I don't feel this movie was appropriately titled. It should have been Sam and Joon... or just Joon... or even Juniper. Benny plays an important part in the movie of course, but Sam's character steals the show... and the movie's real substance (in my opinion).
shareI completely agree with you! Why isn't it SAM & JOON??? Sam and Joon are the main characters! It's all about their relationship and not Benny's and hers. I mean, yea, as you said, Benny is a major role, but his name just doesn't belong in the title. The movie's not about Benny. I LOVE this movie and the film can really cheer me up, but the title is stupid. It should have been "Sam & Joon"!!!!!
shareIt should be titled "Benny and Joon."
~I can sing better than Taylor Hicks!
sam should be the brother's name. fits his personality better.keep the title.
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
I thought Benny was Johnny Depp's character for years. I hadn't seen it since I was younger and because those two characters fell in love I remembered it that way, well I assumed.
Rest in Peace Keith "Guru" Elam (1966-2010)...you will be missed.
i always remembered it as 'benny & the jets'. until i saw it again & saw it was benny & joon.
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
HeHeHe...what?
Rest in Peace Keith "Guru" Elam (1966-2010)...you will be missed.
you know, the song. bu-bu-bu-bubuububu benny & the jets!
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
Lol...That's what he was saying? Something tells me I already knew, but I feel like I'm just finding out.
Rest in Peace Keith "Guru" Elam (1966-2010)...you will be missed.
It's titled Benny & Joon because its main focus is the relationship between Joon and her brother.
shareBenny and Joon are the protagonists; they go through the most changes because of Ruthie and Sam (the antagonists) -- their development is parallel, both learn to not to be afraid of intimacy or of letting go of each other. If this is solely a love story, I'd say it should be titled "Sam & Joon" but it's a bigger story than that.
share[deleted]
This movie is absolutely about Benny. He's the protagonist. The film is about his need to control Joon as a way to justify his loneliness and his fear of change.
Sam is the wildcard and the catalyst to not only Benny's change as a person, but Joon's as well. Benny is the one with dramatic the character journey. Everything that happens in the film directly or indirectly creates growth and change in Benny, and every scene is motivated by that.
Sam is the 'jester' or 'fool' archetype, and also serves as the 'liberator,' and the 'lover' who represents the necessary changes in Benny & Joon's lives. (Hence the title.) Watch it again, and see how each scene and everything done by Sam affects Benny & Joon .
This it what elevates this film above being just another shallow chic-flick romance. Without Benny this film would be pretty weak.
EXCELLENT post PhxDwn, I was trying to think of how to put this. I think it's important that it's 'Benny and Joon'. It really is about the development of the brother and sister and their relationship... Sam hardly changes at all.
Exactly as you put it. Not to mention the immense psychological depth that was behind Benny's character which was rendered ever so subtly. The movie focused on his social "paralysis" and the way he was stigmatized because of his sister. IMO, it's a movie that represents exactly 2 points of view: the one of a disable mentally ill person and the one of a person trying to cope with a sibling that's mentally ill.
share" The film is about his need to control Joon as a way to justify his loneliness and his fear of change. "
This is one possibility, I admit. But . . .
I strongly disagree with this as the only take. Having worked with this population for almost 40 years, I can testify that many caregivers neither need nor have any such justification such as you describe. Rather, they are loving, caring people who believe or are otherwise convinced that no one can or will care for their loved one as well as they can can. There is a LOT more to this, but it would take pages.
I'm no expert, but . . . .
I think the film represents it as all of those things. Benny doesn't want to check Joon into a hospital because he doesn't want to abandon her; each is the only family the other has left. He think it's better for her to be with him than with orderlies who don't know and love her and just treat her as a patient. And of course he feels responsible for Joon and knows he could never forgive himself if something happened to her (or she did something) when he wasn't there to watch her.
Those all play a factor in why he's reluctant to let her move in with Sam, but there is also a part of him that, to paraphrase Joon, "needs" her to be sick. Caring for her gives him a definite sense of purpose; he's been doing it his whole life. He knows it. Even the chaos of his life caring for a mentally ill sibling is preferable to the thought of a life that is suddenly without a clear sense of action. His identity has become wrapped up in his role as caregiver. Without Joon to watch over, who is he? What does he stand for? He'll have to invent his life from the ground up, which is a scary prospect. That doesn't mean there's no selflessness and love in his choice, but it isn't entirely altruistic, either. Human beings are selfish, even in our acts of goodness, and some aspect of his own act was a selfish one.
I thought the same thing at first, but after thinking about it, the title is fine. It is a story about a brother and a sister, Sam just happens to affect them both. I think he affects Benny just as much as he does Joon.
shareBecause the film's story is about Benny's relationship with Joon and how he learns to deal with his sisters mental illness. Regarding Depps celebrity status, he was merely a love interest who ultimately was designed to help Benny progress onto the next level of dealing with his sister, and eventually leads to him getting her, her own apartment.
This was one of the first film roles Depp played which gained him celeb status.
Johnny stole the film as Sam, but this is definitely about the siblings relationship. They love each other, but they are hurting each other's lives at this point. Sam is the character we need to the story can change.
Please excuse my terrible redaction, english is not my native language.
the title is Benny & Joon because that is how is how Sam writes their names ....
Being Juniper, her name is most likely spelled JUNE not JOON
remember he says Benny with an N, Benny says yes 2 n's ..... then Juniper, says June, 1 N.