Writer: Lou Holtz Jr. (Screenplay)
Starring: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black, George Segal, Diane Baker, Ben Stiller
Plot: A lonely and mentally disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.
Tagline – Once you’re hooked… you’re his.
Runtime: 1 Hour 36 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Funny, Creepy Stalker Movie
Story: The Cable Guy starts when Steven (Broderick) is getting used to his new apartment after breaking up with his girlfriend Robin (Mann), he wants cable installed, which sees a strange Cable Guy named Chip (Carrey) arrive in his apartment, becoming too friendly for his own good.
Steven reluctantly accepts the friendship of Chip, who gets too close interfering in his life, sometimes for a good time, others when he isn’t asked, only to make things in his life worse, which leads to bad consequences.
Thoughts on The Cable Guy
Characters – Steven Kovacs is a normal guy that has been going through relationship struggles, he has a big project at work and hangs out with friends, this is until he wants to get cable installed, when he befriends the cable guy, that starts to take over his life. Chip is the Cable Guy, he is awkwardly friendly and soon turns into a stalker of Steven’s he will not accept no for an answer always bringing something to Steven, until he gets much darker in his actions. Robin is the ex-girlfriend that is trying to put things back together with Steven, she knows he is a good man and willing to give him a new chance.
Performances – Matthew Broderick is great in the leading role, he shows us just how much of a normal guy he is, trying to be nice, not willing to waste time on bad people. Jim Carrey gets to go full blown over the top, he gets all the laughs, spinning the stalker character into somebody who is dangerous, but has a comic side to him. Leslie Mann works well as the love interest, without needing to do as much as the two leads.
Story – The story here follows a normal guy that gets an overly friendly Cable Guy turn up in his life, which soon turns into a deadly stalker situation that spirals out of control. This does take a fresh look at the stalker story, where we get to see a more humorous version of the idea, while still have the reality of the deadly behaviour. We do follow the normal trends of being friendly with a sinister nature and things slowly getting worse, be it the invasion of the personal and professional life, that starts to get worse over the problems they face. It is more about the tone that is different to anything we have seen before.
Comedy – The comedy here comes from Jim Carrey being completely over the top, it is great to watch because he is let loose to do what he wants through the film.
Settings – The film does keep us in the everyday settings showing us just how Steven if a regular person that suddenly gets a stalker in his life.
Scene of the Movie – The karaoke.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – We could have seen more of the tension between Steven and his friends with Chip.
Final Thoughts – This is a funny version of the stalker story, Carrey is excellent saving this film from being just like every other one we have seen before, gets endless laughs through the film.
Overall: Jim Carrey at his very best.
