The Cable Guy (1996)

A lonely and mentally disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.

Director:

Ben Stiller

Writer:

Lou Holtz Jr.

Stars:

Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann

3 wins & 2 nominations.

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

Storyline

Steven Kovak has been kicked out of his apartment by his girlfriend. Steven has a new apartment, and decides to slip the cable guy (Chip) $50 for free cable. Steven then fakes an interest in Chip's line of work. However Chip takes this to heart trying to become Steven's best bud. When Steven no longer wants to be Chips friend the man who can do it all goes on an all out assault to ruin Steven's life. In the backdrop is the delicate sub-plot of the trial of a former kid star for murdering his brother.

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Plot Keywords:

television | obsession | revenge | friendship | hostage | 

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Taglines:

Are you ready to get wired?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for dark thematic elements and crude humor

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Jim Carrey's stunt double dunked the basketball, the backboard shattered on his face and chest. The backboard glass was supposed to fall backwards. "The pyrotechnics didn't work the right way and pushed all the glass the wrong way, so the guy got fired on the spot", Keith Gibbs, the basketball coordinator remembered. "I think, in the actual scene, they ended up using it."

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Goofs

At Steven's parents' house, Steven calls Chip a "bastard" and covers his mouth in shock at what he said. In the next shot, his hand is no longer over his mouth.

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Quotes

Chip Douglas: Cable guy!
[pounds on the door]
Chip Douglas: Cably Guy? Cable Guy!
[Rings the buzzer]
Chip Douglas: Cabla goobla!

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Crazy Credits

The Columbia logo at the beginning of the movie segues into static from Steven's cable TV.

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Alternate Versions

In order to qualify for a 12 certificate, all UK versions of this film were cut by 4 seconds to remove some imitable violence. The cut occurs towards the end, when Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick are fighting on top of the TV satellite. A shot of Carrey headbutting Broderick has been removed as well as a brief ear-clap. The cuts were waived in July 2017, and the uncut version appears on the film's Blu-ray release.

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Connections

References The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

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Soundtracks

Salt Peanuts
Written by Dizzy Gillespie (as John 'Dizzy' Gillespie), Kenny Clarke, Jeff Cohen & Bruce Good
Performed by Dizzy Gillespie
Courtesy of Discovery Records
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

14 June 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Cable Guy

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$47,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,806,226, 16 June 1996

Gross USA:

$60,240,295

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$102,825,796

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, Licht/Mueller Film Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels) Dolby Digital DTS Dolby SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1