The Cable Guy (1996, PG-13)

I had kind of been meaning to watch this film for a while but never got around to it before.  I had been partly hesitant to do so because 1) I was not much of a Jim Carrey fan when the movie was new and 2) from the clips I had seen, it looked like the movie would just make me uncomfortable.  And I was right.  The Cable Guy falls under the category of "comedy" but it's not so much the sort of comedy that makes you laugh as the kind that makes you squirm, and I prefer the former of the two.  The protagonist was played by Matthew Broderick (Ferris Bueler's Day Off) and the title character is played by Jim Carrey (Dumb and Dumber).  While I enjoy a crazy comedy as much as anyone (Hot Tub Time Machine and Forgetting Sarah Marshall had me rolling around laughing), Jim Carrey is one of the comedic actors whose dramatic roles I like much more.  I absolutely loved him in The Majestic and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (on a tangent, I also prefer Robin Williams' dramatic roles ultimately in One Hour Photo, but also in Insomnia and Final Cut).  One benefit to me watching this movie at this later point in my life is that I can catch a lot of Carrey's television and film references that he makes more and more often as the film progresses.  His character is a dark product of being raised by the television and near the end of the movie they try to make a point of this fact and make it a cautionary tale.  Also some of the predictions his character makes about the future of media are almost precognizant.

Honestly I felt a little more horror elements in the film than comedy ones (though don't confuse it with a Horror/Comedy like Stan Helsing or Transylmania).  The premise is that Broderick's character Steven recently moved to a new apartment (had been recently living with his girlfriend, but they hit a snag) and the cable guy attached himself to Steven after he installed the cable.  In theory they could be fine friends, but the cable guy is histrionic, sociopathic and pretty much stalks Steven to make sure they stay friends.  The horror-like element is that the cable guy has a lot of resources to call on due to the free cable he's given to so many people (knights at Medieval Times, police, prostitutes, etc).  It's like trying to escape the wrath of the mafia if the mafia didn't have logical goals.  And I tend to like horror movies, but the Ace Ventura-like histrionics made it hard for me to get into the proper fight/flight mood.

I don't think I could ever be in a propper mood that this would be the movie I want to watch again, but if you're a big fan of 90's-era Jim Carrey antics, then you'll get a healthy dose here (though with a different twist).  Or if you're a fan of movies that make you squirm (but not gross-out squirm like in parts of American Pie movies or in Van Wilder), then this would be exactly your kind of film.  But none for me, thanks.