Benny and Joon
A mentally ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
24 July 1940, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
13 March 1950, Miami, Florida, USA
8 March 1959, Chicago, Illinois, USA
15 October 1927, New York City, New York, USA
12 January 1960, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
28 June 1966, New York City, New York, USA
25 December 1952, Georgetown, British Guiana
July 18, 2011
Any film that features Johnny Depp performing salutes to the great silent comedians (and, in particular, Buster Keaton) deserves a little slack... [Blu-ray]
June 21, 2009
Things are kept on the right side of mawkish thanks largely to a graceful and understated performance from the ever-reliable Depp.
May 20, 2003
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.
October 07, 2004
Great early Depp performance and Masterson is equally terrific
January 01, 2000
[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.
January 26, 2006
It's acted out in the secondary emotional register of the glass menagerie: whimsical, delicate, idiosyncratic, barmy.
January 01, 2000
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.
May 12, 2001
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.
June 21, 2009
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.
October 23, 2003
One of my favorite romances. Quirky and magical.
April 08, 2006
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.
August 17, 2008
Johnny Depp gives another head-turning performance in this sweet, sweet comedy
