MovieChat Forums > The Cable Guy (1996) Discussion > This film's reputation as a dark comedy

This film's reputation as a dark comedy

posted 3 years ago by Ismailov (163)
8 replies | jump to latest

As is known, when The Cable Guy originally came out many moviegoers felt this movie was "too dark" for Jim Carrey.

I'm not questioning whether this is a dark comedy, but I find the initial reputation of this film a bit odd. Is it really drastically darker than, say, Dumb & Dumber? That film contained, among other "dark" things, a bird having its head snapped off and the body sold to a blind kid, a joke about rape, and a hitman inadvertently killed by his own rat poison.

I get the impression that audiences and even professional reviewers couldn't imagine Carrey in a villainous role and felt weirded out by the experience, so they ended up exaggerating how "dark" The Cable Guy is.

[–] stickman38 (3358) 3 years ago

In my opinion, I don't think I would call this 'dark comedy'. To me, dark comedy would be films like The Lobster, Harold And Maude, Pumpkin (2002), and probably Fargo even though it's not listed as a comedy. It has to contain things that are usually not seen as funny, yet, they made a comedy film out of it. Slow pacing with dry characters usually helps too.

Harold And Maude is probably the best dark comedy ever made though. If you're into to this kind of movie, it's worth a look. Pumpkin is a really nutty film too, some might even say these two films go too far for a laugh. And The Lobster is great for it's off-beat direction and odd take on humor. I really liked it a lot.

Anyhow, I did like Cable Guy too, it's one of my favorite JC films. It's edgy for sure, I'm glad Carrey did this movie.

[–] joej2923 (3049) 3 years ago

I think a lot of women had a problem with him being a stalker. I think most guys laughed at the movie since men are less likely to be stalking victims.

The guys in Dumb & Dumber were just two harmless idiots while the cable guy had more sinister intentions. I agree that male rape is no laughing matter but not many people care about birds.

[–] Ismailov (163) 3 years ago

Yeah, Carrey's character in The Cable Guy is clearly deranged and malicious in a way his character in Dumb & Dumber isn't.

But in fairness, Lloyd had... issues. Besides selling a dead bird to a blind kid as noted, toward the end of the film he fantasizes about shooting the guy Mary is with. In an earlier fantasy he imagines some guys are trying to sabotage his date, whereupon he ends up ripping out one guy's heart to impress her. Also, spiking Harry's drink with a ton of laxatives is an exceptionally vindictive thing to do ("realistically" Harry could have ended up in the hospital.)

To me the surprising thing was how lots of people of both sexes seemed taken aback by Carrey's character at the time. Roger Ebert wrote a negative review which remarked, "Carrey seems [at first] to be playing a variation on his usual hyperkinetic goofball. Then our reaction grows more puzzled: This is supposed to be fun, right? By the end, the movie has declared itself as a black comedy about one very deeply troubled cable guy. . . . In my mind, I had a notion of how the movie might unfold—a notion nurtured by the ads and previews, which understandably emphasize the madcap zany stuff. The movie is not much like that."

You make a good point though about how women are more likely to regard The Cable Guy as creepy rather than funny.

[–] joej2923 (3049) 3 years ago

I think Lloyd only dreamed about these violent acts and they were schoolboy daydreams. These are rather violent thoughts that a school shooter would typically have. The laxative jokes were big back in the eighties but I didn't know they could send you to the hospital.

The cable guy did do a big beatdown of Owen Wilson's character in the bathroom and that was a bit much for a comedy.

[–] EleazarHisSon (751) a year ago

I grew up with Jim Carrey and I never saw this, nor did I ever catch it airing on TV, and his movies would be shown very frequently back in the late 90's and early 00's. It must have been considered the only of his comedies that were not for children.

[–] movieace11 (1339) a year ago

Nope, "Me, Myself and Irene" is also for adults.

[–] EleazarHisSon (751) a year ago

I saw that one as a kid. Though it might have been on DVD and not TV. But yeah, it does have more mature (as in sexual) humor than most of his other stuff. Parents probably thought it was ok to rent because it was Jim Carrey. 😄

[–] Burk48917 (11386) a year ago

I think it's considered a dark comedy because the antagonistic which is also the main character is a very disturbed and dangerous individual, which is the crux of the movie. Movies like dumb and dumber have dangerous characters, but they are ancillary and supporting characters to drivebthe plot rather than be the focus of the story.