The Cable Guy (DVD, 1997, Subtitled in French, Korean, and Spanish)

Okay, just to get this out of the way, I didn't like The Cable Guy either. That's right, the first time I saw it in the theaters when it was first released I walked out thinking it was pretty bad. But after giving it more thought a few months later after seeing it again on cable, I came to realize this movie was pure comedic genius that went unappreciated because it broke the formula of what the world expected of a Jim Carrey movie.

Look at Carrey's next film, Liar Liar. It's an utterly mediocre family comedy that takes no risks and somehow it gets called his return to form. That is NOT a return to form. Please go watch a few old In Living Color episodes again. His characters are best when they are ridiculous, dark, or deranged, or all of the above. This is what is at the heart of The Cable Guy. It's dark comedy about a self-sabotaging loser with no friends. Every attempt to reach out for companionship is undermined by his desperation, and it's wincingly hilarious at each turn. It's this type of comedy that laid the groundwork for shows like The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Chip Douglas is perhaps one of Carrey's best character roles.

Now, if this isn't convincing you, jaded readers, as you sit smirking to yourselves at how misguided I am and how much of a comedy film savant you are, then consider this: What are a few of your favorite recent comedies? If you answered with anything that Judd Apatow was involved with, and the chances of that are pretty good, then you sir are a hypocrite. That's right, in one of his early forays into film Apatow rewrote the script and coproduced The Cable Guy. Indeed, you might consider The Cable Guy one of the first "frat pack" comedies, as Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson all played a big part in making this memorable film.

But go on, join the crowd, dismissing it as "the film that almost ruined Jim Carrey's career," you Simpsons quoting simpleton. It's not hard to fall in line. It's just hard to see what's getting trampled by the crowd.

(JIM CARREY) IS CHIP DOUGLAS, CABLE INSTALLER. RAISED ON TELEVISION SITCOMS, HE WANTS LIFE TO LOOK JUST LIKE MY THREE SONS, AND WHEN HE MEETS SINGLE GUY STEVEN KOVACS (MATTHEW BRODERICK), HE SEES HIS CHANCE FOR SOME SERIOUS MALE BONDING. BUT CHIP'S IDEA OF FRIENDSHIP-WHICH INCLUDES PHYSICAL ASSAULT, A GAME OF 'PORNO PASSWORD' AND A MEDIEVAL JOUST-MAY BE HAZARDOUS TO STEVEN'S HEALTH. IN CHIP'S OWN IMMORTAL WORDS,"I CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIEND... OR YOUR WORST ENEMY."

This is a great movie I bought it because I saw it when I was younger and I really liked it. Jim Carrey is a great comedian about all his movies are great I recommend pretty much all of them. This movie is about a cable guy that seems to get to close to a clients live or that's how it seems. He seems to be everywhere the client is at is like his obsessed with his client. But after a while you as the viewer you start to see a lot of abnormalities like there's a lot about the cable guy that seems to be hidden. After that you see a lot that unfolds and how the cable guy becomes extremely obsessed and sabotages the clients life every moment he gets. Is as he wants the client to go to him thinking he doesn't have no one to go just a guy he recently met. But after some stuff it starts to seem that everything's not going the cable guys way.Well with what I've said so far I think is enough information for you to be interested in seeing this and finding out what happens to every character.

I purchased this DVD because I am studying French and was looking for movies that had French audio and/or subtitles. I saw The Cable Guy years ago and thought it was a bit ridiculous and a bit funny. Almost like a train wreck you cannot look away from- (and I am referring to nature of Carrey's character, Chip, as the train wreck- not a criticism in production/character development, etc.).

The only complaint that I have is that while it's great to find movies I'm already familiar with in other languages than English, it was strange to me that the audio was available in English, French and Spanish but the subtitles were only available in Spanish and Korean. I understand this movie isn't meant to be a language learning tool, but it would have been helpful to have the languages and audio coincide a bit more. (yet another reason Spanish would have been a better language for me to study) :)

A classic Jim Carrey movie. Great acting, with a different kind of humor that seems genius for this generation. Chip Douglas (Jim Carey) is a cable guy who can either be your best friend or worst enemy. If you enjoy Jim Carrey humor don't pass it up.