The Cable Guy (1996)
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An eccentric cable installer becomes increasingly intrusive in the life of a customer who hired him for special perks.
The story
After a failed marriage proposal, architect Steven Kovacs moves into a new apartment. Seeking to gain access to premium movie channels, he follows a friend's advice and bribes a cable installer named Ernie "Chip" Douglas. Chip agrees to provide the service but demands to be included in Steven's social life. What begins as a simple transaction quickly spirals as Chip begins to intrude more and more on Steven's life, alien_ing him from his friends and becoming an increasingly persistent presence in his daily routine.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After a failed marriage proposal, architect Steven Kovacs hires a cable installer named Ernie "Chip" Douglas to get free movie channels. Chip becomes a 'preferred customer' and begins to intrude on Steven's life, eventually leading to a situation where Steven's social life is disrupted. After a party where Steven sleeps with a woman hired by Chip, the two have a falling out. Chip then retaliates by getting Steven fired and causing trouble for his girlfriend, Robin. When Chip reveals his true identity as a man who stalked customers, Steven tracks him down. The confrontation culminates at a central satellite dish where Chip tries to 'kill the babysitter' (television) and falls into the dish, cutting the city's signal. He survives and is taken away by paramedics, eventually claiming his name is 'Ricky Ricardo' while secretly finding a new 'friend' in a paramedic.
- First release year
- 1996
- Runtime (minutes)
- 96
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Ben Stiller
- Writers
- Lou Holtz Jr. · writer
- Cast and characters
- Jim Carrey · Ernie "Chip" Douglas; Matthew Broderick · Steven Kovacs; Leslie Mann; George Segal; Diane Baker; Jack Black
- Genres
- black comedy; comedy; thriller
- Themes
- obsession; technology; stalking
- Tone and mood
- dark; satirical
- Premise and plot tags
- stalking; home invasion; psychological
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics but developed a cult following and was noted for its darker tone compared to Carrey's previous work.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 57% · review count: 84; Metacritic · score: 56 · review count: 28; CinemaScore · score: C+ · scale: A to F
- Production trivia
- The role of the Cable Guy was originally offered to Chris Farley.; The fight sequence at Medieval Times is an homage to the Star Trek episode "Amok Time".; The original screenplay was intended to be a lighter comedy.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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