Benny & Joon | 
 enlarge | Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
Actors: Johnny Depp, Mary Stuart Masterson, Aidan Quinn, Julianne Moore, Oliver Platt
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: Video
List Price: $9.94
Buy Used: $0.35
You Save: $9.59 (96%)
New (17) Used (34) Collectible (4) from $0.35
Rating:  163 reviews
Sales Rank: 14723
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 6304411448
UPC: 027616612731
EAN: 9786304411445
ASIN: 6304411448
Theatrical Release Date: April 16, 1993
Release Date: March 9, 1994
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: VHS missing original cover but put in a new sleeve, VHS tape in good working order, we guarantee all purchases and ship all items via USPS mail.
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
An oddball love story about a fey loner named Sam (Johnny Depp), who falls in love with the mentally unbalanced Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson), who lives in the care of her protective brother Benny (Aidan Quinn). This 1993 story is hard to swallow, with its message that love can conquer a brand of mental illness that manifests itself in pyromania: Joon has a bad habit of going a bit around the bend and setting fires, but Sam's tender care apparently has the cure for what ails her. Still, if you want proof that Depp has significant chops as a physical comedian, give this film a try: He does note-perfect renditions of slapstick routines made famous by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. --Marshall Fine
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 158 more reviews...
 Benny and Joon August 24, 2008
Lorelie Lea
This is one you can buy without having previously seen it and never be sorry you did. Of course, Mr. Depp's performance is the highlight but he and Mary Stuart Masterson are a good pair. Funny, tender, witty. Tell your friends.
 Well-acted little gem August 24, 2008
Emily J. Taylor (Utah)
Like many, I'm a huge fan of Johnny Depp. And I would argue that his performance as a quirky performer of physical comedy is one of his best. Plus, it is a performance that works very well in a movie with so much oddity and sweetness.
Overall, I would call this a romantic comedy. But it goes deeper than that, beyond the usual boy-meets-girl to the heart-breaking story of a brother and sister who cannot let each other go even when each has found his/her soulmate.
The acting is stellar (not just Depp's!) and this is a story that should be appreciated for its sincerity and warmth and the courage to tackle the issue of mental illness while still keeping this a comedy.
Well-done, all around.
 Good movie, not so great dvd August 7, 2008
aethodry
I received my order in good time. I also enjoyed the movie. You can't go wrong with old-school Johnny Depp films. With that said, I have to mention that the dvd would occasionally freeze up while it was changing chapters. It wouldn't skip, but it was rather annoying for it to freeze up like that for several seconds. It probably has to do with the manufacturing quality. The dvd I received was probably an older one, because newer dvds aren't supposed to freeze up like that when they change chapters.
Ten Star Movie July 31, 2008
Judy K. Oberloier
This is a ten star movie. Johnny Depp is amazing leaving you wanting more.
Aside from being a little mentally ill, she's pretty normal July 26, 2008
C. CRADDOCK (Bakersfield)
Benny (Aidan Quinn) & Joon (Mary Stuart Masterson) are brother and sister. Benny has been taking care of his mentally ill sister for quite some time, since they were orphaned. He keeps his own personal life on hold, since taking care of Joon complicates things so much. Benny has a hard time keeping housekeepers because of Joon's erratic behavior. Joon inevitably takes a disliking to them and drives them away. What was wrong with the latest?
Joon: She was given to fits of semi-precious metaphors.
Benny: The woman is a housekeeper, Joon, not an English professor.
Benny does have a group of buddies that get together and play poker. They make unusual bets, like for salad shooters, or soap on a rope--slightly used. Benny loses, and has to take in Sam (Johnny Depp), who has been staying with his cousin.
Sam is very strange, illiterate, and obsessed with films. He is especially obsessed with silent films, like those of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd. He dresses like Buster Keaton, and performs perfect imitations of silent film comedy routines. He also memorizes lines from more recent films, like a slasher film about prom night, Prom Night Mutilator. He recognizes Ruthie (Julianne Moore), the waitress, as an actress from the film. She had gone to Hollywood, but now has given up on her career. A romance blooms between her and Benny, but Benny feels like he can't get involved because of Joon's mental illness. He doesn't notice another romance blooming right under his nose, between Sam and Joon.
Benny & Joon is a cute little movie, but it doesn't really work. Johnny Depp does a surprisingly good job with the silent comedy routines, but that's not enough to carry the film. Perhaps if he was cast in a Buster Keaton biopic, like Robert Downey Jr. playing Charlie Chaplin, it might have worked. Or if the preposterous plot and strange character was juxtaposed with a dull suburban milieu, with tract homes that all look the same except for different shades of pastel, as in Edward Scissorhands, it would have worked. But Jeremiah S. Chechik is no Tim Burton, and his vision wasn't compelling enough for me to want to suspend disbelief.
There were also some missed opportunities. William H. Macy played an agent who was going to audition Sam to put him on some kind of performing circuit. He never auditions, and nothing is made of this. Also, Macy could have provided a rival for Benny, then there could have been a little love triangle, generating a little more tension in their romance. I know that William H. Macy is hardly a threat, but that would have been all the more bitter for Benny if he lost out to him. The one small scene with Macy does have Ruthie making an unlikely appearance, and there is actually a little spark between them. I think that was supposed to be the idea, but it was dropped like a hot potato.
I really like Julianne Moore, but she was never utilized to the fullest. She did the best she could with the material at hand. Given the right film she is a red-headed stick of dynamite.
Depp is a very versatile actor, and he is always interesting, but that can't save the film. He did his own stunts, or comedy routines, like the dancing bread rolls gag from Charles Chaplin's The Gold Rush, or the hat trick from Harold Lloyd's Hey There! You might want to watch this film just to see him, but he is so much better in other vehicles, or at least the other vehicles are so much better...
Mary Stuart Masterson does an adequate job of portraying mental illness, and also shows the creative and quirky side of her personality. She paints, and her own paintings were used in the film. She has all of the good lines:
Joon: Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese.
Joon: Having a Boo Radley moment, are we?
Mary Stuart Masterson asked that the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (by the Proclaimers) be used in this film. There is a video of it tacked onto the end. I like those crazy Scottish twins, and their earnest hit single. I like MSM too, but that's not enough to save this film from imploding from terminal cuteness.
Movie Connections for Benny & Joon and the actors therein:
To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition) (1962) it seems I just wrote a review recently with a Boo Radley moment. Oh, yeah. A band named the Boo Radley's did a song for the John Cusack film, Say Anything. Boo was the scary neighbor played by a young Robert Duvall.
The Harold Lloyd Comedy Collection Vols. 1-3 Hey There! & Girl Shy (1918) Harold Lloyd inspired some of the stunts in B&J
The Art of Buster Keaton (The General / Sherlock, Jr. / Our Hospitality / The Navigator / Steamboat Bill Jr. / College / Three Ages / Battling Butler / Go West / The Saphead / Seven Chances / 21 Short Films) Buster Keaton inspired Sam's look and demeanor in B&J.
The Chaplin Collection, Vol. 1 (Modern Times / The Great Dictator / The Gold Rush / Limelight) Charlie Chaplin also inspired B&J.
Savage Grace (2007) .... I would love to see Julianne Moore as Barbara Baekeland. Is it on DVD yet?
Far from Heaven (2002) .... Moore is far from heaven as Cathy Whitaker, trapped in a loveless marriage.
The Big Lebowski (1998) .... Julianne is Maude Lebowski, and this film is a cult classic from the Cohen Brothers.
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Amber Waves is yet another knock out performance from Moore.
Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition) (1990) .... Depp was Edward Scissorhands, and Winona Ryder, Vincent Price, and director Tim Burton made this film a classic.
Blow (Infinifilm Edition) (2001) .... Depp played George Jung.
Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) .... Aidan Quinn was Dez, who was desperately seeking Susan (Madonna).
Sam: Tapioca?
|
|
|
