The Cable Guy (1996)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Ben Stiller

Writer (WGA):

Lou Holtz Jr. (written by)

Release Date:

14 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

Once you let him into your house, you'll never get him out of your life!

Plot:

A lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Cable Guy | Television | Break Up | Karaoke

Awards:

3 wins & 1 nomination

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 12	10:00 AM	HBO
Fri. July 17	6:00 PM	HBO

Cast

Jim Carrey	...	The Cable Guy
Matthew Broderick	...	Steven M. Kovacs
Leslie Mann	...	Robin Harris
Jack Black	...	Rick
George Segal	...	Steven's Father
Diane Baker	...	Steven's Mother
Ben Stiller	...	Sam Sweet / Stan Sweet
Eric Roberts	...	Eric Roberts
Janeane Garofalo	...	Medieval Times Waitress
Andy Dick	...	Medieval Times Host
Harry O'Reilly	...	Steven's Boss
David Cross	...	Sales Manager
Amy Stiller	...	Steven's Secretary
Owen Wilson	...	Robin's Date
Keith Gibbs	...	Basketball Player

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for dark thematic elements and crude humor.

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby | SDDS (8 channels)

Certification:

UK:12 (cut) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Denmark:12 | Finland:K-12/9 | Germany:12 | Italy:T | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34332)

Filming Locations:

Carson, California, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

During the 'Medieval Times' dinner scene, Jim Carrey imitates the sequence from The Silence of the Lambs (1991), where Hannibal Lecter uses the sliced-off face of Sgt. Pembry to escape incarceration. In that film, Dr. Lecter used the knife of his other guard/victim, Sgt. Boyle, to remove the face. Sgt. Boyle was played by Charles Napier. Napier also appears as a police officer in "The Cable Guy", showing up at the karaoke party, and later Steven's office, to arrest him.

Goofs:

Continuity: Steven and Robin have just started to watch Sleepless in Seattle (1993) having missed only the first few minutes, but the scene shown when the cable comes back on is well into the movie.

Quotes:

[the Cable Guy makes a slam dunk and breaks the glass panel above the basket]
The Cable Guy: I love this game!

Movie Connections:

References "Spider-Man" (1967)

Soundtrack:

Blind

Incredibly under-rated

The most under-rated movie ever. This is probably the greatest dark comedy in existence. Unfortunately it did badly at the box office as it attracted Jim Carrey's fans he obtained doing films previous to this such as "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "The Mask". These fans wanted another light-hearted, no-brainer comedy and so they weren't happy with this dark, dark comedy which is actually quite smart. Then critics gave very mixed reviews. Many "got" the film and hailed it for the greatness it deserves. Many didn't get it as they again were expecting a comedy and got a film which is more like a dark thriller with comedic bits. Ben Stiller shows fantastic promise as a director, especially how he uses colour to show the movie's dark undertones and as always Jim Carrey is fantastic. Owen Wilson, Jack Black, Matthew Broderick and Ben Stiller also star -although Owen only has a bit-part and Ben only has a cameo... well technically two cameos. This film rules!