With apologies to the timely war-satires of Team America and Dr. Strangelove, as well as the knee-slapping hilarity of American Psycho and Dancer in the Dark, the #1 USA god bless comedy over round these Bloggy Blog hills is "The Cable Guy". Like many in Bloggy Blog's demographic, we rushed to the theatres in 1996 to see Jim Carrey's newest laugh-fest only to be sorely disappointed. He didn't talk with his butt. And that obscene gesture he made to Matthew Broderick went right over our sheltered heads like a short pass from Aaron Brooks. It wasn't until years later that we revisited this film, and were able to grasp the masterful confluence of writing, directing, and performing.Ostensibly, the film was a satire on the mass media obsession of the American 90's, and to a large extent this goal is achieved. But the real strength of the film lies in the absurdity of low-stakes competition. All of the movie's best scenes examine this motif, for example: pickup basketball, Medieval Times, and porno password. The unequal enthusiasm between participants brings to mind the last time we played shuffleboard at Plug Uglies and were permanently scarred by the trash-talking scamps who dominated the table.
With all these people taking shit too seriously, it's enough to make you want to slack off like good ol' Generation X. In fact, there are too many mid-90s time capsules to comprehensively list: Ben Stiller's pitch-perfect OJ/Menendez parody, ironic 'information superhighway' references, and a soundtrack with the likes of grunge deitrus Silverchair and Filter. Additionally, Janeane Garafalo and Jim Carrey were in this movie.
But as a whole, much of the film's cast and crew had their best work ahead of them. Crazy fame awaited Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, the guys in Tenacious D would later become appreciated in some circles, and Mr. Show had just started. Current-day "It" boy Judd Apatow executive produced and was forcibly restrained during the entire filming, thus preventing him from turning the second half into a sappy chick-flick like all of his current movies. Even Andy Dick went on to hook up with Trishelle and have a misunderstood MTV show.
If anybody at Bloggy Blog ever took a psychology class we might be able to use some big words and delve into a deep analysis of character motivation. Jim Carrey's social interactions are poisoned by his cathode ray rearing, and he is unable to create the reciprocal friendships he so dearly craves. The success of the movie itself was poisoned by casting Carrey as the lead in an adult-slanting highbrow comedy: the children didn't get it, and the 20s/30s target demographic couldn't take him seriously. But nobody else could have inhabited this character and made him so alternately endearing and repulsive, pitiful and detestable. With each viewing we find something new to laugh at, and the anticipation of old gags only grows.
