A quirky, melancholic rom-com filled with drama, and right in the middle of it is Johnny Depp, paying homage to an action legend currently rivaling Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise. It sounds peculiar, and it is…
An outsider and a young woman, whose older brother serves as her guardian, fall in love with each other. What follows is not a somber drama but a very eccentric romance with melancholic humor. To make the package even stranger, it’s adorned with affectionate nods to some of the greatest comedic talents in film history and a legend whose legacy still makes action stars envious.
In short, if you watch “Benny & Joon,” be prepared for an unconventional romantic dramedy that doesn’t fit into any standardized category. If you’re now intrigued by this bittersweet cinematic experience, “Benny & Joon” is currently available for rent and purchase on Prime Video.
Benny & Joon”: Eccentric Melancholy – and Buster Keaton!
Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) is intelligent and brimming with creativity. Since the death of her parents, she has been living with her older brother Benny (Aidan Quinn). Benny always takes care of Joon, who has impulsive phases during which she acts unpredictably. She may have a form of schizophrenia or perhaps she’s a misdiagnosed autistic, but one thing is for sure – she’s more independent than most people give her credit for. When Joon meets the melancholic and quiet Sam (Johnny Depp), who has a reading and writing disability and behaves like Buster Keaton, she falls for him instantly.
Benny initially welcomes this dynamic, as Sam’s calm demeanor tempers Joon’s temperament. However, when Benny realizes that a serious romantic relationship is forming between them, he tries to wedge himself between the lovers…
For those unfamiliar with him, Buster Keaton was a director and actor who ranks among the greatest and most important names of the Hollywood silent film era. Primarily because in his most famous films, he meticulously performed, at times life-threatening stunts – all with a stoic expression.
Among other feats, he allowed a house facade to collapse on him, with only a small window saving him and tumbled down huge hills head over heels. In “The General,” he even climbed around a moving locomotive without a safety harness – scenes we nowadays mostly see in “Mission: Impossible” movies with Tom Cruise.
Keanu Reeves celebrates Keaton’s stone-faced yet oddly expressive visage and the dry humor with which his characters exit bad situations only to stumble into even worse ones. However, before Cruise and Reeves expressed their Buster Keaton admiration, Johnny Depp paid him a tribute with “Benny & Joon.”
Director Jeremiah S. Chechik, known for “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” takes a different approach in this film, distancing himself from Keaton’s “bigger, more expensive, and more dangerous” stunt extravaganzas that made him one of the greatest action legends. Nevertheless, Chechik and Depp make it unmistakably clear how much they admire Keaton’s body language, the timing of his comedic routines, and the characterization of his good-natured, overwhelmed roles.
Using such a Keaton homage, which also briefly pays tribute to Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, for a tragicomic romance that addresses society’s handling of neurodiversity is an unusual creative decision. However, it helps the film, written by Barry Berman and Lesley McNeil, develop its own identity, rather than being just a silent film homage that only film fans with prior knowledge can appreciate.
Furthermore, Depp’s performance as Sam, who always appears dead serious while doing utterly hilarious things, adds an eccentric twist to the tone. The film’s mood is quirky and unorthodox, but its humor is more circumstantial than character-driven. The characters are treated more seriously and respectfully than one might expect from the lively overall concept.
Certainly, the film would be approached differently today – perhaps even more delicately and with different casting. Nevertheless, the filmmakers don’t make fun of Joon, nor do they downplay or overdramatize her condition. In “Benny & Joon,” the frustrating moments mostly arise when society doesn’t know how to handle Joon – wisely, the filmmakers (mostly) avoid portraying Joon’s nature as the root of the problem.
Mary Stuart Masterson also has the space to portray her as a resilient, determined, and savvy individual who isn’t defined by a mental condition. Pitting Masterson against a Depp who willingly makes a fool of himself would upset the emotional balance of this film, as would a scene partner who plays it too tragically. But someone whose seriousness is amusing? That works – and makes you want to (re)watch a few Buster Keaton classics right away.