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The Cable Guy
Directed by	Ben Stiller
Produced by	Judd Apatow Andrew Licht
Written by	Lou Holtz Jr.
Starring	Matthew Broderick Jim Carrey Leslie Mann Ben Stiller
Music by	John Ottman
Cinematography	Robert Brinkmann
Editing by	Steve Weisberg
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	June 14, 1996
Running time	96 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$47,000,000
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

For the comedian, see Larry the Cable Guy.

The Cable Guy is a 1996 dark comedy film directed by Ben Stiller and starring Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick , Leslie Mann and Jack Black.

It became famous for being star Jim Carrey's first $20,000,000 paycheck, which was the then-highest amount ever paid to a comedic actor.

Taglines:

• There's No Such Thing as Free Cable.
• Once you're hooked... you're his.
• For Steven Kovacs, the price of cable is about to go up.
• Once you let him into your house, you can never get him out of your life!

Contents 1 Main Characters & Plot 2 Selected Cast 3 Critical Responses 3.1 Reactions 3.2 Revenues 3.3 Awards & Nominations 3.3.1 1997 MTV Movie Awards 3.3.2 1997 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards 4 Edits (United Kingdom) 5 Goofs 6 References and Connections to Other Films, Television & Other media 7 See also 8 External links 8.1 Reviews

Chip Douglas (Jim Carrey), is a cable installer who installs Steven Kovacs's (Matthew Broderick's) cable television service. Chip believes he and Steven have struck up a friendship, and for a short period of time, the two get along. Afterwards, however, Chip becomes more fanatical, stalking Steven and his girlfriend Robin (Leslie Mann). These are typical paranoid-schizoid characteristics, and characteristic of the 'intimacy seeker' stalker.

• Jim Carrey (Cable Guy)
• Matthew Broderick (Steven Kovacs)
• Leslie Mann (Robin Harris)
• Jack Black (Rick Legatos)
• George Segal (Steven's father)
• Diane Baker (Steven's mother)
• Ben Stiller (Sam/Stan Sweet)
• Eric Roberts as himself
• Andy Dick (Medieval Times announcer)
• Janeane Garafalo (Medieval Times waitress)
• Kyle Gass (couch potato)
• David Cross (business executive)
• Bob Odenkirk (Kovacs family member)
• Owen Wilson (Robin's date)

The Cable Guy is regarded as having a darker tone than most of Carrey's previous work, in that in the film, he plays the antagonist, a stalker. Audiences did not respond well to this change of character for Carrey, and Movie Critics gave mixed reviews. The movie scored 47% on the 'Tomatometer'[1], giving it a rotten score. Despite these poor reactions, this film made a profit at the box office [2] and was not a box office bomb.

The movie earned $19,806,226 during its opening weekend, and over the course of time, grossed approximately $100,700,000 worldwide.

• Best Comedic Performance - Jim Carrey (won)
• Best Villain - Jim Carrey (won)
• Best Fight - Jim Carrey/Matthew Broderick (nominated)

• Blimp Award for Best Actor - Jim Carrey (won)

In the UK, four seconds from the final fight between Chip and Steven is edited out, to remove shots of Chip headbutting Steven. A further one second edit is made to remove a double earclap.

During the Karaoke scene, right before Jim Carrey (as Chip Douglas) sings his version of Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love", he claims that the song was featured in the documentary "Gimme Shelter". This is a mistake on either Chip's or the scriptwriter's part. According to various setlists, "Somebody To Love" was performed at the Altamont Festival by the Airplane, but the song featured in "Gimme Shelter" was a cover of a Fred Neil song called "The Other Side Of This Life".

• Watchmen (Steven Kovacs is named after Walter Kovacks)
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Bewitched
• Star Trek
• GoldenEye
• My Three Sons
• My Two Dads
• The Jetsons
• The Jerry Springer Show
• All in the Family
• Press Your Luck
• Field of Dreams
• Friday the 13th
• Midnight Express
• Waterworld
• I Love Lucy
• The Facts of Life
• Pro Wrestling
• Gimme Shelter
• Ren & Stimpy
• Sleepless in Seattle
• Play Misty for Me
• Freddie Mercury (Jim Carrey Costume)
• Wolf (film)
• The Incredible Hulk
• Free Willy
• The Fugitive (1993 film)
• The White Shadow
• The Cosby Show
• Platoon
• A Clockwork Orange
• Mortal Kombat
• Dizzy Gillespie
• North by Northwest

• Cable television
• Internet

• The Cable Guy at the Internet Movie Database
• Trailer at VideoDetective.com
• Script at Hundland.com

• Review at Movie-Gazette.com
• Review at ChristianAnswers.net

v • d • e Jim Carrey
Filmography
Films: All in Good Taste · Rubberface · Copper Mountain · Finders Keepers · Once Bitten · Peggy Sue Got Married · Earth Girls Are Easy · The Dead Pool · Pink Cadillac · Mike Hammer: Murder Takes All · High Strung · Doing Time on Maple Drive · Dumb and Dumber · The Mask · Ace Ventura: Pet Detective · Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls · Batman Forever · The Cable Guy · Liar Liar · Simon Birch · The Truman Show · Man on the Moon · How the Grinch Stole Christmas · Me, Myself & Irene · The Majestic · Bruce Almighty · Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events · Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind · Fun with Dick and Jane · The Number 23 · Horton Hears a Who!