Movie Review of The Cable Guy (1996)

The movie stars Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Ben Stiller, Leslie Mann, Jack Black and Owen Wilson.

This movie isn't well liked by many people and I think a bit part of the reason for that is I think it was meant to be a comedy and it does fail in that category. However, this is actually a movie my wife and I both love because we think it is an entertaining thriller.

The thing we love about this film is Carrey's character, Chip Douglas, while obviously insane, has an amazing ability to stay one step ahead of people. From the beginning of their relationship, you could tell Broderick's character, Steve, knew something was wrong with Chip and was doing his best to break things off only to get pulled in anyway.

And, at the same time as he was spoiling his new friend, Chip was setting him up for a fall with hidden cameras, incriminating photos and favors called in to his "preferred" customers. It is very interesting to watch because, since we really didn't know anything about Chip (including his real name), it's hard to tell just how far he'll go to get his revenge and force Steve into being his friend again.

Carrey, himself, is actually quite creepy in this film. His style of comedy really didn't work to bring as many laughs as I think it was supposed to bring. However, it came in handy when selling Chip's insanity and I'm not sure many other actors would have been able to pull off that character nearly as well as he did.

Another thing I found I liked about this movie was the ongoing coverage of the murder trial (involving director Ben Stiller), both because there were some clever revelations and it quickly and unexpectedly became a big part of the climax. Again, it probably wasn't as funny as it was supposed to be. But, it was still entertaining to watch.

As I said before, it does fail a bit as far as the attempted comedy goes. However, this is a fantastic thriller that my wife and I enjoy watching on a regular basis and a film I do recommend taking the time to watch if you haven't seen it before.

My Grade: A