartzman
Music: Rachel Portman
U.S. Distributor: MGM
Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) is a young woman afflicted with a mental illness that occasionally causes bouts of strange and manic behavior. Because of this condition, she cannot be left alone, so her brother Benny (Aidan Quinn), with whom she lives, hires a housekeeper to look after her while he works. However, Joon's tendencies drive away woman after woman in rapid succession until there is no one left. Enter Sam (Johnny Depp), an illiterate dreamer with an irrational love of movies. He proves not only to be excellent at doing housework, but a perfect companion for Joon. Until the two of them fall in love, that is.
Beyond recognizing that it's a romance, it's difficult to identify exactly what Benny & Joon is supposed to be since it is liberally sprinkled with elements of fantasy, drama, and comedy. A little whimsy doesn't make a story original, and it certainly doesn't replace solid characterization, and, while writer Barry Berman has infused his script with some clever plot elements, a few of which go contrary to the expected norms, he has also lost sight of two of the three principal characters. Time was obviously spent sketching outlines of Sam, Joon, and Benny, but when it came to putting flesh on the bones, only Benny is given his due. Apparently, the assumption that Joon and Sam are off-the-wall was enough for the writer and director. Nothing more was necessary -- show them as unusual and the audience will accept them. For Benny, a "regular" human being, effort had to be put into giving him substance, lest the viewers identify him as one-dimensional.
The actors, saddled by a marginal script and uninspired direction, do the best they can with their roles. Unfortunately, Mary Stuart Masterson's Joon is too frequently allowed to fade into the background. Johnny Depp's Sam fares little better -- with one notable exception. Depp's performances in several scenes of Chaplinesque physical comedy are standouts. Aidan Quinn, playing the "straight man", does a credible job -- so credible, in fact, that he upstages his co-stars, which was obviously not the film makers' original intent.
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. This is certainly not one of the great screen romances -- Depp and Masterson rarely connect in a meaningful way. The film as a whole seems uncertain of what tone it wants to adopt. As a result, it comes across as too grim for a light comedy, too shallow for an effective drama, and too "real" for an enjoyable fantasy. And that doesn't leave much else for it to be.
© 1993 James Berardinelli