Matthew Broderick asked his girl to marry him and she asked him to move out. The eccentric guy who shows up to install cable in his new pad arrives just at the right time to become his friend. Only The Cable Guy (Jim Carrey) wants to be a little closer than Broderick is comfortable with...
The Cable Guy is a brave and daring tragi-comedy, a rare sort of movie where you're laughing one minute and scared the next.
I'm not sure if we'll ever get another chance to see Jim Carrey go this far out on a limb: director Ben Stiller has seemingly given him total carte blanche, resulting in a seemingly completely over-the-top characterisation, yet not so over the top that we can't get involved in the plot and take what his character does as really happening.
Notice the way that the cable guy often mimics moments from his favourite movies and works them into his controlling of the plot of this movie - or how he starts humming movie-music along to certain scenes, while the actual music of the movie mirrors the music the cable guy is creating. This will clue you into the other subtle elements which add towards this movie's satire of the effect TV has had on the modern psyche.
Its worth the price of rental alone to see Carrey's rendition of "Don't You Want Somebody to Love" in the famous karaoke scene.
After repeated viewings since its initial release, its one of the most memorable Carrey comedies, and one of the most memorable flicks of the 90's. 4/5.
