Steven Kovacks (Matthew Broderick), a designer who just separated from his girlfriend, has cable installed to his new apartment. Enters the quirky and slightly deranged cable guy (Jim Carey) whom then never exits...
A rather simple plot which became in 1996 a very odd and yet pleasurable film indeed. Although following a pretty straight forward structure, the script provides enough background to Jim Carey's character to make of him a lot more than just a run-of-the-mill weirdo while Matthew Broderick aptly counterbalance the excessive title role by a fair performance of the without-a-glitch nice guy of the piece. The constant referencing to TV culture also makes it an entertaining and strangely enough somewhat nostalgic experience. It is quite obvious that a fair amount of improvisation was incorporated to the piece to sometimes great effect (the "Silence of the Lamb" episode anyone?) which I suppose is probably the most effective way to work with someone such as Jim Carey. Curiously however, the main asset of the film also becomes at some point its main shortcoming. This was to Jim Carey what 1994's "The Good Son" was to Macauley Culkin: a departure from their comedic roots to more darker territories, but as opposed to Joseph Ruben's thriller, "The Cable Guy" seems to always hesitate to boldly go as far as its story would allow it to. In Jim Carey's work this is certainly darker than anything he had done up to that point but if this was also supposed to be a thriller then it felt a little bland, the star's antics sometimes overshadowing the actual depth of the story.
Still, don't let this put you off for "The Cable Guy", playfully directed by Ben Stiller, is one of these misunderstood films that are really worth watching for its clever take on the media in general and the hidden harm you find it does to people's mind once stripped off the apparent sense of comfort it is supposed to bring. It might have been done a little too light-heartedly maybe but at least it was done at all. And decently done too. This is a more serious film than it looks at first glance and that alone makes it an interesting one. No masterpiece mind you, but then again, it never pretended to be one. Like many films of that ilk, it was generally trashed upon by critics back then, in this case for its lack of downright slapstick-laugh-out-loud moments (Carey's salary the true reason for the furore) although they also criticized "Ace Ventura: when natures call" for being completely empty, the previous year. Oh well, sometimes one can never win...
A rather simple plot which became in 1996 a very odd and yet pleasurable film indeed. Although following a pretty straight forward structure, the script provides enough background to Jim Carey's character to make of him a lot more than just a run-of-the-mill weirdo while Matthew Broderick aptly counterbalance the excessive title role by a fair performance of the without-a-glitch nice guy of the piece. The constant referencing to TV culture also makes it an entertaining and strangely enough somewhat nostalgic experience. It is quite obvious that a fair amount of improvisation was incorporated to the piece to sometimes great effect (the "Silence of the Lamb" episode anyone?) which I suppose is probably the most effective way to work with someone such as Jim Carey. Curiously however, the main asset of the film also becomes at some point its main shortcoming. This was to Jim Carey what 1994's "The Good Son" was to Macauley Culkin: a departure from their comedic roots to more darker territories, but as opposed to Joseph Ruben's thriller, "The Cable Guy" seems to always hesitate to boldly go as far as its story would allow it to. In Jim Carey's work this is certainly darker than anything he had done up to that point but if this was also supposed to be a thriller then it felt a little bland, the star's antics sometimes overshadowing the actual depth of the story.
Still, don't let this put you off for "The Cable Guy", playfully directed by Ben Stiller, is one of these misunderstood films that are really worth watching for its clever take on the media in general and the hidden harm you find it does to people's mind once stripped off the apparent sense of comfort it is supposed to bring. It might have been done a little too light-heartedly maybe but at least it was done at all. And decently done too. This is a more serious film than it looks at first glance and that alone makes it an interesting one. No masterpiece mind you, but then again, it never pretended to be one. Like many films of that ilk, it was generally trashed upon by critics back then, in this case for its lack of downright slapstick-laugh-out-loud moments (Carey's salary the true reason for the furore) although they also criticized "Ace Ventura: when natures call" for being completely empty, the previous year. Oh well, sometimes one can never win...