The Cable Guy is a 1996 black comedy film featuring, and directed by Ben Stiller and starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick. The film also features Leslie Mann, Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Kyle Gass. It was released in North America on Friday, June 14, 1996 by Columbia Pictures.
Plot
A TV-obsessed cable installer, who gives his name as Ernie "Chip" Douglas (Jim Carrey), installs Steven Kovacs' (Matthew Broderick) cable television service after Steven moves out of the apartment he shared with his girlfriend Robin (Leslie Mann). After he illegally gives Steven free pay channels, Chip believes he and Steven have struck up a friendship. Chip takes Steven to a satellite dish and gives him advice about how to win back Robin. Chip tells Steven to invite Robin to his house to watch a movie with him. Steven does so and successfully invites Robin to his house. Chip begins to bombard Steven with calls but Steven does not respond to them. When Robin goes to Steven's house to watch the movie they find the cable has gone out. Chip reveals that he turned off the cable because Steven wasn't answering him. Chip turns on Steven's cable in exchange for him and Steven to hang out the next night.
Chip takes Steven to a Medieval Times restaurant and show where he arranges a fight between him and Steven. Chip appears to fight much more brutally than Steven. Steven however wins and the friendship between them strengthens. When they return home Steven finds that Chip has installed a full entertainment system into his house. Chip arranges a Karaoke party at Stevens' house. During the party Steven has sex with a woman whom he believes is one of Chips customers. However he finds out the next morning that the woman is actually a prostitute that Chip hired. Angered Steven expels Chip from his life. Chip tries to make it up to Steven by getting Robin back with him. Chip beats up Robins date (Owen Wilson) and is able to convince her to return to Steven. Chip tells Steven of what he has done but Steven tells Chip that he has no room in his life for another friend causing the latter man to snap. Chip resorts to stalking Steven and Robin to get the attention he feels he deserves.
First, Chip has the police arrest Steven at work for having possession of the stolen entertainment system, but Steven gets out on bail. The aftermath of this incident prompts Steven's close friend Rick (Jack Black), who has had a deep suspicion of Chip from the beginning, to look into Chip's background. Chip later threatens to blackmail Steven by showing Robin a picture he took of Steven with the prostitute while having dinner at Steven's parents house, but fails after Steven punches Chip in the face in front of everyone else in the house after Chip hints quietly in Steven's ear via playing a game called "Porno Password" that he has slept with Robin. The next day, Chip leaks a video of Steven with Robin with him insulting his boss to all of the computers at his office. Steven ends up getting fired as a result. After returning home, Rick calls Steven and tells him he found evidence of Chip's past. Rick says that Chip uses aliases from TV shows such as Bewitched to conceal his identity and has been previously fired from the cable company for stalking his customers. Rick insists that Steven should lock himself up in his house to avoid Chip at all costs. That night, Steven gets another phone call from Chip, who says he is going 'out' with Robin, but does not mention where.
Chip takes Robin up to the massive TV satellite transmitter where he often "hangs out," taking her hostage. Steven hears about Chips whereabouts from Robins neighbor. He drives up to the satellite and brawls with Chip, with Chip eventually getting the better of him. Chip then becomes remorseful, lamenting his inability to be a good friend to Steven. While the much-publicized trial of an accused murderer and former child star (played by director Ben Stiller) is about to come to a conclusion, Chip ends up diving off of a part of the satellite's massive antenna and lands heavily on a smaller spire which is responsible for sending the signal to the nation's television sets, causing everybody's TV to blackout just before the trial's verdict is announced. Chip survives his fall possibly damaging and injuring his back, and he calms down, separated from Steven and Robin. Soon after, Chip is carried away to a medical helicopter, before he boards, Chip apologizes to Steven for all that he has done to him. Steven forgives him and asks him what his real name is, to which Chip jokingly responds "Ricky Ricardo". As he is air-lifted to a hospital, a paramedic comforts him; Chip sees the paramedic as his new friend, and as the credits are about to roll, he flashes the camera a devious smile.
Cast
- Jim Carrey as Chip Douglas a.k.a. The Cable Guy
- Matthew Broderick as Steven M. Kovacs
- Leslie Mann as Robin Harris
- Jack Black as Rick
- George Segal as Mr. Kovacs
- Diane Baker as Mrs. Kovacs
- Ben Stiller as Sam Sweet / Stan Sweet
- Eric Roberts as Himself
- Janeane Garofalo as Medieval Times Waitress
- Andy Dick as Medieval Times Host
- Harry O'Reilly as Steven's Boss
- David Cross as Sales Manager
- Amy Stiller as Steven's Secretary
- Owen Wilson as Robin's Date
Reception
Critical
The Cable Guy is regarded as having a darker tone than most of Carrey's previous work, because he plays the antagonist, a stalker, and in a movie that pointed out class differences and possibly poked fun at blue collar workers (a significant portion of his fan base at that point). Audiences had mixed reactions to this change of character for Carrey and film critics gave mixed reviews. The movie scored 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it a "rotten" score. However, the film was on J. Hoberman's Top 10 best of the year. The film was also noted for its similarities to the Australian telemovie The Plumber (1979), which was written and directed by Peter Weir, who would later direct Carrey in The Truman Show (1998).
Box office
The film grossed $19,806,226 on its opening weekend. It grossed a total $60,240,295 in the domestic market, and $42,585,501 outside the U.S, making a total of $102,825,796 worldwide gross. Despite the perception that the movie was a flop, it made a profit having a budget of $47 million.
Awards and nominations
1997 MTV Movie Awards
- Best Comic Performance - Jim Carrey (Won)
- Best Villain - Jim Carrey (Won)
- Best Fight - Jim Carrey vs. Matthew Broderick (Nominated)
1997 Kid's Choice Awards
- Favorite Movie Actor - Jim Carrey (Won)
Soundtrack
The Cable Guy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the official soundtrack. It consists of previously unreleased songs, largely of alternative rock and post-grunge bands, and includes the first solo recording by Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains fame. The soundtrack includes Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" which was performed by Jim Carrey in the film. It also includes a song from $10,000 Gold Chain, a side project of Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready. However, it does not include White Zombie's "More Human than Human", which is featured in a dramatic scene of the film.
Cantrell's "Leave Me Alone" served as the soundtrack's promotional vehicle and had a music video. This featured various footage from Cable Guy in a dark manner typical of Cantrell's style. It also had Jim Carrey's haunting face reaching out of a television screen at the observing Cantrell. While the album as a whole was not well received, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic noted that "Leave Me Alone" positively "rocks as hard as any Alice in Chains track."
The track "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" gained popularity for its appearance in the film and reached #1 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks in 1996.
Track listing
- "I'll Juice You Up" – Jim Carrey
- "Leave Me Alone" – Jerry Cantrell
- "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" – Primitive Radio Gods
- "Blind" – Silverchair
- "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" – $10,000 Gold Chain
- "End of the World is Coming" – David Hilder
- "Satellite of Love" – Porno for Pyros
- "Get Outta My Head" – Cracker
- "Somebody to Love" – Jim Carrey
- "The Last Assassin" – Cypress Hill
- "This Is" – Ruby
- "Hey Man, Nice Shot" – Filter
- "Unattractive" – Toadies
- "Download" – Expanding Man
- "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day" – John Ottman
Chart positions
Singles
In popular culture
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115798/movieconnections
- On the season 11 episode of The Simpsons, "Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner," Homer goes to a Planet Hollywood-esque restaurant where he sees several props from famous movies, like the mug from Heartbeeps , the cane from Citizen Kane , and, according to Bart, the awful script from "The Cable Guy" (which Homer tears because the movie "almost ruined Jim Carrey's career").
- The film is one of the earliest of the Frat Pack films, due to the involvement of Ben Stiller, Judd
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