I realize that the Jim Carrey vehicle The Cable Guy doesn't add up to much, but I like it enough to give it a marginal recommendation. Of all the Jim Carrey films I've seen, I gotta admit—it's my favorite.

Oddly enough this was seen as one of his failures—it wasn't a box-office or critical success—and many reviewers took pokes at the size of Carrey's paycheck (the comedian allegedly nabbed 20 million for the role). The other common complaint was that it was "too dark." Carrey doesn't play the usual silly, goofy, Jerry Lewis-like character. No, here he's a sometimes frightening stalker and people seemed off-put by that.

I don't know, The Cable Guy captivated me in a way that other Carrey stuff doesn't. Sure it has its faults (not too many perfect films out there) but there's enough here for at least one viewing.

The Cable Guy features Jim Carrey as lonely cable installer "Chip" Douglas. Chip doesn't have any friends—just preferred customers—and he looks to single-guy Steven Kovacs (Matthew Broderick) to fill a void in his life (there are hints of a homoerotic interest).

As the movie opens, Steven has just broken up with his girlfriend Robin (played by Leslie Mann) and is moving into a new apartment. Carrey hooks up his cable on a "routine installation." When Steven makes the mistake of offering him a bribe for illegal cable, Chip is only too happy to juice him up for free. Soon, though, he's all over the vulnerable Stevie, leaving lots of messages on his answering machine, intruding on him and his friends in a friendly little game of round ball ("You guys play here too?"), inappropriately giving him expensive gifts, and generally wreaking havoc in his life.

In one of my favorite bits, he takes Steven to a Medieval Times restaurant where the two are paired up in a battle that is right out of a specific scene in an old episode of Star Trek, one that even goes so far as to incorporate the same background music.

Here's where the movie does something that I don't believe I've ever seen done before. It makes a game out of our collective knowledge of TV trivia. Not since Mel Brooks have I watched a movie with so many quotable moments.

The Cable Guy was written by Lou Holtz, Jr. and this is his only writing credit according to the Internet Movie Database. That's a shame, because the writing shows promise. I first saw this movie years ago and still, to this day, I repeat Carrey's line to Steve ("Nobody loves ya") when I check my answering machine at work and it doesn't contain any messages.

There are many of these quotable moments, some you'll get, some you'll miss, depending on how much TV you absorbed growing up. I don't want to give a lot of them away because part of the fun is discovering them yourself.

All the TV and movie reference stuff works. At least for me. What doesn't work so well, however, is the moralizing. It's as if they felt it necessary to explain Carrey's lisping psycho character. This is all done in a brief flashback to his childhood. Here we see Carrey's mom (like myself, Chip is the product of single parenting) trotting off to a bar and leaving the young child with the TV set as his "babysitter."

"Don't sit too close," mom warns, "you'll rot your brains out." Apparently Chip didn't heed mom's advice. By film's end Carrey will deliver the movie's sermon about how we need to "kill the babysitter" and we'll get a shot of someone turning to a book when the cable goes out. The obvious message that the director Ben Stiller is hitting us over the head with: TV is bad, reading is good.

Another problem I have with The Cable Guy is how Chip so perfectly screws up Steven's life. I mean, he's damn near God-like in his ability and at least one scene strikes me as impossible.

But I'm still recommending this one. Bits of dialog take on a life of their own and minor supporting characters really come alive. I especially liked Jack Black ("High Fidelity") as Steven's friend Rick, who discovers Chip's true nature and Owen Wilson (who co-wrote "Bottle Rocket" and "Rushmore" with Wes Anderson) as Robin's obnoxious date in one scene. Oh yeah, and veteran George Segal is nice in a bit part playing Steven's father. In one scene they play "porno password" and Segal gets off this funny line: "I was going to say schlong." Also, look close for Janeane Garofalo as a "Medieval Times" waitress who is smart enough to realize the incongruity of a Pepsi in a medieval setting.




Recommended:
Yes