An auto mechanic named Benny is a devoted and adoring brother to his mentally ill sister, Joon. They exist well enough until Joon loses a poker game and both she and Benny have to take in another players cousin, Sam. Sam is quirky and eccentric, his antics falling in with those of the great Buster Keaton. Operating as house keeper, Sam quickly settles in and wins Benny around, but as Sam and Joon start falling for each other, things start to take a rather different course.
When a film has a character win another human being at cards, it's either going to be a dark nasty piece or a whimsical tale. Benny and Joon is the latter. Apparently chided for its poor portrayals of mental illness {tellingly tho, Joon's illness is not identified} Benny & Joon just about survives the pit fall traps because of its engaging cast. Johnny Depp as Sam is utterly beguiling while Mary Stuart Masterton {Joon} is sweet and affecting in what is after all, the difficult role. Very much a serious story cloaked in the afore mentioned whimsy, Jeremiah S. Chechik's film has some things to say about overcoming obstacles and the need for human connection in sometimes trying circumstances. But most importantly it dares to suggest that something as simple as treating the supposedly mentally ill with respect, warmth and dignity just may garner important and life changing results????
I can't honestly say I could be tempted to watch this film again because it's an oddity that seems confused to what it primarily wants to be. If indeed the makers themselves from the off had a course in mind for the story and how it panned out? But it does have a lot of supporters and it's not too much of a stretch to understand why, warm, quirky, and maybe important? 6.5/10
When a film has a character win another human being at cards, it's either going to be a dark nasty piece or a whimsical tale. Benny and Joon is the latter. Apparently chided for its poor portrayals of mental illness {tellingly tho, Joon's illness is not identified} Benny & Joon just about survives the pit fall traps because of its engaging cast. Johnny Depp as Sam is utterly beguiling while Mary Stuart Masterton {Joon} is sweet and affecting in what is after all, the difficult role. Very much a serious story cloaked in the afore mentioned whimsy, Jeremiah S. Chechik's film has some things to say about overcoming obstacles and the need for human connection in sometimes trying circumstances. But most importantly it dares to suggest that something as simple as treating the supposedly mentally ill with respect, warmth and dignity just may garner important and life changing results????
I can't honestly say I could be tempted to watch this film again because it's an oddity that seems confused to what it primarily wants to be. If indeed the makers themselves from the off had a course in mind for the story and how it panned out? But it does have a lot of supporters and it's not too much of a stretch to understand why, warm, quirky, and maybe important? 6.5/10