The Cable Guy – Not as bad as you’ve heard

‘The Cable Guy’ is – apparently – so awful that even ‘The Simpsons’ made a joke about it.  A little harsh, in my opinion.  But, to give Homer credit, he did mention how it ruined Jim Carey’s career, which it did – sort of.  To say that the rubber-faced funnyman never worked again would be an exaggeration, but it did show that not everything he touched was Box Office gold.
People were used to him being a loveable eccentric whose over-the-top antics endeared him to the masses.  Not a deranged – and slightly psychopathic – stalker.  Definitely not that.

Mathew Broderick plays an everyman (doesn’t he always?) who has recently moved out of his girlfriend’s house and is now living on his own.  However, when getting his new pad hooked up with cable TV, the installer (yes, Carrey) develops a rather unhealthy obsession with him.
What follows is Broderick trying to desperately regain control of his life while a – clearly bonkers – stalker tries to be his friend in the worst ways possible.

Yes, Carrey is still as over-the-top as ever, but you will certainly not root for him at all and pray you ever encounter anyone like him in your day to day life.

But, the question people ask is, ‘Is it actually funny?’ The answer kind of depends on your sense of humour.  Yes, there is certainly fun to be had here, but the laughs come from a much darker place than Carrey’s previous efforts.

It’s one of those films that’s best enjoyed if you know what you’re getting.  The reason it failed at the Box Office was because audiences were expecting a light-hearted comedy and they got something much more akin to a horror film.  As long as that’s your thing there’s plenty to find entertaining here, plus you have one of the earliest films that Ben Stiller actually directed before he got famous in front of the camera.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that