The Cable Guy (1996)

At the very height of his mid '90's superstardom, Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura, The Truman Show, Liar Liar) received a then record-setting $20 million paycheck to star in this dark comedy directed by Ben Stiller (Tropic Thunder, Zoolander, Reality Bites).  Carrey starred as a the titular Cable Guy who installs cable television for a newly single bachelor (Matthew Broderick) living in Los Angeles but then makes the mistake of trying to become friends with him and eventually stalking him. :o  And hilarity ensues!  Well as it turned out, the movie was quite funny but at the time was poorly received for being just too dark compared to Carrey's recent more family friendly comedies.  However in the almost thirty years since its release, this has become much more appreciated for its biting satire and is often considered by many fans of Carrey to be among his best performances.   Also co-starring Jack Black and Leslie Mann both very early in their careers, it's time to grab a board.....and/or remote....and go channel surfing!! 

Host & Editor: Geoff Gershon
Producer: Marlene Gershon 

Transcript

THE CABLE GUY - 1996

Directed by Ben Stiller

Starring Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black, George Segal, Diane Baker, Eric Roberts, Janeane Garofolo, Andy Dick, Harry O’Reilly, David Cross, Owen Wilson, and Ben Stiller

Genre: Dark Comedy Thriller

This movie is about to turn thirty and when it first came out, Jim Carrey was the biggest movie star in the world and was clearly trying to stretch. He had played a villain the year prior in Batman Forever but...well all remember how serious THAT film was. 😮 This movie was an attempt once again for him to not only play a villain but to go darker basically playing a more comic riff on " ---- from Hell" thrillers which been loading theaters at the time like The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (nanny from Hell), Unlawful Entry (cop from Hell), or Fear (daughter's first boyfriend from Hell) - Carrey plays Chip Douglas (hmm) who is....you guessed it...the cable man from hell. What came from director Ben Stiller was a film which was trying to achieve two very different things: tell a disturbing story of one man who through TV or pop culture becomes increasingly disconnected from reality and ends up stalking a cable customer he desperately wants to be friends with AND...be a laugh-a-minute riot showcase for Jim Carrey for all the young children who had been flocking to his movies at the time. So did it succeed in achieving that balance? 

For the most part yes - it's pretty damn funny and Carrey goes increasingly unhinged... he is just a FORCE to watch in several standout scenes whether that be his hysterical introductory sequence playfully installing the cable for Matthew Broderick’s Steven….holding a raucous karaoke party at his place WITH Steven apparently as the special guest….or a sequence which will always hold a special place in my heart, when he takes his new friend out to Medieval Times. (Audio clip) 

And speaking of Broderick, yeah he's in this movie too and he's pretty good in his own right mostly playing the straight man to Carrey's antics and of course his eventual victim. Broderick has always been a gifted comedic actor in his own right and I’ve gotta admit after years of the Ferris Bueller wise-ass persona starting to wear thin, it was nice to see him take a more subtle approach this time around. We understand why his character feels drawn to Chip at first and we of course relate when he tries to pull back. 

The story continues to get darker and maintains its humor but I have to admit that rewatching it now, I would LOVE to see the R-rated version of this....including the original ending where apparently Chip dies impaled on a satellite dish. Even when first seeing that ending upon release, it just always stuck out to me as something which was clearly a reshoot mandated by the studio. I get why of course....because he was JIM CARREY at the time beloved by kids! But for a story like this, it just starts to feel a bit too pat towards the end - there's some genuine anger seeping out from under Carrey's performance and I just feel like he had a great hard-core Max Cady-type waiting to be unleashed who never comes out. That's a hard tonal shift to pull off...best examples I can think of is Ray Liotta's ex-con ratcheting things up in the 3rd act of Something Wild or the pretty much the second half of The King of Comedy - those were directed by Demme and Scorcese of course, this was only Stiller's second feature as a director so maybe a high bar to clear that soon. 

Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):

For a big studio comedy, this movie has a surprisingly strong soundtrack featuring several of the more interesting modern rock acts from the mid ‘90’s…Cracker, Cypress Hill, Filter, Porno for Pyros, Silverchair, and one of my personal favorite acts from this era RUBY. (Audio clip)  

But by far THE most memorable song from this soundtrack is actually a very catchy mid-tempo track which kind of came out of nowhere to become a surprisingly omnipresent radio hit the summer this came out.  The song was from this band’s debut studio album which had been released just a few months prior, “Rocket” and it’s probably most widely remembered for its chorus which is actually comprised of a sample of BB King from ‘1964.  The funny thing is that as GOOD as this song is, we only hear it in the background during an otherwise perfunctory scene early one when Steven is having lunch with Leslie Mann’s Robin, commiserating about how they are now on a break….which was initiated by her.  Still for a few months in ’96, you just couldn’t avoid this song and for good reason – it still holds up and it comes to us from Ventura, California’s Primitive Radio Gods and I believe it still remains their biggest hit.  The title?  Well you won’t forget it: “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand.” (Audio clip) 

And yet as much as I love that song, it doesn’t have NEARLY the impact within the context of the film as a classic needle-drop actually sung by Carrey himself at his character’s karaoke party.  It’s a good song in its own right but what Carrey’s Chip does with it not only comes off as a virtuoso performance – he’s literally STRAINING his voice box at one point to reach the most extreme notes from Grace Slick’s voice – but on-screen, it even feels like a poignant cry for help from Chip himself.  Carry is REALLY going for it here – it IS funny but it also eventually feels increasingly uncomfortable to watch him which was probably the point.  From their 1967 album “Surrealistic Pillow,” it’s Jefferson Airplane’s “Somebody to Love” performed by Jim Carrey….definitely among THE best karaoke performances ever given on-screen. Hey maybe I should do a ranking someday. (Audio clip) 

Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):  

Ok so the common perception of this film is that it was a notorious flop at the time of release, breaking what was a pretty IMPRESSIVE box office streak for Jim Carry….going back about two years, he had starred in FIVE consecutive blockbusters, Ace Ventura, previous episode The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, previous episode Batman Forever, and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls….the sequel.  Now this film made about $102 million worldwide on a $47 million budget….not really a flop but more of a commercial disappointment.  So WHY did this film break the streak?  

I think it’s quite simple actually: EVERYTHING on paper about this film whether it was a comedic version of  your typical ‘90’s stalker thriller up until this point AND/OR if this was Jim Carrey doing his goofball version of Travis Bickle….both concepts were clearly geared towards adults and pretty much demanding an R-rated film.  So they were hiring THE biggest star in the world whom they clearly hoped would create another four-quadrant blockbuster….only the actual story they were placing him within was anything but.  This just wasn’t a film meant for kids plain and simple….they were basically trying to fit a VERY square peg into a round hole.  Would this film have made MORE if it was a full-on rated-R movie for grown-ups?  I just don’t know….but at least it could have been a more fully realized movie.

Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):

THIS one occurs about a half hour in….I don't know why but I'm just a sucker for a funny basketball montage (I even found the one in Soul Man funny) and watching Carrey's Chip with a bright blue mouth mouthguard (to match his bright blue tank-top of course) LITERALLY go ape-shit trying to steal the ball from behind one of Matthew Broderick's buddies on the court - waving his arms at the ball while making ape noises - with "Hey Man Nice Shot" blasting on the soundtrack, it's undeniably funny and kind of awe-inspiring to watch at the same time. 🙂 Carrey at his peak was just fearless and relentless as a physical comedian...never more than at the end of this sequence when after leaping upward to dunk the ball (on the back of Jack Black no less) and shattering the glass all around him...we see him land on his back CRUNCH on top of shards of glass, it's as much wince-inducing as funny! For an unhinged stalker-type like this character, it just works.

MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):

This was a pretty close call as I DO consider this to be the best film Stiller has ever directed….though bear in mind, I haven’t seen any episodes of “Severance” and from what I hear, he does a virtuoso job directing several episodes of that highly acclaimed AppleTV show.  But among his feature films?  Reality Bites, Tropic Thunder, Zoolander….yeah I would consider this to be the most successful overall.  And yet, at the end of the day this is STILL Jim Carrey’s movie – it was a clearcut star vehicle for him at the time for which I recall he also received a record-breaking (at the time) $20 million dollar paycheck to star in. Even though it wasn’t the blockbuster it was anticipated to be, I believe he STILL earned that paycheck for a go-for-broke turn which is equal parts funny, menacing, AND sad.  (Audio clip) 

It’s as unhinged as what he did a few years prior in the first Ace Ventura but UNLIKE that film – which I saw on opening day and NEVER liked….sorry – pretty much everything he does here not only lands as funny but serves a narrative purpose.  For delivering one of his best performances, Jim Carrey is the MVP. (Audio clip) 

Final Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Happy 30th Anniversary to one of the more underrated comedies of the ‘90’s…..I even feel like this would make a great double-feature with an even stronger Jim Carrey vehicle, The Truman Show.

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And that ends another CHANNEL SURFING review!