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The Cable Guy (1996)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer (WGA):
Lou Holtz Jr. (written by)
Release Date:
14 June 1996 (USA)
more
Tagline:
Once you let him into your house, you'll never get him out of your life! more
Plot:
A lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
3 wins
&
1 nomination
more
NewsDesk:
(28 articles)
Weekly Poll Results: Favourite Jim Carrey Movie
(From FilmJunk. 12 November 2009, 9:44 AM, PST)
Will Ferrell And Charles Napier Hang With Ken Jeong In Today's Daily TwitPic
(From MTV Movies Blog. 21 October 2009, 6:00 AM, PDT)
(From FilmJunk. 12 November 2009, 9:44 AM, PST)
Will Ferrell And Charles Napier Hang With Ken Jeong In Today's Daily TwitPic
(From MTV Movies Blog. 21 October 2009, 6:00 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
One of Carrey's Best Performances
more (296 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | Jim Carrey | ... | The Cable Guy |
 | Matthew Broderick | ... | Steven M. Kovacs |
 | Leslie Mann | ... | Robin Harris |
 | Jack Black | ... | Rick |
 | George Segal | ... | Steven's Father |
 | Diane Baker | ... | Steven's Mother |
 | Ben Stiller | ... | Sam Sweet / Stan Sweet |
 | Eric Roberts | ... | Eric Roberts |
 | Janeane Garofalo | ... | Medieval Times Waitress |
 | Andy Dick | ... | Medieval Times Host |
| Harry O'Reilly | ... | Steven's Boss |
 | David Cross | ... | Sales Manager |
 | Amy Stiller | ... | Steven's Secretary |
 | Owen Wilson | ... | Robin's Date |
| Keith Gibbs | ... | Basketball Player |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for dark thematic elements and crude humor.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
96 min
Country:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Certification:
UK:12 (cut) |
Iceland:12 |
South Korea:15 |
Philippines:PG-13 |
Australia:M |
Belgium:KT |
Denmark:12 |
Finland:K-12/9 |
Germany:12 |
Italy:T |
Netherlands:AL |
Norway:11 |
Portugal:M/12 |
Singapore:PG |
Spain:13 |
Sweden:11 |
USA:PG-13 (certificate #34332)
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
During the fight at the theme restaurant "Medieval Times", Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick use weapons similar to those used in the "Star Trek" (1966) episode entitled "Amok Time". The music from that scene was also from "Amok Time". Director Ben Stiller is a huge Star Trek fan.
more
Goofs:
Continuity: When Steven returns to the office to find the desktop "movie" that the Cable Guy made showing Steven and Robin talking about Hal, Hal sees a different version of them on the couch than the original scene, right before Steven and Robin watched Sleepless in Seattle (1993).
more
Quotes:
Chip Douglas:
[on answering machine] I was just blow drying my hair, thought I heard the phone ring. Ah... has that ever happened to you? Anyway... call me, we'll talk about it.
more
Movie Connections:
References "Spider-Man" (1967)
more
Soundtrack:
The Ancient Battle/2nd Kroykah
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FAQ
What are the differences between the British BBFC 12 version and the uncut version?more
more (296 total)
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When first released, Cable Guy was such an unusual departure for Jim Carrey and his usual slapstick, manic, goofy comedies that people just didn't understand it or like it. When word of Carrey's enormous $20 million paycheck for this film spread, hopes were high that Cable Guy would be smothered in Carrey's slice of hilarious dementia to the extreme.
Carrey certainly brought an air of craziness to Chip Douglas, a lonely, TV-addicted, and creepy cable installer who befriends the unwilling Matthew Broderick (here, looking just nervous and bewildered for the entire film). But something was missing from this Carrey vehicle from the others: he was not all fun and games. In fact, he was downright funny weird, not funny haha.
So here lies one of the major problems people have with this film: it veers from dark comedy into darkness, period. Carrey isn't making an ass of himself in every scene. No. Instead, Carrey's Chip Douglas is an obsessive, extreme, two-faced sociopath. The result? What would be Jim Carrey's best performance to date, surpassed only by his Truman Burbank in The Truman Show.
Sure, it's got a story that's been done to death: normal guy meets psycho and is stalked. But oh, what fun it is to see Jim drag Matthew Broderick into such uncomfortable situations as playing Porno Password with his parents (Carrey whispering "Nipple" into Broderick's ear is absolute brilliance).
Cable Guy is definitely not for fans who want to see Jim Carrey do what created his career; that is, silly, goofy, and flailing comedy. However, avid fans of black comedies will love seeing Carrey's first step in his evolution as a gifted, serious, and undeniably interesting actor.
8 out of 10.