In 1994, Jim Carrey became a box office sensation with smash hits as Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber. Two years later, audience expectations were high when The Cable Guy was released and the film was advertised as another light slapstick romp from Carrey. What they got was a black comedy about a seriously disturbed cable TV installer who just won't leave his new friend (Matthew Broderick) alone. Jim Carrey fans were left cold with the dark tone and most critics blasted it (Roger Ebert was especially brutal towards the film while his television partner, Gene Siskel, gave it a positive review). I was watching it lately on cable and on VHS... and I don't think the movie is as bad as many people say it is.
Before I get started with my analysis, I'm not saying it's a great film, I'm saying that I think it's a decent film on it's own right. If you don't like the film, it's fine, it's your own opinion. This article is not going to be a preachy review on how I'm right and you're wrong, it's simply an article about my own, honest thoughts about the film and how I think it needs to be seen in the right mindset.
The film starts off like a light comedy. An architect named Steven Kovacs (Matthew Broderick) has moved to a new apartment after his girlfriend (Leslie Mann) has just dumped him. After he hires cable installer Chip Douglas (Jim Carrey), they becomes friends and that's when the film takes a dark turn. He keeps leaving messages on Steven answering machine, shuts off the cable to get attention while Steven and his ex-girlfriend were about to watch Sleepless in Seattle, steals and hooks up a home theater environment while Steven was at work, and even has Steven arrested for accepting the stolen home theater equipment, even though he didn't want it in the first place.
This is obviously not the film fans expected back in 1996. It was dark, twisted, upsetting, and different than the typical lighthearted fare Carrey was known for at the time yet somehow, there's something about the film that just clicks to me. As I was watching the film recently, I began to realize that the film is actually a brutal take down on how the media can affect people, celebrity worship, and even irresponsible parenting.
I think it's true with Carrey's character because he's been raised with television all his life and we get a flashback on how his mother always lets him watch TV while she goes to work at night instead of hiring a babysitter. This affected his life in a blatantly wrong way and as a result, he's been using false aliases named after television characters, often quoting and spewing out pop culture references, and even stalking customers. It's really makes sense that people like The Cable Guy can actually exist because of lazy parenting. It's really sad that some parents think that television and computers are the sole babysitters for their children when really they need to realize that they should also be reading books, going to school, and make new friends and develop social skills.
There's a running sub plot involving television coverage of a former child star (Ben Stiller, the film's director) who murdered his identical twin brother, who is also a former child star. This causes media attention, tabloids, gossip, and sensation as the case is spreading on nationwide television news and viewers are getting obsessed with the case. We even get to see scenes with Steven watching the news coverage and even a commercial for a made for TV movie starring Eric Roberts based on the actual murder case. It really fits with the obsessions we have on actual murder cases in real life, such as the O. J. Simpson trail, and how excited we are about what the verdict is going to be.
The film ends with a climax set at a huge satellite dish that carries information from all the television units and home theater systems nationwide. The Cable Guy has kidnapped Steven's girlfriend to get his attention. As he climbs up to the satellite tower with her as a hostage, he's finally running out of ideas. He begins to break down and admit to Steven that he was a bad friend and how he was influenced by television thanks to his lazy mother. So he nearly sacrifices himself by jumping off the tower and landing on the dish to save television viewers from their obsessions. I believe that's what the movie is saying. The more we watch too much TV, the more we become brainwashed and ignorant from reality.
The Cable Guy is not a great film. The comedy can be hit and miss and not all of Carrey's physical humor work, but as a brutal take down on how pop culture brainwashes people, it's fairly honest. It may not be the film Jim Carrey fans expected back in 1996, but it's still an honest film on how the media affects us and our lives. If there's a rating I could give to the film, it's a 3 out of 4.
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