After making a splash in the teen horror classic NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, Depp's big break came with the Fox TV series "21 Jump Street," a high school "Mod Squad," with Depp playing an undercover detective. While the series was never more than a cult hit, it did make Depp a teen idol. It turned out, however, this was the last thing Depp wanted, and he took on a series of eccentric film roles, starring in John Waters' CRY-BABY and Tim Burton's EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (both 1990). And in BENNY & JOON, his character is even more eccentric.
The story concentrates on Benny (Aidan Quinn) and June (Mary Stuart Masterson), brother and sister, living in Spokane. Benny runs an auto repair shop, and takes care of June, who's schizophrenic. He doesn't have time for much of a social life except to play poker with his coworker Eric (Oliver Platt) and friends Thomas (Dan Hedaya) and Mike (Joe Grifasi). At the same time, he's reluctant to put Jane in a hospital, despite the urging of her doctor (CCH Pounder), as he's been her only family ever since their parents died. One night, when Benny isn't there, June asks to play, and the guys all let her. By coincidence, Mike's cousin Sam (Depp) is driving him nuts, and he puts him in the pot (they play not for money, but for things like doing a regrouting job). So when Mike wins the pot, Benny and June get stuck with Sam.
Sam is a little - okay, very - eccentric. He makes grilled cheese sandwiches by ironing them (observing this, June comments "Some cultures are defined by their relationship to cheese"), cleans Benny's house by skating around with a broom, and has memorized a B-horror movie Ruth (Julianne Moore), the waitress at the diner, appeared in back when she tried to be an actress. He also will, at the drop of a hat (literally), burst into routines copied from old Chaplin or Keaton films (he recreates the bun dance from THE GOLD RUSH). June, who's a bit of an eccentric artist herself (she paints), finds herself falling in love with him. Benny, who has a crush on Ruth, at first tolerates Sam, then likes him when he sees his talent - but not when he's in love with June.
