After a two-year break due to a reported drinking problem, Hall returned to acting by starring opposite Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder in Tim Burton's 1990 hit "Edward Scissorhands", this time as the film's villain. By then in his 20s, he shifted to more mature roles, trying to establish himself as an adult actor. After "Scissorhands", he appeared in a series of low-budget films, including the 1992 comedy "Into the Sun", where he starred as a visiting celebrity at a military air base. Film critic Janet Maslin praised his performance, writing that "Hall, whose earlier performances (in films like "National Lampoon's Vacation" and "Sixteen Candles") have been much goofier, remains coolly funny and graduates to subtler forms of comedy with this role." The following year, he played a gay man who teaches down-and-out Will Smith to dupe rich people in the critically acclaimed film "Six Degrees of Separation"; Hall claimed that it was "the hardest role ever had."