The Bomb That Was 'The Cable Guy'

BY: CORY R.

Copyright: Columbia Pictures

Bomb - A film that is considered highly unsuccessful or unprofitable during its theatrical run.

The Cable Guy was released on June 14th, 1996. Slated to be successful. With Jim Carrey, the comedy legend, fresh off Ace Ventura you’d think as much but no, far from it actually. As you start to look into the Box Office numbers you get thrown back, “102 Million? How in the world is that a bomb?” Now I ask you to take a look at Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, and Metacritic. “6.1/10, 54%, 56%” does not look good for a movie with such 90’s stars like Jim Carrey, Mattew Broderick, and a very young Jack Black. One of the reasons people thought it was a failure because it actually didn’t make more money. Especially with Carrey being a big draw for moviegoers at the time. Many people thought the film was too much of a swerve for Carrey, at this point in his career he was known only as a comedian actor. This movie is definitely darker comedy than the public had seen Carrey perform. Which had a major factor in the reviews. So with you understanding why it’s considered a bomb. I will now tell you why The Cable Guy was one of Jim Carrey’s best performances and one of the best movies to come out of 1996,

For anybody who knows me, they’d know it’s hard for me to say Carrey’s performance in The Cable Guy is better than his performance in The Truman Show, my all-time favorite movie. But it’s just the truth. The role of The Cable Guy wasn’t even written for Carrey. It was written for Chris Farley who tragically passed away a year after the release of The Cable Guy. But he took the role and ran with it, watch this movie and tell me you can see somebody else playing The Cable Guy, I dare you. Carrey was so good there was a scene that had to be cut because his eyes looked too evil. A scene had to be cut because it legitimately looked too real. Not only that but for first-time scriptwriter Lou Holtz Jr. this is impressive. The cast around Carrey also makes this movie one of his best, with Ferris Buller star Matthew Broderick, a young Jack Black, Ben Stiller who was also the director, and a cameo from Owen Wilson. With all those names mixed with one of Carrey’s best performances, the movie is great and I would highly recommend it.