The Cable Guy
When I watched “The Cable Guy” in 1996, I absolutely bounced off of it. Rewatching it 25 years ago, and on the other side of Jim Carrey’s career, I think I figured out why, and why I still do. I wasn’t the only person who felt that way in 1996- after silly smashes like the “Ace Ventura” films, “The Mask” and “Dumb and Dumber,” the dark comedy in Ben Stiller’s film just was not what the masses wanted from Carrey. I do know a few people who genuinely love this film, and given what we got from Carrey as an actor after this film, a revisit was necessary.
It’s interesting that Jim Carrey made this and “The Truman Show” early on in his career. Both films, in very different way, look at the America’s obsession with television, and in both, Carrey’s character is a tragic bi-product of that obsession. In the Peter Weir film, he was the subject of a reality show where his “life” was dictated by producers and the need for ratings based on dramatic storytelling. In Stiller’s film, he is a character whose entire worldview has been warped by watching television, and how- when he was kid- his mother plopped him down in front of the TV while she went to work. Did the “In Living Color” star feel like TV was stifling to his life, or did he find a kinship with these characters, one whom goes to extremes to be liked, one whom feels like a goldfish whose every movement is on display for the world, and he needs time to himself?
Jim Carrey is an actor I’ve always been mixed on. I hated “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” and never bothered with the sequel. “Dumb & Dumber” was too dumb for me, but I did like Carrey and Jeff Daniels together. “The Mask” was the only one of his 1994 triumvirate that landed with me. I think, now, it’s because he starts with a normal character in Stanley Ipkiss, whose wackiness comes out because of the scenario, much like his Truman Burbank or Fletcher Reede, his character in “Liar Liar.” When he starts off broad, I’m less interested in the character (the exceptions being his performance as Andy Kaufman in “Man on the Moon” and dammit, his Grinch), and that’s part of why Chip Douglas, his clingy cable guy in Stiller’s film, doesn’t work for me. The lisp, the body language, everything about Chip feels manufactured to be “wacky,” even if- in this case- the wacky leads to something more sinister than broadly comedic. We can feel right away that Steven Kovacs (Matthew Broderick’s character) should not give this character an opening, and the deeper the scenario goes, the more true that impulse feels. That’s not to say that Carrey’s schtick doesn’t work at times in the film- the “Medieval Times” sequence is terrific- but it doesn’t add up to a grounded character. In the climax, there’s a great moment for Carrey to play dramatic (while still being funny) that not only illuminates the character’s fractured personality, but also shows us what was to come in his best performances in the future. It’s the most authentic moment in the film.
Stiller as a director has the same issues his main character does in this film. I can see what drew him to the screenplay by Lou Holtz Jr., but it feels like he was more enamored with the satire than he was in creating a plausible reality. It doesn’t help by Steven is kind of a dull character, and while I understand that’s necessary for a sense of balance opposite the antics of Chip, as the main character we’re following, we should at least be interested in him. Broderick doesn’t really have much he can do in order to make this character authentic; he’s someone for Chip to project a sense of friendship on. Steven is going through the motions of the plot- it’s Chip’s show- so it’s difficult for us to feel any empathy for what he’s going through here. Maybe that’s the biggest issue- instead of starting with a regular Joe who has someone latch on to him, this should be something like “Willard” where it’s about the inner life of an outcast, and how he reacts to the outside world. That still would have allowed for some of the same satirical points on media and television obsession to be made, and might have made for a stronger impact with how they landed, as well as keeping the stalker angle intact.
I wish this one connected with me. I like Stiller (his “subplot” here as a brother killer is golden), I really like Carrey when he takes chances (and he is taking chances here), and Broderick is always welcome in a film (as is Leslie Mann as his girlfriend). But “The Cable Guy” doesn’t really understand boundaries, much like its main character, and how to ground itself to show what it might have to offer.
