The Cable Guy (I've Finally Seen It)

There’s a perception in the film world that The Cable Guy, a 1996 semi-dark comedy directed by Ben Stiller and produced by Judd Apatow, was a massive flop. While it didn’t break box office records, that really isn’t the case. It had a budget of $47 million, and it made over $100 million worldwide. Admittedly, Columbia Pictures likely had higher financial hopes for the film, as it starred one of the hottest comedic actors going in Jim Carrey, but to deem it an abysmal failure would be inaccurate. Another widely-held belief about The Cable Guy is that it’s terrible, and this assumption is equally mistaken. On the contrary, it’s an ingenious little comedy that manages not only to be quite funny, but it has quite a bit to say about the way television and pop culture controls our lives. Its subtext can occasionally border on the obvious, but it’s saved by the hilarity that surrounds it.

Little would indicate that The Cable Guy is my kind of comedy, as overly broad Jim Carrey vehicles tend to get on my bad side. However, the film doesn’t try to make his wacky qualities endearing, but instead it accepts the truth and makes Carrey as terrifying a person as possible. He plays a cable guy who provides service to Steven (Matthew Broderick), who has just moved into a new apartment after a falling out with his girlfriend. Carrey’s cable guy is a man who is in need of any and all companionship, and the vulnerable Steven seems like an opportune target to force into a friendship.

What makes Carrey’s character such a difficult man to love is his inability to live in the real world. To a degree, he almost comes off as a parody of Carrey’s other cartoonish roles. In other films Carrey’s antics aim to be cute, but in the real world they can get someone killed. The eponymous cable guy is a man who was not raised by parents, per se, but instead by the television. His fictional and nonfictional worlds have become so intertwined that he cannot tell them apart. When he talks to Broderick, he never gives his real name. He provides only the names of famous fictional characters. He’d prefer to spend his time living out his own television show, and as a result he’s become insane. The Cable Guy is only a few tonal changes away from being a straight horror movie, and it probably could pull it off.

Yet the clash of Carrey’s TV-centric madman and the more subdued reality around him yields a great many laughs. Using Carrey’s comedic gifts for the purposes of cringe humor proves fruitful, and all amusement comes from his character’s creepiness rather than his mere craziness. The film is equally effective when making small observations about the world we live in, and surprisingly they all seem relevant even 15 years after the fact. One of the best moments comes when Carrey and Broderick visit Medieval Times and a request is made for some silverware.

The Cable Guy was one of Judd Apatow’s first forays into producing, and it is unlike most everything that would come after. Later Apatow productions wouldn’t share this film’s broad, cartoonish tone, but that doesn’t make this a lesser product. It’s just a different one. Also notable is the work of Ben Stiller, who is able to find some interesting themes amidst the chaos. Stiller, whose Meet the Parents-esque work has become far more famous than his more creative output, has directed some great stuff over the years. He’s got a pretty incredible ability to mix sharp satire in with wholly accessible humor, something he accomplished best with 2008’s fantastic Tropic Thunder.

The Cable Guy has a terrific subplot which features a recurring cameo by Stiller as Sam Sweet, a former child star who has been accused of murdering his twin brother (also Stiller). As the film’s plot goes on, there are brief updates as to the progress of Sweet’s trial. People sit captivated around their television sets, awaiting the final verdict. Television movies are made about the crime, and every media outlet is devoting all of their coverage to the story. This is all meant to be a mockery of the many celebrity trials seen in the ’90s, but Stiller is able to strike a nerve here. The Sweet character began on a sitcom, and as a result his real-life exploits became popular knowledge. Carrey’s character takes entertainment and integrates it into his everyday behavior, while the media takes a true event and turns it into entertainment. The convergence of our real and fictional worlds is not restricted to the minds of the insane.

Rating:  (out of 4)