By Kari Bowles
To young Millennials who have come of age with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, it may be impossible to conceive of a time when Johnny Depp wasn’t one of the most recognizable movie stars in the world. But over twenty years ago, before he starred in mega-blockbusters, Depp was a performer that only a relatively small band of aficionados were aware of. From his breakout in 1987 with the short-lived TV series 21 Jump Street, to his poignant turn as the title character in Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands(1990), he developed a specialty in portraying deeply odd characters who nevertheless held more appeal and warmth than more straightforward leading men might. It could be argued that at the present stage of his career he has started to become a parody of himself, with the eccentricities seeming rote calculated instead of appealing.
However, such an assessment cannot wilt the bloom on his early 90s persona. Benny and Joon(1993) is an example of his eccentricity at its most charming and unaffected. It is now retired from Netflix, making it all the more of a hidden gem. Benny Pearl(Aidan Quinn) works as a mechanic in Spokane, Washington; he also has the responsibility of serving as the caregiver to his sister Juniper(Mary Stuart Masterson), an artist with a serious mental illness. Benny is at the point of deciding to have Joon committed to a group home, when a young man named Sam (Johnny Depp) comes into their lives, filling the role of housekeeper. Complications naturally ensue, as Joon and Sam fall in love and Benny has to grapple with a potential romantic interest of his own (Julianne Moore). Sam models himself on Buster Keaton; he has the same quiet, generally stone-faced calm and the acrobatic physicality (although there is a nod to the “dancing dinner rolls” scene from Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 picture The Gold Rush).
Accordingly, much of the humor in the film is staged in a way comparable to the stunts in a silent comedy, with emphasis falling on timing and the quirky incongruity of the action. The scene where mashed potatoes are prepared with a tennis racket is a case in point. Depp has no affectation or mugging during this culinary endeavor; he isn’t “trying” to be funny. He is engrossed in a task he approaches with earnest attention, and therein lays the key to the laugh the moment gets. But Sam’s wackiness is meaningfully counterbalanced with Joon’s sickness. He is different, but different in a way that can engage with the world. This grants a surprising, and significant, serious undertone to their relationship, as well as Benny’s reaction to it. It is a credit to Aidan Quinn and to director Jeremiah S Chechik that Benny is never a cruel obstructionist. He loves his sister and wants to protect her, and his actions all spring from that. And as a parting note of commendation: Benny and Joon helped popularize The Proclaimers’ song “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”. •
