Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
When recently single Steven moves into his new apartment, cable guy Chip comes to hook him up—and doesn't let go. Initially, Chip is just overzealous in his desire to be Steven's pal, but when Steven tries to end the 'friendship', Chip shows his dark side. He begins stalking Steven, who's left to fend for himself because no one else can believe Chip's capable of such behaviour.
The Cable Guy is a genuinely singular studio comedy — Jim Carrey at his peak leaning hard into something unsettling and satirical rather than purely crowd-pleasing. The film's dark, satirical edge about media addiction and loneliness gives it a distinctive voice that felt jarring in 1996 but reads as ahead of its time. Carrey's unhinged performance is committed and memorable, though the supporting cast is thinner. Ben Stiller's direction gives it an odd, menacing visual grammar for a mainstream comedy. The plot is serviceable but thin, essentially a one-joke premise stretched to feature length. The ending deflates rather than lands, resolving too neatly and conventionally for such an otherwise daring film. Its Novelty is genuinely high — there's nothing quite like it in the Carrey catalog or in 90s studio comedy generally.