Review ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Bloated and Boring

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June 24, 2016

One of the stories surrounding Independence Day: Resurgence was how 20th Century Fox decided not to do any press screenings before releasing to the general public. Five minutes into the movie, it was evident why.

Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day: Resurgence is a bloated, poorly shot, incoherent, mind-numbing chore of a sequel that’s more likely to induce boredom rather than excitement. Emmerich’s attempt to recapture the magic of the original film was to throw as many actors on the screen as possible at any given time. He should have gone back and rewatched Independence Day to see what worked the first time.

What made Independence Day a great summer blockbuster, was how streamlined the story was. The audience knew who the “good guys” were and who the “bad guys” were. We rooted for Captain Steve Hiller (Will Smith), and fist pumped after President Thomas Whitmore (Bill Pullman) inspired the resistance to fight for humanity. The shot selection was simple yet effective. That shot of the alien ship blowing up the White House left audiences stunned, but it didn’t require a heavy amount of CGI. The simplicity in the shot selection during Independence Day created a lean adventure film.

The supporting cast, lead by Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox, and Randy Quaid all turned in compelling performances as well. Independence Day is the epitome of a summer blockbuster; the sequel is the antithesis of that.

Will Smith, the star of the original film, passed on this one. So Emmerich’s answer to not having Smith’s star power behind this movie is to fill it with a truckload of b-level talent and a couple of beefcakes. Jeff Goldblum, the one true star here, is back as alien defense expert David Levinson. Bill Pullman returns as former President Thomas Whoitmore, haunted by the events of the war 1996. Judd Hirsch returns as Papa Levinson, Brett Spiner is back as the eccentric Dr. Brakish Okun, and rounding out the returning cast members is Vivica A. Fox who returns as former stripper turned medical executive (Yes, I’m well aware that makes little sense) Jasmine Hiller. Joining the cast this time you have Sela Ward, who’s playing President Lansford, William Fichtner playing General Adams, Liam Hemsworth playing hot shot pilot Jake Morrison, and Jessie T. Usher, who plays Captain Dylan Hiller (the son of the late Captain Steve Hiller).

It’s twenty years since the invasion of 1996, and President Lansford’s focus is on having the appropriate celebration to commemorate the victory over the alien invaders. Civilization has used the alien technology left from the war to help improve our way of life. Now we can travel farther, we can reach the ends of space, and science is evolving daily. David Levinson is still focused on the alien phenomenon and is trying to learn more and more about those former unwanted guests. While this is unfolding, we are experiencing unexplained events worldwide: power surges and loss of communications. When the United States receives reports about losing a small defense base on Saturn, the decision is made to go to red alert.

What seems like mere seconds after the decision to move to red alert is made, an unidentified alien craft appears out of nowhere, and President Lansford decides to shoot it down. They blow it out of the sky and celebration ensues. In the midst of the celebration, not one of them thought to use some of that advanced alien technology to check if any other ships were headed our way. This idiotic decision proves to be costly.

What initially struck me about this film was how bloated and incoherent the narrative was. In Independence Day, there was at most four major story lines going on during the movie. In Independence Day: Resurgence, there’s about 20 or more going all at once. In one moment we were following David Levinson and his quest to learn more about the aliens, then we switched to Jake Morrison’s storyline, quickly we go back to Dr. Brackish waking up from a coma, then it’s back to Africa with African Warlords who have somehow fought a ground war against the Aliens for many years (?), and then we jump straight into a storyline involving former President Whitemore’s ability to be connected to the alien psyche (no I’m not joking about this). When a narrative has too many characters doing boring stuff, you don’t connect with any of them. How could you? The characters are not on the screen long enough to develop any attachment to them.

The shot selection in Independence Day: Resurgence is downright confusing. During the pivotal alien battle scenes, rather than pushing our attention towards the actual alien spaceships themselves, Emmerich focuses more on reaction shots of the pilots/ people on the ground. So instead of seeing cool shots of the aliens in a dogfight with the Americans, we are forced to see reaction shot after reaction shot of the cast as the battle unfolds. What would you rather see, Liam Hemsworth’s ship shooting down Alien bad guys or Jeff Goldblum’s weathered face agape with awe?

Emmerich also chose to bathe his alien invasion shots in CGI, and not even good CGI but the type of CGI that you would see satirized in Starship Troopers. There’s a scene in the film where the queen of the alien colony is chasing down a school bus of kids (being driven by Goldblum) that’s drowning in CGI. Instead of eliciting suspense, the scene is giggle worthy.

Above all of this is the bigger issue: Independence Day: Resurgence is paralyzingly boring. Who doesn’t remember Will Smith punching out an alien in Independence Day? What about Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith taunting the aliens? Independence Day was a fun and memorable cinematic ride. Independence Day: Resurgence is so excruciatingly boring that nothing stands out. None of the scenes are memorable, none of the speeches stick with you, nothing will last beyond the credits.

Some movies just don’t need a sequel. Independence Day was a game changer and should have been left as a stand-alone film. Independence Day: Resurgence tarnishes its legacy.

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Review: ‘Independence Day: Resurgence’ Is All Spectacle And No Heart

By

Kaitlyn Booth

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June 24, 2016

Title: Independence Day: Resurgence
Director: Roland Emmerich
Summary: Two decades after the first Independence Day invasion, Earth is faced with a new extra-Solar threat. But will mankind’s new space defenses be enough?

In 1996, Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day changed the way we look at blockbuster film making. This was the movie that brought on the city destruction that have come to populate the entire blockbuster landscape. The iconic images of the White House blowing up or the absolutely fantastic final speech are timeless. The movie still holds up and with the resurgence (see what I did there) of 90’s properties it was only a matter of time before someone made a sequel or re-made the entire movie. The trailers for Independence Day: Resurgence have been fairly good, but I’ve wondered if anything could top what the original was. Then they announced no press screenings which is always worrying, and as I sat in my Thursday night screening with the public I wondered what I was in for.

Independence Day: Resurgence is certainly bigger with more spectacle than it’s predecessor, but lacks the emotional core that made the original so much more than it was.

One of the things that made Independence Day so ahead of its time was the idea that the world could be united in a way that looked beyond race, religion and sovereign borders. That is a very modern way of thinking and a look to “what could be” beyond the horizon for the human race. I was very pleased that Independence Day: Resurgence took the time to point out that this is something that didn’t go away just because the original alien threat was destroyed. The world is still very much united and the new threat of alien invasion doesn’t make people turn against each other. There aren’t any moments where world leaders argue over anything because they all work together now – no questions asked.

That being said the thing that made the original movie so good were good characters that you were invested in. The various family relationships felt real and were compelling enough that you cared. There were people that lived and died within the city destruction scenes that made them meaningful. The destruction in this movie felt very artificial in a way the original didn’t. Perhaps this has to do with us being so used to seeing cities destroyed that it doesn’t have the same meaning that it did in 1996, but as I watched the world get ripped apart again I felt nothing. It didn’t feel real in the way the original did or even other disaster movies. The cities were getting torn apart but they felt empty. There were moments to try and humanize the destruction to give it weight but it’s a nameless family of kids that connect with Julius (Judd Hirsh), David’s (Jeff Goldblum) Dad, and eventually an entire school bus worth of kids for no real reason.

The movie looks fantastic. The combination of alien and futuristic technology is interesting and the idea that we take the alien technology to improve our own is interesting. The plot is way too contrived though, and they seem to spend far too much time trying to explain why the aliens are here and giving them motivations. It was like the movie decided to spend more time on the aliens than trying to make us care about the various human characters which is a mistake. The core of a disaster movie is that we need to care whether this version of the world is going to live or die. If we aren’t invested in those people, if we don’t care if they live or die, then the entire movie falls apart. This movie misses this point because all of the nameless or forgettable characters aren’t interesting enough to care about. The returning cast members get brief moments to shine, but after so many years I just didn’t care about these people anymore which meant I wasn’t invested in whether or not the world was going to be saved.

Independence Day: Resurgence is not a terrible movie and if it wasn’t connected to such a classic I would probably be kinder to it. As a sequel to one of the greats of the blockbuster genre it is bigger and it’s prettier, but the stakes don’t feel as high and I didn’t care about the various people. After twenty years this feels like the lazy sequel I was worried it was going to be. Independence Day defined a genre and Independence Day: Resurgence is a lower quality rehash of that genre.

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Review: ‘The Shallows’ Starts Off Strong And Then Jumps The Shark

By

Kaitlyn Booth

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June 24, 2016

Title: The Shallows
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Summary: A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.

I will not apologize for the pun in that headline (thank you to another local critic who let me use it). Ever since Steven Spielberg terrified the world with Jaws in 1975, people have been trying to replicate the ‘killer sea animal’ movie. There have been crazy B movies that range from good, such as Piranha 3D, to very bad, such as Shark Night 3D. There have been multiple sequels to the original, movies such as Orca that is “Jaws with a killer whale,” and other crazy ocean movies. The one I think that captures the terror of sharks and the ocean is Open Water from 2003. There have been so many killer animal movies that I couldn’t fathom what The Shallows could do to set it apart. The premise was similar to Open Water, only instead of being stranded in the middle of the ocean this time the woman is stranded on a small rock being taken by the tide. I didn’t have high hopes.

The Shallows has some great moments of tension but falls into the common trap of succumbing to ridiculousness to conjure an ending.

There were several things that made The Shallows frustrating to watch, and the main one is that the entire premise falls apart the moment you think about it too much. The premise is that Nancy (Blake Lively) locates the secret beach her mom visited when she was younger. Her mother has recently passed away and Nancy is not reacting well as she has dropped out of med school. The friend she was supposed to surf with is hungover and wouldn’t go with her. The fact that someone smart enough to be in medical school thought it was a good idea to go surfing by herself on a beach so remote that no one will tell her the name of it blows my mind. As someone who spent a good portion of her young childhood on the beach and in the Atlantic Ocean it nearly made me angry to think about how dumb that was. Then there are the two nameless surfers she meets in the water that don’t spend an extra five minutes doing the right thing to see if the lone American woman in Mexico needs a lift home or even makes it to shore. It’s not their responsibility but that seems like it would have been the right thing to do.

Then there is the fact that the shark spends an entire day stalking her which doesn’t make sense either. A shark, even an aggressive one, would not spend that long stalking someone like that. Nancy is attacked and the attack is brutal as it shows her being thrown around by the wave. The shark bites her on the thigh, a very common place for a shark bite, but in the real world the shark would have swam away after that. This shark is like the shark from the latter Jaws movies or the whale from Orca in that it seems to have a personal vendetta against this young woman.

There are some great moments throughout the movie, though. Blake Lively has never really endeared herself to me but she was fairly believable in this movie. The things she does to keep herself alive are clever and there are some truly tense moments that made me jump. However, the movie goes on and decides, after a fairly decent first and second act, to go completely insane with the finale. I almost want to spoil how stupid this ending is because it’s completely bonkers. To say that this movie “jumps the shark” is putting it lightly. There is a moment where I would have accepted the movie for what it was had it ended differently. The final scenes with the shark are laugh out loud stupid and it nearly ruined the movie for me.

The Shallows is no Jaws or Open Water, but as far as shark movies go it’s higher on the list than I thought it would be. The ending is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen put to film,and the entire premise requires you to suspend all disbelief, but for an 87 minute time killer you could certainly do worse.

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Fan Fest Orlando Charity Event: Stephen Amell Puts The Call Out To All Heroes

By

Matthew Sardo

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June 24, 2016

The creators of Walker Stalker Con and Heroes & Villains have come together to host a one-day charity event (Fan Fest Orlando) to raising money for the victims and families of the Pulse Nightclub attack.

‘Arrow’ star Stephen Amell put the call out to all his superhero friends to participate in the event.

Fan Fest will be held on September 17, 2016 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL, and 100% of the profits raised from ticket sales, autographs, professional photo ops, and vendor sales will be donated to the One Orlando Fund.

“I grew up in Orlando, graduated from high school there, got married there, and had four of my children there,” said Frazier. “Last week, my heart was broken by a senseless tragedy. I wondered, what can we do? How can we help? This September, we’re inviting our community of fans to come help us raise as much money as we can for the families that were impacted.”

“From our actors and Celebrity Photo Ops, who are donating both their time and the proceeds of their work, as well as our volunteers and the Orange County Convention Center, everyone involved has stepped up to make Fan Fest Orlando possible. Our hometown needs us. We’ve always supported each other, regardless of race, orientation, or creed, and this makes that all the more clear,” said Jackie Prutsman, Orlando native and VP of Fan Fest.

Guest scheduled to attend:
Stephen Amell (Arrow series, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2)
Lauren Cohan (The Walking Dead, The Boy)
David Ramsey (Arrow)
Chandler Riggs (The Walking Dead)
Emily Kinney (The Walking Dead, Arrow, Flash)
Josh McDermitt (The Walking Dead)
Michael Cudlitz (The Walking Dead, Band of Brothers)
Greg Nicotero (Executive Producer & Director, The Walking Dead)
Alanna Masteron, Christian Serratos, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Ross Marquand, Seth Gilliam, Sonequa Green (The Walking Dead)

Check out Fanfest.com/orlando for more details.

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Review: ‘Free State Of Jones’ Would Be Better As A Documentary

By

Kaitlyn Booth

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June 24, 2016

Title: Free State of Jones
Director: Gary Ross
Summary: As civil war divides the nation, a poor farmer from Mississippi leads a group of rebels against the Confederate army.

One of my major problems with historical movies and prequels is that you need to work twice as hard to be engaging and make your audience forget that they know how the story ends. The mark of a truly good historical or prequel will do this but it can kneecap a production if it fails. I wasn’t exactly looking forward to Free State of Jones, but I’m a history buff so the concept was something that I didn’t know much about. I’m always up for learning new things even more so when there is a chance for them to be politically relevant in the modern day.

Free State of Jones might be an interesting story, but the movie is so unfocused and poorly paced that it became extremely boring.

If you’ve seen any trailers for this movie then you probably think it’s about a bunch of Civil War deserters fighting back the Confederacy, but you would be wrong. While the freedom fighting is indeed a subject of the movie, it’s only about a third of the film and story they are trying to tell. In reality the movie is trying to cover almost a decade worth of events, or a century in a way, and doesn’t focus on one thing long enough to really mean anything, aside from a superficial level. The movie covers the freedom fighters but also post Civil War in the south and, weirdly, a court case 80 years in the future. The first time the movie made this jump it was so sudden and without context that I nearly got whiplash. The basis for the court case was interesting – the idea that someone could be mixed race even if you have to go back eight generations – but it felt out of place in this movie.

That is the problem with historical material sometimes; the real world isn’t structured like a movie. The best example is where the people of Jones find out that 1000 Confederate soldiers are going to march on them. There is a big dramatic speech and they fall back to the swamps to prepare for battle, only for the war to end in a text overlay with nothing happening. Now that might have happened in real life but this movie is not a documentary and movies follow plot lines and narratives that documentaries don’t have to. The set pieces are interesting but as a movie spread over two hours it got boring. By the time we see Newton Knight (Matthew McConaughey) living in a post war America and going against the rising tide of racism, we know how this ends. Not just because of the political standpoint in the modern day but also because of the court case the movie keeps cutting back to.

The entire production feels like it was trying to make a huge point. Maybe that was just because the Civil War ended and the world didn’t go back to being sunshine and rainbows. Maybe, also, that the world then wasn’t that different in the late 1800’s than it is now. Those are all great points to explore but the movie doesn’t linger on anything too long to matter. There is a great scene about the ‘apprenticeship laws’ that were basically forcing people back into slavery but the movie devotes almost no time to it. Those laws are interesting enough for a movie on their own, but Free State of Jones dedicates no time to it. The actors all do a great job with Matthew McConaughey being a compelling lead and Gugu Mbartha-Raw as our leading lady, but the movie breezes by without any time to learn anything. Keri Russell is there as Knight’s first wife who vanishes and reappears with barely a passing glance. A single mom raising a son in the midst of the Civil War and right after it? There is a movie there also, and no one touches on it.

Free State of Jones might have interesting history behind it but that history is better used as a documentary or a mini series. As a feature film it is unfocused, poorly paced and most damning of all? Sadly boring.

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‘American Pastoral’ Trailer: Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly Star in McGregor’s Directorial Debut

By

Larry Taylor - Managing Editor

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June 23, 2016

American Pastoral is Ewan McGregor’s first go round as a director. Based on the acclaimed Philip Roth novel, it tells the story of a family unraveling in the Post-War U.S.A., and it has a compelling new trailer:

And here’s a synopsis from the Roth novel:

As the American century draws to an uneasy close, Philip Roth gives us a novel of unqualified greatness that is an elegy for all our century’s promises of prosperity, civic order, and domestic bliss. Roth’s protagonist is Swede Levov, a legendary athlete at his Newark high school, who grows up in the booming postwar years to marry a former Miss New Jersey, inherit his father’s glove factory, and move into a stone house in the idyllic hamlet of Old Rimrock. And then one day in 1968, Swede’s beautiful American luck deserts him.

McGregor stars alongside Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, and Uzo Aduba. This is a great trailer, and McGregor appears to be effectively using connective tissue between the period of the film and our current landscape.

American Pastoral hits theaters October 28. Keep an eye on this one during awards season.

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‘Free State of Jones’ Review: A Nation Torn Apart

By

Will Ashton

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June 23, 2016

There’s a good movie inside Free States of Jones. Why wouldn’t there be? It’s a Civil War epic lead by Matthew McConaughey, still keeping the McConaissance strong, written and directed by Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, the first Hunger Games) and featuring a variety of talented supporting actors, including Keri Russell, Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle, Concussion) and House of Cards‘ Mahershala Ali, to simply name a few. The production design is authentically realized. The attention to time, detail and often character is simply impeccable. The real-life story is rich and long-spanning. But here’s the thing: it might just be too much for its own good.

There’s a lot of war-torn ground to cover here, a lot of story to develop. And while Ross has proven himself a storyteller with versatility and due-diligence, he might have given himself too much to handle here. His eyes are clearly bigger than his plate this time around, yet he’s always looking to grab seconds. He’s a hungry storyteller, certainly, but maybe he needed to ration his portions before he started chewing down.

Side note: why do so many of my allegories and metaphors involve food? Another question for another day, I guess.

In bringing the story of Newton Knight (McConaughey), a Southern Unionist that lead the Knight Company, a band of former Confederates and one-time slaves, and fought against the South during the height of the Civil War, to the forefront, there’s an admirably large amount of care and consideration placed into subject’s tale, hoping to make the film as historic, authentic, vast and appropriately violent as Knight’s real 1800s life. It’s a noble, heartfelt story, even when it veers into white-savior complex, and it does deserve to be told. But not this way.

Ironically, Free States of Jones is often at war with itself. Ross’ fourth film can’t quite decide if it should scope the entirety of Knight’s life or simply hit the broad strokes, ultimately settling somewhere awkwardly in-between. Ross’ screenplay either needed to be expanded into a four-to-six-part dramatic mini-series — something HBO would’ve picked up in a heartbeat, especially if their True Detective star was on-board — or condescended into a leaner, more agreeable feature-length film. The end product is clunky, if well-meaning, and one that loses its rhythm after its dutifully-made first 30 minutes. The resulting 139 minute movie feels unfocused and rushed, especially towards its scattershot last act, and unable to decide what it should tell and what it should leave inside the history books.

But it’s an unapologetically brutal film, no doubt, with violence and injuries that hit home. It’s also unafraid to move with a bit of a Southern drawl, but after its initial battle sequences, it lacks a cinematic approach. The shots feel unvaried and heavily reliant on medium shots, which unintentionally makes it feel like it truly is a mini-series condescended onto the big screen, as if it’s The Trip or something. True Detective looked more cinematic than this film, even season two. That, along with the fact that most of the cast — including McConaughey, arguably — are, indeed, TV stars. Ross’ film also lacks urgency, especially as the ensuing fights are uncomfortably fitted around each character moment. And it doesn’t help that it has, like, 12 endings, each more tiresome, strenuous and exasperating than the last. After a while, it’s as if you’re living with these characters in real-time, and not in the way the filmmakers’ likely intended.

Of course, McConaughey is as commendable as usual these days in the lead role, not afraid to dirty himself up with yellow teeth, a big ole’ dingy beard and smut all over his face and body. The film’s unsteady narrative doesn’t compliment his quietly-contemplative performance as much as it should, but the Oscar-winner makes the most out of it anyway. He’s a sturdy, strong-willed anchor, and bleeds his natural charisma into Knight’s plight with ease. It’s a good performance filled with powerful little moments, which helps carry Free State of Jones through its bumpier patches but never quite saves it from its overstuffed narrative and shoddy pacing.

Nobody, however, gives a bad performance. Everyone brings patience, strength and resilience to their true-life characters, and Mbatha-Raw and Ali are particularly moving. It’s a shame only those two, alongside McConaughey, really any get time to shine, especially as the always-likable and very-talented Russell is often thrown into the side and only introduced to the plot whenever it’s deemed necessary. They give the film impact when it’s lost, and they often provide heart when it’s needed most. It’s truly a shame this movie couldn’t have served their hard work better.

Free States of Jones will likely earn some enthusiastic admirers, notably from historians, history teachers and Civil War buffs. In fact, it’s bound to shown in some high school history classes, much like Glory and/or Gettsburg were before, and maybe the breaks between classes will make the film more agreeable and accessible to watch. As a single sitting, however, Ross’ latest is a disappointing misfire, an earnest-but-sloppy endeavor that could have been better, and should have been better, but never lives up to its fullest potential. The South will never rise again, but maybe this story should be given another shot. It’s one worth telling, but keep it on the small screen next time.

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An Antidote to The Foreign Mythos of Cleverman

By

Conlan Murphy

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June 23, 2016

There have now been four episodes of Sundance’s Aboriginal Australian mythology-based sci-fi drama Cleverman. The mythos is really foreign. Americans are familiar with traditional western mythology – Greco-Roman, Norse, Welsh – but we’re mostly unaware of other cultures’ myths and lore. Knowledge about Aboriginal mythology may not necessary to enjoy Cleverman, but knowing something certainly enriches the experience of watching.

The show’s title, Cleverman, derives from the name of a traditional Aboriginal shaman or medicine man. It’s been apparent since the first episode that the Cleverman is a mystic, but Australian shamans are associated with delivering ritual punishment and death unlike their more familiar western counterparts. It’s unclear whether mystical punishment or killing will have any relevance on Cleverman’s progression, but it adds to the dystopian feel of the show.

In episode one, a Cleverman summons a monster called a Namorrodor out of a river for ritual suicide. By episode four it’s killed at least 10 people. Creator Ryan Griffen talked about the Namorrodor mythology in an interview, explaining that it’s a monster that attacks the weak and vulnerable. While protecting the vulnerable is a major theme of the story, killing the Namorrodor will be a symbolic act. Koen, as the cleverman, choosing to kill it is choosing to protect vulnerable people from harm.

Cleverman is clearly not just a regurgitation of Aboriginal mythology. It’s a rebranding of the ancient in a modern sci-fi setting. To Australians who understand the mythology, that probably means a lot more than it does to Americans. We could take the straight mythology as something new and foreign. We can enjoy it as straight science fiction without understanding the mythology, but just the basic understanding enhances the experience. When I watched episode four with new albeit basic knowledge of Aboriginal mythology, it didn’t feel nearly as foreign. The Mythological and Sci-Fi put together make the series so much more alive.

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‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Adds Bokeem Woodbine As A Villain

By

Chris Hartmann

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June 23, 2016

Spider-Man: Homecoming continues to add to its ever growing cast, now with the acquisition of Fargo season 2 star Bokeem Woodbine. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Woodbine joins the cast in a villainous role alongside, Michael Keaton and Logan Marshall-Green both confirmed as villains.

Woodbine is best known for his appearance in Fargo, where he played season 2 antagonist, Mike Milligan. Woodbine’s other credits include, Ray (2004), Devil (2010) and Total Recall (2012).

Woodbine joins recent cast additions, Donald Glover, Martin Starr and Hannibal Buress who will all appear alongside Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr. and Marisa Tomei as Peter Parker, Tony Stark and Aunt May respectively.

‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ is directed by Jon Watts and set for a July 7, 2017 release.

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After 20 Years, ‘The Cable Guy’ is Clearly Jim Carrey’s Comedy Masterpiece

By

Larry Taylor - Managing Editor

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June 23, 2016

There was no bigger comedy superstar in the 1990s than Jim Carrey. The guy had one helluva 1994, bursting on the scene with the trifecta of Ace Ventura, The Mask, and Dumb and Dumber spaced evenly across the calendar year. He was on top of the world, and in 1995 his Riddler dominated the incredibly bizarre Batman Forever. Then there was a mediocre Ace Ventura sequel, but it didn’t hurt his star power; the toothy grins and rubber-faced manic genius of Jim Carrey had already defined comedy for an entire decade, so some cash grab sequel wasn’t going to ruin that.

But then, Carrey decided to step away from the goofiest of goofball comedies, turning in his crazy hairdos for a black buzzcut and a lisp in Ben Stiller’s The Cable Guy. He went darker, more threatening, and the shift in persona was too jarring for audiences expecting to see their favorite court jester play lovably stupid again. The result was a middling box office, flaccid reviews, and general dismissal from critics and audiences. The experiment proved to be Carrey’s first true misstep.

The Cable Guy turned twenty this month, and over the years it’s aged better than just about anything in Jim Carrey’s comedy portfolio. Carrey has evolved into an actor with much more than physical comedy in his bag, and the roots of his later diversity trace back to Stiller’s sharp, weirdly offbeat tale of a mentally-unstable cable guy just trying to make a friend.

That friend is Matthew Broderick’s Steven Kovacs. All Steven wants is cable, and what he gets instead is a borderline psychotic stalker named (allegedly) Chip Douglas. Carrey plays Chip as a person we all sort of know, and all know to avoid. He’s the kid in school who aggressively tries to shoehorn his way into cliques or pretends to like things in order to curry favor with literally anyone who takes the time to acknowledge him. He’s the co-worker who finds out you enjoy baseball and subsequently beats you into submission with baseball talk, despite the fact he has no interest in the sport.

In other words, Chip Douglas is an incredibly lonely individual. And that’s what Stiller and writer Lou Holtz Jr. understand with the character. Much like the people we all know in life, what begins as weird can evolve into mockery; you laugh about the guy’s obsessive need to make friends with you actual friends. Then it turns more desperate, less amusing. Then what if it becomes dangerous? Amusement becomes worry, which eventually becomes a desperate sadness. That’s the sort of path The Cable Guy takes, albeit through pitch perfect dark comedy and moments of absurd, heightened reality.

Chip just starts showing up. He calls Steven, he interferes in his life. He makes an appearance at the gym for a pick-up basketball game, which becomes the greatest moment in the entire picture. And if that’s up for debate, it’s between that scene and the dinner scene at Medieval Times, a true time capsule of mid 90s pop culture. Even at the time, Medieval Times was a joke, and Stiller knows this. But he doesn’t play up the absurdity of the scene, he simply allows the audience to snicker under their breath at the exasperation of Janeane Garofalo’s Pepsi wench.

The intrusive acts grow more desperate and threatening, and the film itself grows more ominous. Chip interferes with Steven’s love life. He buys a hooker (unbeknownst to Steven) and stages a party with stolen goods, he sabotages him at work, and his intrusiveness becomes more profoundly damaging than merely an annoyance. There are stark tonal shifts in The Cable Guy, which is often times a recipe for disaster. But here they work perfectly to mirror the fractured psyche of Chip and his increasingly dangerous exploits. The entire film is drab and washed out, creating a sinister foreboding palette which, for 1996 audiences, may have been too much. And it treads into some genuinely frightening waters, none more so than the nightmare sequence.

After twenty years, the film is rather striking and the cinematic language feels precise. This is a lean picture, a comedy shaped by thriller tropes, and Stiller balances everything brilliantly.

The Cable Guy also examines the TV Generation. Adults in 1996 grew up with sitcoms shaping their lives, sometimes more than their own parents, and in Chip’s case being raised by TV was most severe. After some investigation, Steven and his friend (Jack Black) figure out Chip isn’t his name – it’s a character from My Three Sons – and Steven begins piecing together the fractured childhood of his stalker. It invites sympathy into the story right when things are getting almost too bleak. And then there’s the riff on the Lyle and Eric Menendez trial, always on TV in the background. It’s a deft satirical touch and works as connective tissue between the troubled childhood of Chip and the continuous obsession with television.

Carrey has always been a dedicated actor, both physically and mentally. Here, he pushes all his crazy chips to the center of the table and gambles on a challenging role very early in his rising stardom. He may have failed initially. But time is often kinder to films like this, which lives on the fringes of so many genres without falling into the standard identifiers of any of them.

The Cable Guy is deserving of a new life, maybe even a cult following… and wouldn’t that be ironic?

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