Benny & Joon
A romance on the brink of reality.
In the 1993 film Benny & Joon, a mentally-ill young woman finds her love in an eccentric man who models himself after Buster Keaton.
Joon is smart, creative and pretty—and severely schizophrenic. She lives together with her protective brother Benny. When Joon "wins" the eccentric, mentally disabled Sam (Johnny Depp) during a poker game, Benny reluctantly agrees to let Sam stay with them for a while.
Sam and Joon inevitably fall in love, and as they try to set up a life together, the darker side of Joon's schizophrenia comes to light. Still, Sam refuses to give up, despite Benny flat-out telling him that Joon would never be fit for an adult relationship.
Tropes used in Benny & Joon include:
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: Sam.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Sam and Joon.
- Media Research Failure: Benny & Joon does not refer to the romantic leads, but the brother and sister. Johnny Depp is NOT the titular Benny, but this mistake is made often.
- Deadpan Snarker: Benny.
- Funny Schizophrenia: Averted. At first it seems like Joon's mental handicap will be played for wackiness, but the film also shows the full extent of what having a personal relationship with someone like her would entail. Her breakdown on the bus while trying to run away with Sam is particularly tragic.
- Gory Discretion Shot: In the So Bad It's Good Movie Within A Movie.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Benny, shortly after meeting Sam for the first time.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Sam is a male example.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Benny, though being Joon's brother, acts much like an Overprotective Dad, and is against Sam and Joon's relationship.
- Shout-Out: Johnny Depp's character, Sam, is a walking tribute to Buster Keaton. He also reenacts Charlie Chaplin's bread roll dance from The Gold Rush at one point.
- Depp, a Chaplin enthusiast, stated that it took him several weeks to get the entire routine down perfectly, including all the little head movements and everything. Chaplin, of course, ad-libbed it on the spot.
- Actually, Chaplin, being an almost obsessive perfectionist, would probably also have spent weeks getting the entire routine down perfectly.
- Depp, a Chaplin enthusiast, stated that it took him several weeks to get the entire routine down perfectly, including all the little head movements and everything. Chaplin, of course, ad-libbed it on the spot.
- Slice of Life
- The Stoic: Benny.
- Unusual Smoothie: among other culinary innovations.