Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Benny & Joon Blu-ray Movie Review

Crazy in Love

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater May 3, 2011

Love conquers all, so the saying goes, but can it triumph over mental illness? That’s the question asked in Benny & Joon, the 1993 film that pairs Mary Stuart Masterson (Fried Green Tomatoes) and a young Johnny Depp as two “different” souls who find themselves drawn magnetically to one another despite the odds that say their relationship shouldn’t work. Like Harold and Maude, the film sits on the weirder side of the rom-com spectrum, where bizarre individuals meet in odd ways and become unlikely lovers. It’s equal parts strange and sweet, and director Jeremiah Chechik—known for National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, the Diabolique remake, and the Avengers reboot— manages to keep the material from getting too cutesy or mawkish. Even if it’s not entirely realistic—the film has a kind of dreamy, old-fashioned tone— this is one of those rare romantic comedies that deals with real issues.

Joon & Sam & Benny

Mary Stuart Masterson plays Juniper “Joon” Pearl, a mentally troubled twentysomething who lives in a sleepy corner of Spokane, Washington with her overprotective older brother, Benny (Aidan Quinn), owner of a local car repair shop. It’s never specifically stated, but it seems that Joon has some combination of schizophrenia and perhaps bipolar disorder. Whatever it is, she’s eccentric and unstable, prone to lighting things on fire and flipping out if her daily routine is even slightly altered. She spends her days painting—smearing the canvas with her hands in broad, beautiful strokes —but often wanders outside alone, getting into all sorts of trouble. Joon is clearly frustrating to live with—the housekeepers who are hired to watch her never stick around for more than a few months—but her brother is patient and longsuffering, and he resists the idea of committing her to a group home, even though Joon’s psychiatrist (Avatar’s CCH Pounder) thinks that would be the best course of action. There are hints at a tragedy that killed the siblings’ parents, and it’s clear that Benny feels obligated out of love and duty to take care of his sister, even though it seriously cramps his own social life. One of his few outlets is a regular poker game with three friends—played by Dan Hedaya, Joe Grifasi, and Oliver Platt—where trinkets, jazz records, and favors are wagered instead of cash. In a big loss one week, Benny is forced to provide room and board for one of the players’ cousins, Sam (Johnny Depp), an out-of-towner whose peculiarities rival Joon’s.

Sam seems born of another time. He dresses like a natty bohemian from the 1920s, swinging a cane and wearing baggy pinstriped pants, a vest, and a well-worn felt hat. With the aloof, bemused air of a silent film comedian, he drifts through his surroundings, pratfalling and pulling humor out of the mundane, living as if life itself were a constant performance. We’re not surprised to learn that he idolizes Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. This is charming, but Sam has his share of troubles. He just doesn’t seem to fit in the modern world. He has no idea what to do with himself. Also, it would appear that he’s somewhat illiterate—or, at least, has some language processing difficulties—which doesn’t bode well for job opportunities. Sam gets along with Joon, though, so Benny brings him on as a kind of temporary housekeeper/minder. This takes some of the pressure off of Benny—who begins seeing a cute diner waitress (a pre-fame Julianne Moore)—but he still can’t quite relax. He’s always worrying about his kid sister, and this concern underlies every decision he makes. He’s trapped, essentially, and the idea of putting Joon in a home is starting to sound pretty good. A wrench is thrown into the works, however, when Joon and Sam come to him with an admission: they’re in love.

And I’ll leave it at that. Suffice it to say that a significant amount of drama emerges out of Benny’s feelings of possession, Joon’s inability to cope with the world outside her routine, and Sam’s desire to have some semblance of a normal relationship with his schizophrenic new girlfriend. Unlike most rom-coms—which are usually, I think we all can admit, brainless fluff—Benny & Joon raises a number of complex questions: How much control over their lives should people with severe mental imbalances be given? What can we do to accommodate their needs for physical and emotional intimacy? When is self-sacrifice unhealthy? There are no easy answers, of course, and the movie leaves us with the only real solution: we do the best that we can. The film’s ending is perhaps unrealistically optimistic—it’s hard to believe that a fire-starting schizo and a jobless drifter could end up happily ever after—but this is a romance, after all, and the hopefulness that accompanies the final scene firmly puts Benny & Joon in the “feel good” category. It works, without the usual schmaltziness. Most of the film’s success comes from the strength of its performances. Along with memorable turns by a veritable stable of character actors—Oliver Platt, Dan Hedaya, William H. Macy, Joe Grifasi—the three leads are wonderful. Aiden Quinn is empathetic as the frustrated everyman, Mary Stuart Masterson walks on the realistic side of a fine line that could’ve quickly sloped into caricature, and Johnny Depp…well, let’s put it this way: I wouldn’t mind seeing him take a stab at a Buster Keaton biopic, and that’s coming from a huge fan of The Great Stone Face.

Benny & Joon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

MGM's been on a catalog title kick lately, but it's mostly been a case of quantity over quality, with recycled transfers from old masters and no real restoration work. The same goes for Benny & Joon, but fortunately, unlike some of the studio's other recent releases, edge enhancement, smeary DNR, and other remnants of the DVD age don't show up in excess here. It looks like MGM ran the film through the telecine machine and called it a day, which isn't such a bad thing. While the print is occasionally speckled with black flecks that probably could've been cleaned up, the film's grain structure looks natural and there are no blatant problems with compression noise, banding, or macroblocking. When evaluating the film's transfer, you absolutely have to take into account the fact that cinematographer John Schwartzman used diffusion filters in many scenes, which leads to a softer image with less intrinsic fine detail. Still, the upgrade to high definition is more than apparent in an overall increase in clarity. Color looks good too—if a bit dim—with decent black levels, balanced skin tones, and nice warm glow that covers most of the film. Is it worth the upgrade from DVD? If you're a longtime fan of the film, I'd say probably, depending on your budget.

Benny & Joon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's sound design doesn't seem to have been tweaked at all either, as the disc arrives with a straightforward DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track. As a low-key romantic comedy, the film's sonic demands are minimal, limited predominantly to a mix of dialogue and score. The track succeeds on both counts, with clear, balanced vocal reproduction and music that, lack of subwoofer output aside, has plenty of punch. The film's main theme—The Proclaimer's "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)"—sounds big and dynamic, with no high-end brashness. Although there are a few instances when a 5.1 mix might have added to the experience, this stereo track suits the film fine.

Benny & Joon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary: Director Jeremiah Checkhik sits down for a solo track that yields plenty of production details, even if it moves slowly in patches.
• Deleted Scenes (SD, 5:12): There are two short deleted scenes here, Sam's audition sequence and the full version of The Mutilator, the fake horror movie featured in the film.
• Costume, Make-Up Test, and Stunt Reel (SD, 18:45): Cinematographer John Schwartzman discusses the job of the DP and explains a series of lighting, make-up, and costume tests.
• Music Video - The Proclaimers "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" (SD, 3:40)

Benny & Joon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's romantic, and it's a comedy, but I resist applying the "rom-com" label to Benny & Joon, a film that's better—and smarter—than that classification often implies. Although MGM appears to have put the bare minimum of effort into this Blu-ray release, the film looks good in high definition —minus some specks, flecks, and occasional softness—enough so that fans will probably feel justified in upgrading from their worn-out DVD copies. Recommended.