The Cable Guy (1996)
The 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
Owen Wilson .... Robin's date
Directed by Ben Stiller, The Cable Guy is a black comedy as well as a diatribe on the effects television & media in general have on our lives. If it were released today, it would be viewed as derivative, nothing we haven't seen before. When it was released in 1996, the performance Carrey gave was so vastly different than his wacky performances in The Mask & Dumb & Dumber, that audiences were turned off & initially dismissed the movie as terrible. This is unfortunate, because the performance Carrey gives, while perfectly annoying, is spot on with the stalker portrayal & the kids that are raised by television.
For those that haven't been lucky enough to see it, Steven Kovacs (Broderick) has just been kicked out of his girlfriend's (Mann) place because he asked her to marry him. Those wacky women. While waiting for The Cable Guy (Carrey) to arrive, he's given some advice by his friend Rick (Black). Tip The Cable Guy fifty bucks & he'll hook you up with free cable. Unfortunately, Steven gets the most psychotic cable guy ever.
I'm guessing Carrey took the role to show audiences that he's not just a wacky, madcap, millionaire, former In Living Color actor. A casual movie-watcher will sit down to watch this & more than likely be turned off by Carrey's dark, annoying & disturbing portrayal of what could be a lovable loser-type character. But that also has plenty to do with Stiller's directing of the movie, which, while somewhat spotty, shows off the black comedy in a whole new way.
The Cable Guy definitely isn't for everyone. If you don't burst out laughing at a small child falling down in a mall & bawling their eyes out, you probably won't enjoy The Cable Guy. Personally, I'm a fan of it, though there are some scenes where you're sitting there, clenching the couch cushions going "ENOUGH! I get it! You're slighty unhinged, but in a functional way," or something to that extent. Maybe just the "ENOUGH!" Either way, the sensationalistic way Stiller shows off the media is pretty truthful, & probably hit a little close to home for some people in the busines. Or not, whatever. 3.5 outta 5.