The Cable Guy (1996)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Ben Stiller

Writer (WGA):

Lou Holtz Jr. (written by)

Release Date:

14 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

Once you let him into your house, you'll never get him out of your life!

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.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Cable Guy | Television | Break Up | Karaoke

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

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

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for dark thematic elements and crude humor.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS (8 channels)

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:

Carson, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Jack Black plays Steven's friend Rick. Towards the end of the movie, his fellow bandmate from Tenacious D, Kyle Gass, can be seen playing the couch potato who reaches for a book when his cable cuts out.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the basketball game at the gym, after Chip shatters the backboard, he falls down into the glass on the floor. However you can clearly see an outline within the shattered glass, where he should land.

Quotes:

The Cable Guy: Sounds like heart break to me.
Steven Kovacs: Well I really don't want to discuss it with you. Could you just install my cable please? I'm gonna go get dressed.
The Cable Guy: Suit yourself. No sweat off my sac. Oh by the way, you might wanna put on a bathing suit 'cause you'll be channel surfing in no time!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Jim Carrey/Soundgarden (#21.20)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

TV Is the Thing This Year

One of Carrey's Best Performances

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.