Three Johnny Depp Movies Now Available on Hulu

Pretty good times for Johnny Depp fans over at Hulu: You can now catch three of his films in their entirety on one of the coolest video sites around (or just watch them here, if you like). These flicks go back to before Depp was everybody's favorite movie star but he was always such an interesting presence on screen that they're worth watching again. First is Benny & Joon, the 1993 romantic dramedy co-starring Aidan Quinn and Mary Stuart Masterson. Along with Edward Scissorhands, I think Depp's performance as Sam in this film was really an early example of how he could take a character other actors might just make into a weirdo and find a real poetic sensibility to showcase. The second Depp film now on Hulu is Cry Baby, the 1990 John Waters flick. Not a favorite of mine, but it has a few memorable moments. For this discussion, it's different enough from the others to show another side of Depp's abilities. It's also one of the very few Waters films intended for a wide audience. Finally, we get to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Depp is really in his element here, disappearing into a character he loves based on (and created by) his dear friend Hunter S. Thompson. The movie's not perfect, but Depp hits the right notes for the film almost every time. It was, of course, just a handful of years after this that Depp became an enormous star. Some of that remarkable creativity seems to be on hold while he's collecting checks, even if the first time we saw Captain Jack Sparrow, it was really something. Hopefully, he'll get back to these more daring roles soon; it would be a real shame if he decided just to do blockbusters for the time being.