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The Cable Guy

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This article is about the film. For the comedian, see Larry the Cable Guy.
"Cable Guy" redirects here. For the Tierra Whack song, see Whack World.

The Cable Guy
Theatrical release poster
Directed byBen Stiller
Written byLou Holtz Jr.
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyRobert Brinkmann
Edited bySteven Weisberg
Music byJohn Ottman
Production
companies
Columbia Pictures
Licht/Mueller Film Corporation[1]
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • June 14, 1996 (1996-06-14)
Running time
96 minutes[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$47 million[2]
Box office$102.8 million[2]

The Cable Guy is a 1996 American satirical black comedy thriller film directed by Ben Stiller, written by Lou Holtz Jr., starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick.[3] It was released in the United States on June 14, 1996. The film's opening credits also list Leslie Mann, George Segal, Diane Baker and Jack Black.[3]

The story structure has Carrey as an eccentric cable installer who becomes overly intrusive in the life of a customer, played by Broderick. The film was a box office success, though not to the extent of many of Carrey's previous films.[4] It received mixed reception from critics, but has since attained a cult following.[5][4][6]

Plot

[edit]

Architect Steven Kovacs moves into an apartment after a failed marriage proposal to his girlfriend Robin Harris. When the cable installer, Ernie "Chip" Douglas, arrives, Steven acts on advice from his friend Rick and bribes him to get him free movie channels. Chip makes Steven one of his preferred customers and, in return for his services, asks if he can see Steven socially, which Steven begrudgingly agrees to. On a visit to the city's central satellite dish, Chip confides to Steven about being raised by television when he was young, as his father was absent and his mother used television as a "babysitter".

Chip proceeds to intrude more and more on Steven's life, alienating him from his friends, leaving multiple messages on his answering machine and installing an expensive home theater system as a gift. Steven rejects the gift but agrees to let Chip use his apartment to host a party for all of his preferred customers, where Steven has sex with a young woman whom Chip later reveals was a prostitute he hired for Steven. Upon this revelation, Steven angrily ejects Chip from his apartment. To make amends, Chip tracks down Robin, who is dating another man who he beats up and tells to stay away, and upgrades her cable, ostensibly as a gift from Steven. Robin decides to get back together with Steven as a result, but when Steven finds out Chip's hand in reuniting him with Robin, Steven politely ends his friendship with Chip.

Devastated, Chip sets out on a series of vengeful acts; he has Steven arrested for possession of stolen property, embarrasses him at a family gathering, and has him fired from his job by transmitting a recorded private conversation in which Steven insults his boss onto the company's computers. He also reveals that his name is Larry Tate. Rick investigates the name and finds that he was fired from the cable company for using fake names and stalking customers. Steven receives a phone call from the cable guy, who tells him he is paying Robin a visit, making Steven rush to Robin's apartment. Finding it empty, Steven calls the police and tells them to hurry to where the cable guy has taken her: the central satellite dish.

Arriving at the satellite dish first, Steven rescues Robin from the cable guy, who, as the police arrive, climbs to the top of the dish proclaiming that he must "kill the babysitter" to prevent others from becoming like him. He falls into the dish and cuts the television signal to the entire city, but survives. He apologizes to Steven for being a bad friend; Steven forgives him and asks for his real name, which he says is Ricky Ricardo. As he is airlifted away, one of the paramedics addresses him as "buddy"; when he asks if that's true and the paramedic confirms it, the cable guy smiles deviously, thinking he has found a new "friend".

Cast

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Production

[edit]

First-time screenwriter Lou Holtz Jr. had the idea for The Cable Guy while working as a prosecutor in Los Angeles, declaring that he once saw a cable company employee in the hallway of his mother's apartment building and started thinking, "What's he doing here so late?" The screenplay became the subject of a bidding war, won by Columbia Pictures at a price of $750,000, plus a $250,000 additional bonus if the movie got made.[7][8] The role of the Cable Guy was originally sold with Chris Farley attached to star, but he later dropped out due to scheduling difficulties.[7] Adam Sandler was also considered for the role of the Cable Guy.[9]

Jim Carrey joined the production, receiving a then record $20 million to star.[10] Following Carrey's signing, Columbia Pictures hired Judd Apatow to produce. Columbia rebuffed Apatow's interest in directing, but accepted his suggestion to invite Ben Stiller on whose Ben Stiller Show Apatow had worked.[5][11] Stiller was considered to play the Steven Kovacs character before it was offered to Matthew Broderick.[9]

The original screenplay by Lou Holtz Jr. was a lighter comedy, described by Apatow as "a What About Bob? annoying friend movie" where the Cable Guy was a likeable loser who intrudes upon the cable subscriber's life, but never in a physically threatening way. Carrey, Apatow and Stiller liked the setup of "somebody who is really smart with technology invading somebody's life", and opted to add slapstick and darker tones, changing into a satire of thrillers such as Cape Fear, Unlawful Entry and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle. The dialogue would also fit Carrey's style of comedy.[12]

Holtz wrote four additional drafts, each one darker than the previous, before leaving the project and giving Apatow the opportunity to take over the writing.[12] Apatow and Stiller visited Carrey as he was filming Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls in South Carolina, and over a few days, riffed a lot of the set pieces that were added to the script, and further explored how Carrey wanted to perform the character.[5] Apatow took the film to the Writers Guild for arbitration to get a writing credit but ultimately Holtz retained sole credit for the script.[11][13] Apatow expressed frustration at not getting credit but acknowledged that as he was also a producer on the film, the Writers Guild requirements are set very high to protect writers.[4]

The final script had elements so disturbing that Columbia heard many complaints regarding certain scenes. In turn, Apatow declared that the studio did not specifically order removals, "but we took [the scenes] out as part of the natural evolution of our creative process". Stiller stated that he shot every scene with "a dark version and a light version", and that he was surprised that the studio did not object to the violent ending.[12][4]

The fight sequence at Medieval Times between Chip (Jim Carrey) and Steven (Matthew Broderick) is an homage to the Star Trek episode "Amok Time"—including the use of Vulcan weapons (lirpa), the dialogue, and the background music. Director Ben Stiller is an admitted Trekkie.[14]

Release

[edit]

Box office

[edit]

The film grossed $19,806,226 on its opening weekend, ranking number one ahead of The Rock.[15] At the time, it had the highest opening weekend for a Ben Stiller film, holding this record until 2000 when Meet the Parents surpassed it.[16] It grossed a total $60,240,295 in the North American domestic market, and $42,585,501 outside the United States, making a total of $102,825,796 worldwide gross, but failed to reach domestic projected numbers Jim Carrey brought to his previous movies. Apatow said "people looked at it as a failure because it didn't make even more money."[4] Despite the critical perception that the movie was a disappointment, it made a profit in excess of its $47 million production budget.[17]

The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 12, 1996, and opened on #2, behind Mission: Impossible.[18]

Home media

[edit]

The film was released on VHS on December 3, 1996, DVD on September 15, 1997, and a 15th anniversary Blu-ray release on March 1, 2011.[19] Sony re-issued the latter format as a manufacture-on-demand title on December 17, 2019.[19]

Reception

[edit]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, The Cable Guy holds an approval rating of 55% based on 80 reviews, with an average rating of 5.7/10. The website's critical consensus states, "The Cable Guy's dark flashes of thought-provoking, subversive wit are often—but not always—enough to counter its frustratingly uneven storytelling approach."[20] On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 56 based 28 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[21] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.[22]

The Cable Guy has been regarded as having a darker tone than most of Carrey's previous work.[17] While the character may seem goofy at first, similar to previous Carrey roles, he later turns more sinister and scary.[23] Audiences and film critics had mixed reactions to the change. The film was on J. Hoberman's Top 10 best of the year.[24] Roger Ebert included The Cable Guy in his worst of the year list for 1996,[25] though colleague Gene Siskel disagreed, calling it "a very good film. [Carrey's] best since The Mask".[26] Ebert found Carrey's "bizarre" and "creepy" performance undermined the entire story, and felt the movie was more of a dark comedy than was necessary.

In spite of its mixed reception, the film has achieved a cult following,[5][4] and has been attributed to helping Carrey pursue more serious roles such as The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Carrey named the movie one of his favorites that he worked on:

I have odd favorites that may not be for kids, but The Cable Guy is one of my favorite movies. I think Ben Stiller did an amazing job, and it's populated with the greatest comedy actors of our day when they were just coming into their power. I love that character. That character is all of us: we were all raised by the TV.[27]

Accolades

[edit]
Award Category Recipient Result Ref.
Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Movie Actor Jim Carrey Won [28]
MTV Movie Awards Best Comic Performance Jim Carrey Won [29]
Best Villain Won
Best Fight Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick Nominated
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy Nominated [30]

Soundtrack

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[31]
Los Angeles Times[32]

The Cable Guy: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on May 21, 1996, via Work Group. It consists of previously unreleased songs, largely of alternative rock and heavy metal bands, and includes the first solo recording by Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains fame. The soundtrack includes Jim Carrey's version of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love" which was performed by him in the film. It also includes a song from $10,000 Gold Chain, a side project of Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready. White Zombie's "More Human than Human" is featured in a dramatic scene of the film but was not included on the soundtrack release.

Cantrell's "Leave Me Alone" served as the soundtrack's promotional vehicle and was released as a single, peaking at No. 14 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.[33] It had a music video that 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 observing Cantrell.[34] The music video was included as a bonus feature on the 15th-anniversary edition Blu-ray of The Cable Guy in 2011.[35]

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".[31] The track "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" gained popularity for its appearance in the film and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in 1996.[36]

Track listing

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."I'll Juice You Up" (performed by Jim Carrey)  0:29
2."Leave Me Alone" (performed by Jerry Cantrell)Jerry Cantrell
5:13
3."Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" (performed by Primitive Radio Gods)
Chris O'Connor4:34
4."Blind" (performed by Silverchair)
4:14
5."Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" (performed by $10,000 Gold Chain)Lou ReedBrett Eliason6:11
6."End of the World Is Coming" (performed by David Hilder)David HilderJim Mitchell3:09
7."Satellite of Love" (performed by Porno for Pyros)ReedPerry Farrell3:41
8."Get Outta My Head" (performed by Cracker)
2:04
9."Somebody to Love" (performed by Jim Carrey)Darby SlickJim Mitchell3:43
10."The Last Assassin" (performed by Cypress Hill)
DJ Muggs3:49
11."This Is" (performed by Ruby)
  • Lesley Rankine
  • Mark Walk
Mark Walk3:54
12."Hey Man Nice Shot" (performed by Filter)Richard Patrick
5:20
13."Unattractive" (performed by Toadies)Vaden Todd LewisPaul Leary3:51
14."Download" (performed by Expanding Man)
  • Aaron Lippert
  • Bill Guerra
  • Christopher Hancock
  • Dave Wanamaker
  • Peter Armata
Mike Denneen4:12
15."This Concludes Our Broadcast Day" (performed by John Ottman)John Ottman
4:24
Total length:58:48
[edit]

References

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  1. ^ "The Cable Guy (1996)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on February 18, 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "The Cable Guy (1996)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. August 30, 1996. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved March 12, 2012.
  3. ^ a b "The Cable Guy". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Sellers, John (March 1, 2011). "Judd Apatow Tells Us the Legend of The Cable Guy, the Bomb That Wasn't". Vulture.com. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d Rabin, Nathan (March 1, 2011). "INTERVIEW: Judd Apatow". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
  6. ^ Lang, Brent (June 14, 2021). "'The Cable Guy' Turns 25: How Jim Carrey's $20 Million Salary Shook Up Hollywood". Variety. Retrieved June 15, 2021.
  7. ^ a b "Carrey set to land top-tier salary for 'Cable Guy'". Variety. June 12, 1995. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2019. sources said he recently decided he didn't want to commit to a film that far in the future and stepped aside
  8. ^ Weinraub, Bernard (June 27, 1996). "How a Sure Summer Hit Missed". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  9. ^ a b Sherlock, Ben (July 28, 2020). "I Can Be Your Best Friend Or Your Worst Enemy: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Cable Guy". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2020.
  10. ^ Fierman, Daniel (Spring 2000). "Big Deals". Entertainment Weekly. No. 540. p. 111.
  11. ^ a b "The 1996 Summer Movie Preview: June". Entertainment Weekly. May 24, 1996. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
  12. ^ a b c Welkos, Robert W. (June 25, 1996). "Humor Too Dark for Its Own Good?". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  13. ^ "Humor Too Dark for Its Own Good?". Los Angeles Times. June 25, 1996. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  14. ^ Star Trek 30th Anniversary Special, October 6, 1996
  15. ^ "First-place finish doesn't tell story". The Star Press. June 18, 1996. p. 9. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  16. ^ Reese, Lori (October 8, 2000). "Meet the Parents tops the box office". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Kehr, Dave (February 25, 2011). "Jim Carrey as the Id Unleashed a Bit Before Its Time". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 2, 2019.
  18. ^ "Weekend box office 12th July 1996 - 14th July 1996". www.25thframe.co.uk. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  19. ^ a b "The Cable Guy - Releases". AllMovie. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  20. ^ "The Cable Guy". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Archived from the original on November 17, 2020. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  21. ^ "The Cable Guy". Metacritic. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  22. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018.
  23. ^ Olson, Christopher J. (April 12, 2018). 100 Greatest Cult Films. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-1104-9.
  24. ^ "J. Hoberman's Top Ten Lists 1977-2006". caltech.edu. Eric C. Johnson. Archived from the original on February 14, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014.
  25. ^ Ebert, Roger (host); Siskel, Gene (host) (January 11, 1997). "The Worst Films of 1996". Siskel & Ebert. Season 11. Episode 19. syndicated. My next big star in a bad movie is Jim Carrey, who got one of the year's biggest paychecks for The Cable Guy but forgot he became a top box office star by being a likable nut in funny comedies. The Cable Guy was an exercise in hatefulness with Carrey playing a pathological character who seemed not funny but obnoxious and annoying. [...] Jim Carrey has generated a very real comic talent but he can't work with material as negative as it is in The Cable Guy.
  26. ^ "Siskel & Ebert - The Cable Guy (1996)". Siskel & Ebert. Season 10. Episode 40. June 15, 1996. Retrieved May 17, 2023 – via YouTube.
  27. ^ Frew, Cameron (April 2, 2022). "Jim Carrey Reveals Underrated Favourite Movie He's Done". LADbible. Retrieved December 17, 2022.
  28. ^ "Rosie's Reign". Chicago Tribune. April 24, 1997. Archived from the original on May 17, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  29. ^ "1997 Movie Awards". MTV. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  30. ^ "Past Winners". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 3, 2007. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
  31. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "The Cable Guy - Original Soundtrack | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  32. ^ Coker, Cheo Hodari (June 2, 1996). "'The Cable Guy' Soundtrack". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  33. ^ "Jerry Cantrell "Leave Me Alone" Chart History". Billboard. July 6, 1996. Archived from the original on June 17, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  34. ^ "Jerry Cantrell - Leave Me Alone". YouTube. March 5, 2016. Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  35. ^ "The Cable Guy - 15th Anniversary Edition (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. February 18, 2011. Archived from the original on June 16, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  36. ^ "Primitive Radio Gods "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" Chart History – Alternative Songs". Billboard. July 27, 1996. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  37. ^ Hsu, Tiffany (February 14, 2022). "Dr. Evil. Cable Guy. Lindsay Lohan. Comeback kids are crowding the commercial breaks". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  38. ^ "Jim Carrey's Cable Guy Returns for Super Bowl in New Verizon Commercial". comicbook.com. February 13, 2022. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
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