The Cable Guy Details

Jim Carrey was afforded the opportunity to do something different in this jet-black satire on the power of television, and he responds with a performance that brings a dark edge to his wacky, man-of-the-people persona. Carrey is on top form as a manic cable-television technician who takes a special interest in customer Matthew Broderick. Although merely over-friendly at first, psycho-stalker Carrey starts invading every aspect of Broderick's life with both hilarious and sobering results. Director Ben Stiller effectively lines up his targets and Carrey effortlessly hits them, and, though this suffers at times from dull patches, it is much better than you've heard it is. For Carrey, it proved a stepping stone on his way to acclaim in the critical and box-office success The Truman Show.

Carrey's frenetic mugging here sits oddly with the naturalistic style of the rest of the cast; some satire at the expense of a television-fixated generation is no doubt intended, but is too heavy-handed to be effective.