THE CABLE GUY (1996)
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1996 Chuck Dowling
The Cable Guy (1996) ****1/2 - C:Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, George Segal, Ben Stiller.
The Cable Guy is easily Jim Carrey's best movie ever and the reason is simple, it's because it's not a Jim Carrey movie. You see, if this had been an actual Jim Carrey movie, he'd be jumping all over the place with a weird haircut and would be talking with his butt cheeks.
Ok, so he's not exactly normal in The Cable Guy either. Actually, his character is quite dark and complex, not the fun-loving silly guy Jim Carrey fans are used to. This is certain to make his fans upset and rightfully so. All comedians get tired of doing the same thing over and over again and this film was just too good of a possibility for Carrey to pass up. I applaud what he's trying to do with his career with this film by trying to show people that he can ACTUALLY act. Carrey adds a great amount of depth to his character in the film, depth that someone like Adam Sandler or Chris Farley would not be able to do.
The Cable Guy is the newest entry in the "BLANK-from-hell" genre which includes other films such as Pacific Heights (the tenant from hell), The Temp (the secretary from hell), and The Crush (the Alicia Silverstone from hell). Carrey plays the title character, who doesn't use his real name so instead he uses names from old TV shows. Throughout most of the film he uses the name of Chip Douglas.
The cable guy comes to install cable for Steven (Broderick), who has just recently seperated from his girlfriend on a "trial" basis and has moved into his own place. Steven asks him about "illegal" cable and Carrey agrees to "juice him up". But, he expects something in return, Steven's friendship. And he'll do whatever he has to do to get it.
Broderick gets to do what he does best here, which is the normal guy caught in a strange situation. His character, at first, doesn't really want Chip to go away, he just wants him to stop acting so weird all the time. His mistake comes when his girlfriend wants to give him a second chance and he decides to brush off Chip, telling him "I don't have any room in my life for a new friend". Chip then proceeds to ruin Steven's life.
Carrey's performance has many levels to it. One minute you're laughing at him, the next you feel sorry for him, and then you're scared of him. Ben Stiller's direction is quite good and the film is very well made. Stiller should have exploited the film's final punchline/message a little more than he did, but the joke is still funny anyway. Eric Roberts has a very brief cameo as himself and it too is hilarious. In conclusion, The Cable Guy is the best thing Carrey could do with his talents at this point in his career and he should pursue more films like this one.
-- Chuck Dowling
Please visit my movie reviews web site at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/
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