This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Jesse McAnally: Hello, I'm Jesse McAnally!

[0:16] Alan Seales: ...And I'm a very angry Alan Seales...

[0:20] Liz Estin: ...And I'm a very neutral Liz Estin...

[0:23] Jesse McAnally: ...And welcome to Carrey'd Away, a podcast where we try to explore the films and television shows of the one and only James Eugene Carrey!

[0:32] Alan Seales: What the hell?

[0:33] Jesse McAnally: I mean, I know what you're trying for.

[0:36] Alan Seales: You know what I'm aiming for, like, we all know the goal here.

[0:40] Jesse McAnally: Yeah, so, this has kind of been, behind the scenes, I don't think this has ever happened like on record up to this point.

[0:45] Alan Seales: We're recording things out of order a bit, so maybe it will by the time we get here, but behind the scenes, this has kind of been my most anticipated episode.

[0:57] Jesse McAnally: I can't with this.

[1:00] Jesse McAnally: I know I've mentioned this on air at some point, but this was the only movie in my life where in the theater, I was so, I felt it was so obnoxious I had to leave.

[1:11] Jesse McAnally: I got so annoyed and so irritated with this character and with the premise that I got up and left.

[1:18] Jesse McAnally: And I think this is a brilliant satire on television, consumerism, the public at large, as well as to Walk Hard, as Walk Hard was to Walk the Line, as this film is to Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction.

[1:35] Alan Seales: No!

[1:36] Jesse McAnally: Yes!

[1:37] Alan Seales: How dare you!

[1:38] Jesse McAnally: Yes!

[1:39] Alan Seales: How dare you walk the line and Walk Hard where brilliant opposite ends of the spectrum.

[1:45] Jesse McAnally: This was so obnoxious, I want to go and do physical harm to myself.

[1:50] Alan Seales: What are we talking about, though?

[1:53] Jesse McAnally: This week, we are talking about the, technically, I think the mark of Jim Carrey jumping the shark of his own career. It is The Cable Guy.

[2:04] Alan Seales: Cable Guy!

[2:07] Jesse McAnally: He's courteous.

[2:08] Alan Seales: Is there a problem with your service?

[2:09] Jesse McAnally: He's charming.

[2:10] Alan Seales: Can I have your skin?

[2:11] Jesse McAnally: Silence of the Lambs!

[2:15] Alan Seales: And once you let him into your house,

[2:16] Jesse McAnally: Don't you walk the line!

[2:18] Alan Seales: Let's get it on!

[2:19] Jesse McAnally: You'll never get him out of your life.

[2:23] Alan Seales: Alright, already!

[2:24] Jesse McAnally: Jim Carrey.

[2:25] Alan Seales: Matthew Broderick.

[2:26] Jesse McAnally: The Cable Guy.

[2:27] Alan Seales: Here's a comment card.

[2:28] Jesse McAnally: Please mail it in when I am done.

[2:29] Alan Seales: Rated PG-13.

[2:30] Jesse McAnally: So, The Cable Guy was released on June 14th, 1996, written by Lou Holtz Jr., and uncreditedly rewritten by Judd Apatow, starring Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, and George Segal, and directed by Ben Stiller.

[2:49] Jesse McAnally: The plot of The Cable Guy is, when recently single Stephen moves into his new apartment, The Cable Guy, Chip, comes to hook him up, and doesn't let go.

[2:58] Jesse McAnally: Initially, Chip is just overzealous in his desire to be Stephen's pal, but when Stephen tries to end the friendship, Chip shows his dark side.

[3:06] Jesse McAnally: He begins stalking Stephen, who's left to fend for himself because no one else can believe Chip's capable of such behavior.

[3:13] Alan Seales: Um, so, Alan, you got to say your history with the film.

[3:17] Liz Estin: Correct me if I'm wrong, you had not watched this beforehand?

[3:20] Liz Estin: No, I have never seen this.

[3:22] Liz Estin: I think I caught about two minutes of it on cable once, literally, on Comedy Central when I was a kid, or like 12 or something, and I turned it off because I don't like Matthew Broderick that much.

[3:34] Liz Estin: So, I was like, fuck it. I don't need this in my life.

[3:36] Alan Seales: Well, there was also that.

[3:37] Alan Seales: I truly think Matthew Broderick is properly bad in this movie, and I think he might be the reason that the film falls apart, because he is like a Michael Douglas analog.

[3:48] Alan Seales: Like, they obviously wanted a Michael Douglas type for that role, and I can see the thought behind it, but it was misguided, and he was not putting the effort into it.

[3:57] Alan Seales: Um, I don't, like, there are so many other people within this film that I think would have filled that role better, like, in just bit roles.

[4:06] Liz Estin: Yes, I agree.

[4:07] Alan Seales: I also just looked up, I was like, I can't be the only one with people that agree.

[4:12] Liz Estin: Oh yeah, you are in the majority.

[4:13] Alan Seales: You're the majority of humans.

[4:15] Liz Estin: Well, let me put it this way.

[4:17] Liz Estin: You are in the majority of humans when this film was released. It has had a cult resurgence in recent years.

[4:22] Alan Seales: Well, I just looked up the box office gross.

[4:25] Liz Estin: Around $100,000?

[4:27] Alan Seales: $102.8 million.

[4:29] Liz Estin: $100 million, I'm sorry.

[4:30] Alan Seales: It made $100 million.

[4:31] Liz Estin: It made its budget back.

[4:32] Alan Seales: It definitely made its budget back.

[4:34] Alan Seales: I was expecting it to be a lot less. It grossed $60 million in North America alone, so.

[4:40] Alan Seales: It was framed as a failure because of how big Jim Carrey's films were up to that point.

[4:44] Alan Seales: So, in the grand scheme of things, this film is a success, but they wanted the Mask money.

[4:50] Alan Seales: They wanted Dumb and Dumber money. They wanted that payout, and they didn't get it because this is a weird fucking movie.

[4:57] Jesse McAnally: It is weird.

[4:58] Alan Seales: It is weird.

[4:59] Jesse McAnally: Also, the marketing wasn't accurate to the movie.

[5:02] Alan Seales: It lied.

[5:03] Jesse McAnally: The trailer, which you've already heard by now if you're listening to this edited episode, showed it as a wacky comedy, from what I can tell.

[5:10] Alan Seales: Wacky comedy?

[5:11] Jesse McAnally: It's not.

[5:12] Alan Seales: No.

[5:13] Jesse McAnally: I think there's bits of it, but it is not representative of the whole at all.

[5:18] Alan Seales: There's literally nothing funny about this movie.

[5:21] Jesse McAnally: I disagree.

[5:22] Alan Seales: No.

[5:23] Jesse McAnally: No.

[5:24] Alan Seales: Jess, I'm going to tell you something that might break your heart.

[5:27] Alan Seales: When Jim Carrey started talking, I had the same feeling I had when Whitey started talking in Eight Crazy Nights.

[5:36] Alan Seales: I was like, oh no, this is the main character, and he does most of the talking? I'm going to die.

[5:42] Jesse McAnally: That brings me to the story that is told on the commentary, where Ben Affleck and Judd Apatow met with Jim Carrey's...

[5:50] Alan Seales: Ben Stiller.

[5:51] Jesse McAnally: Ben Stiller. Sorry.

[5:53] Alan Seales: Ben Stiller.

[5:54] Jesse McAnally: Ben Affleck is not involved in this film.

[5:56] Alan Seales: Ben Stiller and Judd Apatow met with Jim Carrey's agent, and his agent was like, you can't let him do the lisp.

[6:01] Alan Seales: You can't do... Judd!

[6:04] Alan Seales: Ben, you can't let him do that!

[6:05] Jesse McAnally: And they're like, why not? It works.

[6:07] Alan Seales: Like, if he wants to do it, and he's really into it.

[6:10] Alan Seales: There's like a whole thing where he's like, my friend is a speech therapist.

[6:14] Jesse McAnally: No, his brother's a speech therapist.

[6:16] Alan Seales: His brother, yeah, whatever.

[6:17] Alan Seales: Well, I'm betting that was in the last minute rewrite that Judd Apatow did to suit Jim Carrey, because they sat down together and basically reconfigured the script.

[6:26] Alan Seales: Originally, the Holtz script was tailored for Chris Farley in that role, and Chris Farley was attached for a good long while, and he had to drop out because he had contractual obligations to do another film with David Spade, and David Spade basically tried to set him out to fuck him out of that payout.

[6:45] Alan Seales: Which is the story of The Cable Guy for much of the time, is that Jim Carrey, for this film, got the largest payout of any actor in history at the time.

[6:56] Alan Seales: It's been far surpassed now, with $20 million. With a $40 million budget, half of it going to Jim Carrey alone.

[7:03] Jesse McAnally: Sad.

[7:04] Alan Seales: It's very sad, and a giant waste of money that could have, should have been spent elsewhere.

[7:09] Alan Seales: Also, Jess, I know you mentioned this is like Fatal Attraction. The writer never mentioned Fatal Attraction when writing it.

[7:16] Alan Seales: The movies he listed as inspirations were Cape Fear, Unlawful Entry, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

[7:22] Jesse McAnally: I think there are some things that I feel, this is me feeling this way.

[7:27] Alan Seales: Okay.

[7:29] Jesse McAnally: Having watched Fatal Attraction, I'm like, this is The Cable Guy? Just because of the way I've watched films in order of my life.

[7:37] Jesse McAnally: I saw Fatal Attraction many years after The Cable Guy. I'm like, wow, this really is just The Cable Guy, isn't it? But with a woman and Michael Douglas.

[7:47] Alan Seales: I mean...

[7:49] Alan Seales: It's not as erotic, but okay.

[7:52] Jesse McAnally: Are you sure?

[7:54] Alan Seales: Glenn Close shows up going, Fatal Attraction!

[7:57] Jesse McAnally: That would be a much better movie.

[8:00] Alan Seales: That would be a much better movie.

[8:02] Alan Seales: And lisps in and of themselves are character defining, as we have seen with Julianne Moore in May-December recently, where her character has a very noticeable lisp.

[8:13] Alan Seales: And it is very defining of that character and her presence.

[8:17] Alan Seales: And I feel like you get over it, at least I do, after about 20-30 minutes.

[8:23] Jesse McAnally: I'm like, okay, that's a character choice.

[8:25] Alan Seales: It is in the text, and the joke at the end where he gets punched in the face and his lisp goes away is very funny.

[8:32] Jesse McAnally: I mean, yes.

[8:34] Alan Seales: The lisp, I didn't pay much attention to it after... you're right, after a few minutes.

[8:40] Jesse McAnally: However, it's the gaslighting and the manipulation and the stalking and the... it's just so uncomfortable and not in a good way.

[8:52] Alan Seales: Not in a good way.

[8:54] Alan Seales: Are you saying that Matthew Broderick is not deserving of this?

[8:59] Jesse McAnally: The thing is, I think it's like this horrible monkey's paw for Matthew Broderick's character.

[9:05] Jesse McAnally: Who is this manipulative piece of shit that is emotionally abusive to his girlfriend so bad that she breaks up with him and he can't let it go and he's following her and he's not taking the hints and then he gets that tenfold in this relationship with his cable guy.

[9:20] Alan Seales: But what kind of stupid scenario happens where he's like, I don't know you. He goes back and forth. He's like, I don't know you. We're not friends. I don't even know your name. We just hung out for all night and I don't even know your name.

[9:34] Alan Seales: He's like, alright, here you go. Now we're friends now. First of all, why would you go out with somebody you don't know? Especially back then.

[9:38] Jesse McAnally: What's a stranger but a friend you haven't met yet?

[9:41] Alan Seales: If you're being manipulated to go out by... anyway, Matthew Broderick's character...

[9:47] Jesse McAnally: Also, you might die if that happens.

[9:49] Alan Seales: Exactly.

[9:51] Alan Seales: So this guy is putting off total creeper vibes, total serial killer vibes.

[9:56] Jesse McAnally: Jim Carrey is, by the way.

[9:58] Alan Seales: Jim Carrey's character, not Jim Carrey. Important distinction.

[10:02] Jesse McAnally: I don't know. It feels like who Jim Carrey really is sometimes.

[10:04] Alan Seales: Sure. Sometimes, yes.

[10:06] Jesse McAnally: And Matthew Broderick comes out going, you know what? I don't really know you. Go away, go away. Yeah, let's go out. And I'm like, what's the... why? Why? And then inviting him to the basketball game.

[10:19] Alan Seales: He didn't invite him to the basketball game. He showed up.

[10:22] Jesse McAnally: Well, it's just... you don't let somebody continue to do that.

[10:26] Alan Seales: Well, at a certain point, he does try to put a lot of kiboshes on that. Like, that is the thing. And he goes too far.

[10:33] Alan Seales: I feel like there are reasonable accommodations made early on, and then he does try to cut cold turkey, and that's what makes things immeasurably worse.

[10:43] Alan Seales: And also, he is getting a benefit out of it. He's getting free cable and gratuitous gifts and all these other things.

[10:50] Jesse McAnally: So there is a benefit to being friends with Chip outside of... where, hey, he's a bit annoying, but I get all this free shit, and he's very generous, and you know what?

[11:00] Alan Seales: A bit annoying? That's like the definition!

[11:02] Jesse McAnally: I mean, once again, I think all that is a problem with Broderick's performance.

[11:08] Alan Seales: Because I see this... if this were Jack Black, I could see this in this lead role. I could see this kind of working.

[11:13] Alan Seales: Or even Ben Stiller.

[11:17] Jesse McAnally: Ben Stiller probably maybe should have done this part.

[11:20] Alan Seales: Yeah. I think he was probably...

[11:22] Alan Seales: He almost did. It's true. He almost did.

[11:24] Jesse McAnally: And then he played the twins who...

[11:26] Alan Seales: The Menendez... fake Menendez brothers?

[11:28] Jesse McAnally: The fake Menendez brothers that they throw in the movie.

[11:30] Alan Seales: I love those. I love those as a guiding thing.

[11:33] Jesse McAnally: I love how they're weaved throughout.

[11:36] Alan Seales: The Eric Roberts TV movie is fucking hilarious, where this trial currently on TV already has a TV movie about them, and it stars Eric Roberts.

[11:46] Jesse McAnally: That's accurate, though.

[11:48] Alan Seales: As a through line, it has a lot to say about society's obsession with TV, obsession with, like...

[11:55] Alan Seales: Well, obsession with TV, replacing it, replacing relationships in real life with it, and as well as letting other people's horrors kind of become our entertainment.

[12:04] Jesse McAnally: So that when the cable goes out, and people actually start engaging with each other, it does have something to say about the society of the 90s in the post-O.J. world.

[12:15] Alan Seales: I mean, this is also happening today. They made a Gabby Petito movie when they didn't saw... when her killer was still on the run.

[12:24] Jesse McAnally: And every day I look at the Trump trial update. Day 15.

[12:30] Alan Seales: This is Christmas for MSNBC.

[12:32] Jesse McAnally: It's fucking hilarious.

[12:34] Alan Seales: It's like, this is the best day ever. There's a man on trial. Calm the fuck down.

[12:38] Jesse McAnally: And there's so many prescient things being talked about and played with in this movie that I think have only aged better today.

[12:46] Alan Seales: Or have predicted things that are still going on today.

[12:50] Jesse McAnally: I think that it's very interesting.

[12:53] Jesse McAnally: And I also think that it's, like, the first time we're really seeing a big, nuanced performance from Jim Carrey.

[12:58] Alan Seales: Because, let's... first time, not the last time.

[13:02] Jesse McAnally: Let me put that statement. He's playing a darker character that is going against type.

[13:09] Alan Seales: It is really going against type for the time. This is pre-Truman Show, pre-Man on the Moon, pre-The Majestic, pre-Eternal Sunshine. This was the first peak at his range. And I think it's an interesting performance choice. It's interesting, but he clearly needed... This is clearly the test run for the ones that are actually good. Like, my god, he fingers a wall two minutes in, and I'm immediately like, what the fuck? Are you going for dramatic? What is the point of this?

[13:46] Jess McAnally: Well, I kind of like the mixing of tones, but Alan's got song on the tip of his tongue. And Alan does have a thought.

[13:48] Alan Seales: No, I was just saying, you thought this was range?

[13:51] Jess McAnally: I think it's range.

[13:53] Alan Seales: Really?

[13:53] Jess McAnally: Yes.

[13:54] Alan Seales: High-pitched question mark?

[13:57] Jess McAnally: No, I do... I mean, it's like the bottom of a range. Angry with a lisp? He's not just angry. Like, he has a character with an actual backstory, an abandoned childhood, neglected, and just shoved in front of the TV and told that...

[14:16] Alan Seales: Yeah, but it's one scene of the movie they talk about that, and then it's never spoken of again until the end.

[14:20] Jess McAnally: Yeah, no, no. The end, they bring up the backstory. Did you notice who played his mother?

[14:25] Alan Seales: Kathy Griffin.

[14:26] Jess McAnally: Kathy Griffin. And the person who dubbed over the voice was Ben Stiller's actual mom.

[14:31] Alan Seales: Jerry Stiller's wife.

[14:31] Jess McAnally: Not Kathy Griffin's voice. Let's talk about some of the other people in this movie who I would have much liked to have... I would love to see more of. Let's see.

[14:42] Alan Seales: Ben Stiller?

[14:43] Jess McAnally: Sure.

[14:43] Alan Seales: Matthew Broderick?

[14:44] Jess McAnally: Nuh-uh.

[14:44] Alan Seales: Leslie Mann?

[14:45] Jess McAnally: Great. Love a fan. Do you know who else auditioned for that role?

[14:48] Alan Seales: Love Leslie Mann's role?

[14:49] Jess McAnally: Yeah.

[14:50] Alan Seales: Jennifer Lopez.

[14:51] Jess McAnally: That's one.

[14:52] Alan Seales: No, who else?

[14:53] Jess McAnally: Heather Locklear.

[14:56] Alan Seales: I heard that in the commentary. I'm like, I gotta write that one down. What a different universe that could have been. That's an old joke for this podcast. Go to episode one for that one, kids. It hasn't been brought up in a while. It's one of the ones.

[15:09] Alan Seales: Jack Black.

[15:10] Jess McAnally: Yes.

[15:10] Alan Seales: Owen Wilson.

[15:11] Jess McAnally: Yes.

[15:12] Alan Seales: Bob Odenkirk.

[15:13] Jess McAnally: Yes. Yes. Doesn't have a... Doesn't say a word in this movie.

[15:16] Alan Seales: But yes.

[15:18] Jess McAnally: So we got both Mr. Show guys. We have Bob Odenkirk and fucking David Cross.

[15:22] Alan Seales: Oh, do you mean Steve Odenkirk, though? Andy Dick is the head of Medieval Times. He's like the... he's the king of Medieval Times or whatever.

[15:29] Jess McAnally: Janine Garofalo.

[15:30] Alan Seales: Janine Garofalo is at Medieval Times. Like all of these people at the start of their careers would have made a much better movie if you just like didn't have Jim in this one.

[15:40] Jess McAnally: I don't see this movie being better with anyone else. Like the Chris Farley idea. I still think that's a worse movie, sadly.

[15:49] Alan Seales: Maybe.

[15:51] Jess McAnally: Maybe. Look, this movie needs another pass. The script needs another pass. The tone is so mixed. And it's trying to be smarter than it actually is in parts. And I know the commentary is pretty good in parts. But there's some of it that's like so beyond. Like, look how smart we are. Like, I get it. You're smart, Judd Apatow. You're very smart. But can you make a character that's actually kind of funny? Because I'd like to laugh at Jim Carrey stalking Matthew Broderick. But I've seen Baby Reindeer. So I can no longer laugh at this.

[16:29] Alan Seales: Fair enough. Now, in a world where a lot of comedies of the years were kind of milquetoast. The Nutty Professors. The Spy Hards. This is the same year as Jack. And a lot of films that I do like. You know, like The Birdcage also came out this year. That thing you do. And Kingpin. But really, this is something in its own. And I always appreciate something that is doing something different. I think this is something I'm discovering about myself on all my podcasts. I will always prefer a big swing and a miss than just going for the easy pitch.

[17:09] Jess McAnally: Yeah, I can see that. I agree with you on that. I'd rather have something swing so hard that it's bad than be mediocre and boring. Because eventually... I'm sorry. Like, we're gonna get Mr. Popper's Penguins. That's where this is headed. It's not over another 10 years. But that is kind of the road we're heading down. So I have to appreciate something like The Cable Guy. Which has a cloudy vision, but a vision. Some gorgeous cinematography. Some really fascinating ideas. And weirdly indulging into the darkness in a way that I appreciate. Like, full darkness. The dream sequence, in and of itself, I think is funny. And I laugh every time that I watch that.

[17:55] Alan Seales: What dream sequence?

[17:57] Jess McAnally: Matthew Proctor gets chased down a hall by a demonic Chip Douglas.

[18:02] Alan Seales: Oh yeah, I blanked that part out. Damn. I can't. I can't. I'm still... I can't. I can't. I don't hate this, though. I'm not on Alan's side. I don't hate this. I see where it's going. But I can't vibe with it. It feels kind of like a thing my male film school friends would make. Which I don't engage with that. Because they talk about how they're gonna be next Steven Spielberg when their name is Chad. And they think that Dark Knight is the best movie of all time. Like, my god. Watch more movies not directed by Christopher Nolan. And move on with your life. This feels like a thing my friend would show me. To show how smart he is. And I'd be like...

[19:01] Jess McAnally: Okay. The dance sequence. Where Matthew Broderick sleeps with a prostitute that Jim Carrey bought him.

[19:08] Alan Seales: Oh yeah. Jim Carrey sings karaoke while he fucks a hooker. He sings Jefferson Airplane Somebody to Love.

[19:19] Jess McAnally: Okay. Now that we're on that. Can we talk... we should probably get to the homoeroticism that is present throughout this. Deep, deep homoeroticism. The deep homoeroticism that is in The Cable Guy. So, Jim Carrey's... Chip Douglas is 100% in love with Matthew Broderick. But also, Jack Black is 100% in love with Matthew Broderick. And very jealous. Not only of Jim Carrey. But of Leslie Mann. Leslie Mann looks gorgeous in this, though, by the way. She is not aged a day. She's gorgeous. And yeah, Judd Apatow met his wife here. This is where they met. Random fun fact. This is where they met. And imagine if he had cast J-Lo. He would have been married to her. He literally says that on the commentary.

[19:40] Alan Seales: Chad, you're doing a real good job directing movies. But you gotta do another draft. And have a woman read this. Like, my god. I think it's so funny. Because I think this film is very dumb, too. Like...

[20:05] Alan Seales: He did?

[20:05] Jess McAnally: Yeah, he does. He's just like, what if I fell in love with J-Lo? Yeah, my life would have been way different. Or Heather Locklear. Or Heather. Or Jenny McCarthy. I can't remember which is which, still. Go back to episode one, people.

[20:20] Alan Seales: You seem very frustrated at these things.

[20:23] Jess McAnally: I have angina. This gives me angina. My chest is tight. My blood flow is restricted. All of a sudden, I'm an old Jew.

[20:33] Alan Seales: I guess the thing I'm... Something told me by my screenwriting teacher. When one of the students had a really dramatic reaction to The Fly, of all films.

[20:45] Jess McAnally: 1986?

[20:46] Alan Seales: Yes. I liked The Fly. That's one of my all-time favorite movies. And this has been a phrase that is in the crux of my brain for a while. Which is, love it, hate it. You are having an emotional response to it. Which means you felt something. That's a point. Because there's a lot of films that make you feel nothing.

[21:03] Jess McAnally: So yeah. It's called Copper Mountain. We watched it earlier. Let's listen to that episode.

[21:09] Alan Seales: Exactly. But Alan, this has a lot of moments of, let's let Jim Carrey be Jim Carrey. I feel that this is honestly one of my least favorite scenes of the film. But it is him being him. And it is very reminiscent of Liar Liar and other things. The scene where he beats up Owen Wilson in the bathroom. I don't know if it's... I honestly don't know what it is about this that touches me in such an inappropriate way.

[21:38] Jess McAnally: Oh god. What a phrasing.

[21:42] Alan Seales: Phrasing. Oh, Archer. I would rather watch Archer. Goodness. I really... I cannot tell you what it is. I don't... I think it's the gaslighting. I just can't stand people who can't take responsibility for themselves.

[22:00] Jess McAnally: But people like that do exist.

[22:02] Alan Seales: Oh, I know. And I can't be around... I'd walk out of their room too. And so I wanted to walk out of this movie. I wanted to walk out of watching this. But I forced myself for the two of you. If that's not friendship, I don't know what is.

[22:15] Jess McAnally: He tied himself to a chair so he wouldn't leave.

[22:18] Alan Seales: Literally. He had his kids tie him to the chair. Toothpicks in my eyes. Dad, why are we tying you to this chair? Don't ask. Cable guy.

[22:29] Jess McAnally: What's cable, dad?

[22:31] Alan Seales: Oh, fair point. They don't know what cable is. It'll come back in a few years when all the streaming services shut down.

[22:37] Jess McAnally: Isn't that like Netflix?

[22:38] Alan Seales: That's what we get when we go to hotels, kids.

[22:44] Jess McAnally: We all Airbnb, dad.

[22:46] Alan Seales: Dad, what's a hotel?

[22:48] Jess McAnally: I do a Verbo. Listen, when I travel to hotels, I bring a Chromecast with me. I plug it into the hotel TV and I cast my own thing from my phone. If it's not already built to the TV, that's the nerd I am. I don't do this cable guy stuff. Probably because of this movie scarring me as a younger adult. I think we made Alan relive some psychological trauma for a podcast.

[23:13] Alan Seales: I want a table flip. I want to punch, go boxing. I'm feeling very aggressive after watching this movie and I can't describe why.

[23:23] Jess McAnally: You're like Teresa Giudice in that one part of Real Housewives of New Jersey where she got really mad and flipped a table.

[23:29] Alan Seales: Yes, because I've watched that. I'll put a clip right here for those who don't know.

[23:37] Jess McAnally: I think my next question then, Alan, is there any specific thing that you thought was incompetently made?

[23:43] Alan Seales: I know we're going back, but I think this is a better, more of a film than a lot of Jim Carrey's films, to be honest. It feels very cinematic.

[23:51] Jess McAnally: It's an extremely well shot film.

[23:54] Alan Seales: I will give you that. The cinematography was great. I actually don't even mind probably some of the directorial choices. I was looking to see how early in Ben Stiller's directorial career this was, and he's got quite a few stuff before this, including, let's see, where is this? Including, oh, Zoolander was a couple years after. Okay, so Reality Bites was before this in 94. So Cable Guy's 96. Reality Bites was 94. He did his own Ben Stiller show in 1990, did a couple smaller things. So this was basically kind of the biggest feature film I think he had done so far. That makes a little bit of sense. But yes, to your point, I agree. Very well shot, and I didn't mind any of that. I wasn't ever complaining that it was like a swiveling camera on a tripod. That was never my complaint. It was always this character that Jim brought to screen, and then the lack of anything but a robotic response out of Matthew Broderick.

[25:01] Jess McAnally: Matthew Broderick, I think, is the problem.

[25:02] Alan Seales: Like, he is...

[25:04] Jess McAnally: I disagree on that one.

[25:04] Alan Seales: I mean, if you found a better straight man in that situation, like a better kind of actor to play off of. Like, remember how great Jeff Garlin was in Dumb and Dumber off of Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey. You need that type where you can feel the anger bubbling. You need someone that's like... you see the anger coming up, and I really think that's the failure of this film. Is not even Jim Carrey, not the script. Like, the feeling of frustration where Matthew Broderick is kind of a tabula rosa that you put your own feelings onto, I guess.

[25:41] Jess McAnally: Okay, so would you have liked to have seen Jim go on a greater arc as well? Because he kind of just stayed one level the whole time too.

[25:49] Alan Seales: No, no, no, no, no. He needs to be a relenting force. But I wanted to see him get more relenting at the end.

[25:57] Jess McAnally: He gets pretty relenting. Like, I just think about the porno password scene with the family, and that is like... one of those most like, oh, this is demented kind of levels of scenes. While it felt like a different kind of movie in a good way. Like, those are the moments where the film, I think, kind of sick. You know what? Now that I'm talking about this, I think...

[26:18] Alan Seales: We should have had a flip where Matthew Broderick was the straight guy going more and more and more frustrated, demented, deranged, while Jim, the more he gets integrated into Matthew Broderick's life, becomes like the saint that like that was part of it. Right. And so the friend was like, you're an asshole, Matthew Broderick. I can't believe you treat him like that.

[26:38] Jess McAnally: He's been an asshole this whole time. He's been an asshole the whole time. And Jim wasn't saintly enough, either, in that scene, because he's still being the kind of doofy like, you know, Jim Carrey. I want him to be, you know, I want him to walk around with a halo on by the end of it.

[26:51] Jess McAnally: Also, since you mentioned Jeff Garlin, I just want to point out that we do not support his harassment and sexual harassment he committed on both The Goldbergs and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[26:59] Alan Seales: Forgot that happened, to be honest.

[27:02] Jess McAnally: Yep. We do not support Jeff Garlin in that way at all. I just want to point that out.

[27:08] Alan Seales: Let me think of a better comparison. God, who is like someone that has like such festering anger underneath? We don't really get angry, like a Bill Burr, like an angry every guy, a Larry David.

[27:22] Jess McAnally: Terrible.

[27:24] Alan Seales: Or a Jason Alexander. Like, he would also be like a really kind of really frustrated, angry guy.

[27:31] Jess McAnally: Jason Alexander would have been good.

[27:33] Alan Seales: He's just playing his character from Seinfeld, but yeah.

[27:35] Jess McAnally: Yeah, but, you know, that would have been a choice. And like, I feel like he's a little bit of a schlub that you can kind of get behind that.

[27:42] Alan Seales: He's like you can get his kind of feel sympathetic despite him kind of being a dick and Matthew Broderick.

[27:50] Jess McAnally: I don't feel sympathy for him at all, but makes me kind of root for Chip Douglas to ruin his life, to be honest, which is part of why I enjoy I can enjoy watching it.

[28:00] Alan Seales: Well, I mean, I see the good in this, but it needs work.

[28:04] Jess McAnally: It needs a lot of work to, like, be cleaned up.

[28:07] Alan Seales: Like, my God, I think it's like we're still in previews.

[28:10] Jess McAnally: They still have some time to work.

[28:11] Alan Seales: He's still trying to fix The Cable Guy from 1996.

[28:14] Jess McAnally: You know what? A musical of The Cable Guy.

[28:17] Alan Seales: Let's go.

[28:18] Jess McAnally: Joe Iconis, get on it.

[28:20] Alan Seales: He would do that.

[28:23] Jess McAnally: Joe Iconis would do anything.

[28:25] Alan Seales: If you listen to his album, it's just his audition for the movie.

[28:28] Jess McAnally: Musical adaptations that he didn't get picked for.

[28:31] Alan Seales: He's just waiting for Be More Chill to finally like.

[28:33] Jess McAnally: No, no, no.

[28:34] Alan Seales: He just accidentally wrote a song for Beetlejuice on his album.

[28:37] Jess McAnally: No, no, no.

[28:38] Alan Seales: There just happens to be a Death Becomes Her song on his album.

[28:41] Jess McAnally: Let him do what he does.

[28:42] Alan Seales: He's a father now.

[28:44] Jess McAnally: I love Joe Iconis.

[28:45] Alan Seales: Congrats on your baby, Joe Iconis.

[28:47] Jess McAnally: Yes, yes, yeah.

[28:48] Alan Seales: I love Joe Iconis. I think he's a fantastic composer, but I do find that a little sus.

[28:55] Jess McAnally: Speaking of a little sus, how about we compare our opinions to those of both real movie critics as well as, we'll get into the Letterboxd game, but I see you pulled some stuff from Roger Ebert here.

[29:01] Alan Seales: Yes, Roger Ebert had an opinion you won't like, Jess.

[29:11] Jess McAnally: But Gene Siskel didn't.

[29:13] Alan Seales: Gene Siskel liked The Cable Guy, just to be clear.

[29:15] Jess McAnally: He enjoyed The Cable Guy, but Roger, no.

[29:18] Alan Seales: Let's look at Roger Ebert's opinion from June 14, 1996, The Heart of the Midwest.

[29:25] Jess McAnally: I'm going to take this from here. Liz pulled this. We want to like Jim Carrey. A movie that makes us dislike him is a strategic mistake. The opening scenes of The Cable Guy are promising. Carrey seems to be playing a variation of his usual hyperkinetic goofball, that our reaction grows more puzzled. This is supposed to be fun, right? I was primed for The 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. Maybe it would have worked better if The Cable Guy had become real friends with Stephen, devising love strategies and Machiavellian schemes to win back Robin and thwart her other suitors.

As it is, the movie goes in one direction and The Cable Guy goes in another, and by the end, we're not really looking forward to seeing Jim Carrey reappear on the screen. Note to the producers. There's an old showbiz saying that satire is what closes on Saturday night, to which could be added another. Black comedy is not what you pay someone $20 million to do.

[30:29] Alan Seales: I don't agree with that. I love black comedy. I feel like while I see his points, I think his deliveries and the things he's saying specifically aren't correct, and I feel like even Alan will agree with me there.

[30:43] Alan Seales: If we're praising this movie, I don't agree.

[30:46] Jess McAnally: I don't think we're praising it. I think just his specific critiques are not the ones to be bringing up.

[30:52] Alan Seales: Well, this is for context. Roger Ebert fucking hates horror movies, so anything dark, he's just like, nope. I want to feel good at the pictures. No.

[31:00] Jess McAnally: But do we agree with that?

[31:02] Alan Seales: I don't.

[31:03] Jess McAnally: I don't know.

[31:05] Alan Seales: I'm in the middle.

[31:07] Jess McAnally: I'm still confused. By the end of this, I'll figure out if I like it or not.

[31:14] Alan Seales: I agree that this is not what you pay an actor $20 million to do, especially when you're trying. I think the juxtaposition that did not work is that you've got a rubber-faced person pretending to have a speech impediment in an attempt, in my opinion, to be funny when it's not actually funny.

[31:38] Jess McAnally: If they played into the darkness and made it scary, creepy-creepy, that'd be fine. But it came across as just failed comedy attempts in such a cringe-worthy way.

[31:49] Alan Seales: So much cringe.

[31:51] Jess McAnally: Are you saying the dark elements don't work? Because it does go full dark. Jim Carrey's still there. The Cable Guy's still there in those dark elements.

[31:59] Alan Seales: It doesn't work.

[32:01] Jess McAnally: See, when I think about this film and I think about the parts that make me laugh, or the words he's saying, the finger blasting the wall or anything like that, it's like when he's just on the phone and a spider is randomly crawling across his face, where it's just like, oh, the juxtapositions here just make me so happy.

[32:22] Alan Seales: It's either it's not funny enough or it's not weird enough. I want Mulholland Drive David Lynch weird. Or funnier. Where it landed right in the middle here doesn't work for me.

[32:33] Jess McAnally: What do you think of the medieval time sequence? Because I feel like that's a set piece of this movie that we haven't brought up.

[32:40] Alan Seales: I really don't like that scene and truly it could be an easy cut. It's bad. It's bad.

[32:46] Jess McAnally: It only exists because Jim Carrey went to a Renaissance fair and hated it, so they wrote that into the script.

[32:54] Alan Seales: Not only hated it, but had to be escorted out by police.

[32:58] Jess McAnally: Yeah, there's a police in the parking lot and he was like, I just want to get out of here! And he said a line to them that he would later reuse in The Grinch, which is, what are you going to do, put me in a chokehold?

[33:08] Alan Seales: Of course. Gotta write what you know.

[33:12] Jess McAnally: I don't like it. I don't get it. I've been to medieval times.

[33:16] Alan Seales: Have you been to a real medieval time?

[33:18] Jess McAnally: Yes, I did. In Chicago.

[33:20] Alan Seales: No. No.

[33:22] Jess McAnally: It was. It was. And you got the giant chicken leg and they don't give you utensils. And the kids are like, what? Dad, what's happening?

[33:30] Alan Seales: To quote Janine Garofalo, since there was no utensils in medieval times, there's no utensils at medieval times.

[33:38] Jess McAnally: Do you want more Pepsi?

[33:40] Alan Seales: You guys have Pepsi?

[33:42] Jess McAnally: Yeah. I just work here, man.

[33:44] Alan Seales: Janine Garofalo doing her best Janine Garofalo in her five seconds of screen time.

[33:50] Jess McAnally: Which is honestly really funny because Janine Garofalo rejected the Generation X movie of Generation X label that Reality Bites got in '94. She's like, no. No. This is the movie of Gen X. Fuck that. And she also vehemently talks shit about everyone on SNL while on SNL. That's just the most Janine Garofalo thing I can think of. I think she's a badass. I want her to have a resurgence really bad because she had the Aubrey Plaza thing going years before Aubrey Plaza even hit the scene.

[34:24] Alan Seales: Let's write Cable Guy 2 and make a Cable Lady with Janine Garofalo.

[34:26] Jess McAnally: Nope. Nope. Nope. No Cable Guy 2.

[34:44] Alan Seales: Letterboxd Game!

[34:46] Jess McAnally: Letterboxd Game!

[34:48] Alan Seales: So I went on the lovely letterboxd.com and I found some one or five star reviews of The Cable Guy and Jess and Alan have to guess if they're positive or negative based on very little context. Let's go!

[35:02] Jess McAnally: The winner gets nothing.

[35:04] Alan Seales: As always, I get nothing.

[35:06] Jess McAnally: This game doesn't really matter. Anyway, Jess, you're going to go first.

[35:10] Jess McAnally: Yes, I, Jess.

[35:12] Alan Seales: Only because Alan went first last time.

[35:14] Jess McAnally: Yes, I, Jess. Are you ready? I'm ready.

[35:18] Alan Seales: I have no association with stalking whatsoever.

[35:20] Jess McAnally: That's a five.

[35:22] Alan Seales: That is correct.

[35:24] Jess McAnally: Dammit. You know what? I want you to win this one. This is all you.

[35:26] Alan Seales: I don't even care today.

[35:30] Jess McAnally: Is it really that bad to you? It makes me hate things. I'm so frustrated now. I'm going to take a walk. I'm legitimately going to take a walk after recording this so I can work off some tension.

[35:44] Alan Seales: Alright, Alan, are you ready?

[35:46] Jess McAnally: Yes, I, Jess.

[35:48] Alan Seales: I seal some approval. This was the weirdest intro to a porn I've ever seen.

[35:50] Jess McAnally: Yes. How I assume Jim Carrey is IRL.

[35:52] Alan Seales: That's probably not wrong, and that's a five.

[35:54] Jess McAnally: Oh, god.

[35:56] Alan Seales: Five.

[35:56] Jess McAnally: That's a one. Dang.

[35:58] Jess McAnally: That's a one.

[35:58] Alan Seales: Yes. Terminally online people learn about human interaction. The movie.

[36:00] Alan Seales: It is weird. The prostitute that Jim Carrey gets is very hair-centric in her moves.

[36:04] Jess McAnally: She's just kind of digging into his hair.

[36:06] Alan Seales: Oh, I thought you were implying she's hairy.

[36:10] Jess McAnally: No, no, no. But my favorite line of this movie is such a fucked up idea. But it's like, hey, I bought this time, you buy next time. You know, the girl. It's alright. I tried her out beforehand. Make sure she doesn't give you the drip.

[36:28] Alan Seales: The idea of, it's okay, I tried her out before. Everyone should pre-try out before giving to a friend, right? Jess.

[36:38] Jess McAnally: It's a fucking horrific idea. It's a fucking horrific idea that is just thrown out halfway through this film. Like most ideas. Anyway.

[36:48] Alan Seales: Are you ready, Jess?

[37:02] Jess McAnally: Five. That's correct.

[37:06] Alan Seales: Damn it! It is a lot about parasocial relationships.

[37:12] Jess McAnally: Yes. No, Jim Carrey, don't kill yourself. You're so sexy.

[37:18] Alan Seales: You're so sexy.

[37:20] Jess McAnally: That's a five.

[37:22] Alan Seales: That's right.

[37:24] Jess McAnally: Yeah, people are hoarding for him in this, and I'm concerned about all of them. I get it when he has the mustache on and he looks a little bit like Freddie Mercury.

[37:30] Alan Seales: No, anyone. Nope, nope, nope. You need to go to therapy. Go to therapy. Just go. Run to therapy if you think he's hot in this. No.

[37:42] Jess McAnally: Matthew Broderick does have a lot of shirtless scenes in this movie, though. I'm surprised more people are like, oh, horny for Broderick.

[37:46] Alan Seales: No one's horny for Broderick.

[37:52] Jess McAnally: Not even Sarah Jessica Parker. No one's ever found him attractive.

[37:56] Alan Seales: I did find a review I did not include that's like, this is the worst thing Matthew Broderick has done since that car accident that killed two people.

[38:04] Jess McAnally: Oh, no! I did not include it, but in the list. It's really bad.

[38:10] Alan Seales: I'm pretty sure. Am I right? I lost track. Yes, you are.

[38:14] Jess McAnally: Oh, that's right. We've all got a friend like that, and if you think you don't, it's probably you.

[38:22] Alan Seales: Fuck, it's me. Five. That's right.

[38:24] Jess McAnally: Dammit! I will say that is the truth. That is true. If you don't think you're the gay cousin, you're the gay cousin.

[38:32] Alan Seales: Dammit, that's me too.

[38:36] Jess McAnally: Alright, Jess. This film made me so afraid of Jim Carrey that I couldn't watch The Grinch for six years.

[38:44] Alan Seales: Ooh.

[38:46] Jess McAnally: The Grinch is good, but this is better, so that's a one.

[38:50] Alan Seales: That's right.

[38:52] Jess McAnally: I kind of want Alan to win this out of spite, honestly.

[38:56] Alan Seales: Wait, are we trying to do the loser wins? Are we doing that Game Changers event?

[39:02] Jess McAnally: Oh, the second place one?

[39:04] Alan Seales: Yeah. Oh, sounds like Game Changers. I'm gonna put Do the Weenus in here. Everybody, Do the Weenus!

[39:10] Jess McAnally: The Weenus is a dance. Alright, Alan. They literally have a rain scene, and you're telling me they aren't gay?

[39:18] Alan Seales: They have several rain scenes. One. Five.

[39:22] Jess McAnally: Yes! Alright, Jess. They are gay, though, right?

[39:27] Jess: Yes, this movie walked. So I love you, Philip Morris could run that is a five. That's a one damn.

[39:36] Alan: Which is weird 'cause Jim Carrey would be in I Love You, Philip Morris with Leslie Mann. So cringe, lol. Why did he hang out with him to begin with? That's a hell to review, lol.

[39:48] Jess: So cringe, lol. Five stars. That's right, damn it. He's better at this when he's trying to live.

[39:55] Alan: All right, Jess.

[39:59] Jess: Yes. Why must we kill the babysitter? Five, one damn. All right, Alan, you could unironically win this, damn it. People always say that Canada is like the nice, pleasant America. Well, then how do you explain Jim Carrey?

[40:15] Alan: The pressure.

[40:18] Jess: Oh. Maybe this is like, well, how do you explain Jim Carrey? Look how great it is, or how do you explain Jim Carrey? This is horrible. I'm flippin' claim heads five. It was a one. Yes, both of you won.

[40:33] Alan: We tied for losing.

[40:37] Jess: You tied for losing.

[40:39] Alan: No, thank you. No, thank you. No. No, that's a big old no for me, dog.

[40:45] Jess: Imagine James Caan, Matthew Broderick role, like that kind of festering anger. Like I'm just thinking of like, because he's so good against Will Ferrell in Elf, and I'm just imagining unrelenting anger. No, I'd be yes. Give this to me or Tommy Lee Jones.

[41:04] Alan: So you could feel his actual hatred for Jim Carrey permeate through the screen.

[41:10] Jess: Wait, Tommy Lee Jones hates Jim Carrey?

[41:15] Alan: Oh, from the Batman days. Yeah. Pulled him aside, said, "I cannot tolerate your buffoon." That's the most Tommy Lee Jones thing I could think of.

[41:19] Jess: I could not tolerate your buffoonery.

[41:25] Alan: I'm not even gonna try. I was very Benoit Blanc, me more. That was Benoit Blanc. I will not tolerate your buffoonery.

[41:35] Jess: I'd rather watch Glass Onion.

[41:37] Alan: Glass Onion is a better movie than The Cable Guy. I don't think anyone is gonna try to argue that one.

[41:44] Jess: Yeah, I can't watch Knives Out 'cause of the puking, so...

[41:48] Alan: Yeah.

[41:49] Jess: Speaking of puking, what is our overall thoughts on The Cable Guy? And is it an alrighty then or a no spank you? Alan, go first.

[42:06] Alan: I mean, this is a really hard decision. Gosh, I'm gonna have to go with a big old alright.

[42:11] Jess: Oh, yeah.

[42:14] Alan: The biggest no spank you in the world.

[42:16] Jess: Porn bigger.

[42:21] Alan: I'd watch anything else. We've already watched again thrice.

[42:28] Jess: You really haven't watched the Sex and Violence Family Hour three times by accident. That is your fault.

[42:34] Alan: It's not my fault. That's the issue of scheduling conflicts. I think Alan's entitled to his opinion. Let's hear the rest of it.

[42:38] Alan: No, that was it. That's all I got to say. I don't want to give this movie one more second of my time.

[42:40] Jess: All right, I'll go next. I like this movie a lot. I think it's in my top three to five of Jim Carrey's films, to be honest. Let me do the math in my head. Yeah, it's there. Yeah, yeah, I was like, okay, yeah, that makes sense.

[42:55] Jess: I think his performance is actually a lot of fun here. I think it's like a properly directed film with themes and things that it wants to say, and a lot more effort is put into the detail work here that tends to be forgotten in a lot of studio comedies, where this feels like it's trying to be a little bit more of an elevated comedy, like Spencer would do in something like Tropic Thunder years later. A little bit more meta, a little bit more trying to have multiple themes and ideas going on. Is it perfect? Definitely not. Is it even like for everyone? No, it is definitely an acquired taste. I feel like the general public revolting against this makes quite a bit of sense, especially considering what you've come to expect a Jim Carrey comedy to be.

Me personally, I love dark shit and I love it as a cult classic. And when I think about Jim Carrey's 90s career, I know a lot of people think about The Mask and Ace Ventura and Dumb and Dumber. This is the one I have the most things that I quote and things I think about and highlight moments that I just kind of chuckle to myself about. And I think that being off-put with the darkness works for me. So it is a very big alrighty then from me.

[44:10] Alan: Yeah, big.

[44:12] Jess: Yeah, whereas I think The Cable Guy is coming up and it will be The Majestic, which I think is dog shit. That is very pretty to look at, very well directed, but fuck me if it isn't bad.

[44:28] Alan: Does it make you angry to watch it a little bit? Like because of the potential? Because it's like Frank Darabont's follow-up to The Shawshank Redemption? It's trying to be like a Jimmy Stewart, like Mr. Deeds movie, and it's like all the things that I would love, but it fails entirely in ways I can't even comprehend. It reminds me of like David Fincher's Manc, which that should have been my favorite movie. How did you fuck this up so bad?

[44:53] Jess: Yes, we got a while before we get to The Majestic.

[44:57] Alan: Well, not from The Cable Guy. That's actually quite a bit in between The Majestic and The Cable Guy.

[45:05] Jess: What a fucking career this man's had. Either way, The Majestic is to me Jim Carrey's worst studio film, like as far as things that make you engaged, whereas I like this a lot.

[45:21] Alan: And Liz, your thoughts?

[45:28] Jess: This, I don't, this is a weird-ass movie.

[45:28] Alan: Yeah.

[45:28] Jess: Like it feels like it generally to me feels like a film school project that someone made to try to look smart. It feels like Judd Apatow fucking read a book once and was like, "TV corrupts our brains and the Menendez brothers are on TV. Let me write a script about it." Like it has parts that could work. It has a decent leap. Jim Carrey is fine in this. The whole Whitey from Day Crazy Nice Things passed over like ten minutes for me. It was like it passed, but the rest of it, it tone shifts without any transitions. And I love dark comedies. I generally love dark shit. One of my all-time favorite movies is literally David Cronenberg's The Fly, which contains multiple acid vomit scenes and people turning into bugs.

Like I like dark shit, but it's trying to be funny and dark within the same minute, and it's not succeeding in either direction most of the time. Like it's trying so hard, and it feels like someone shoving in your face that they're clever and they think TV is bad. Like yeah, being raised by TV is bad, and it can turn people into Chip Douglas or whatever fake name he puts on that is from a Ricardo. I like that touch a lot. That was nice.

[46:45] Alan: But it could have been better with just a few passes from someone else, not named Judd Apatow. Like my God, get someone else to read your script, man.

[46:56] Jess: I know this is from '96, but like just get someone else to read it. That's just advice for anyone: get other people to read your scripts.

[47:04] Alan: Well, other passes, I think it's also the struggle of trying to appease your lead star who wants to do 500 different things on top of it. Jim Carrey without control is like why the director's cut of Donnie Darko was bad. Like you don't give certain people amount of control where things will just go off the rails.

[47:23] Jess: So I will say I feel for Judd Apatow because he was also a producer on the film, and some of the stories on him making the film I related too hard, where he's like, "I was just having a panic attack at all times every day." And he heard from the studio that they had to shut down the set, and he knew if he shut down the set that they wouldn't be able to make their day. So he just turned off his phone and hoped that no one would call, and they shot for 14 hours, which is probably not a good thing to do. But I felt those stories. I feel that too. I get that. I have sympathy for the man. It was probably hard, but just get someone else to read your script, and it'll probably be a lot better.

[48:04] Alan: Yeah, it has a lot of potential. Jim Carrey's decent. Leslie Mann is pretty good. Jack Black is in it for like five minutes and talks like a normal person the whole time, and it legitimately jarred me.

[48:16] Jess: He's the gay ex-boyfriend.

[48:22] Alan: He's just a normal man in this, and that's weird.

[48:28] Jess: No, no, maybe I'll take out my cable guy. That was like one line, and the rest of him, he was good. Rest of him, he was normal South Park.

[48:33] Alan: Maybe I'll take out my cable guy.

[48:36] Jess: Anyway, Mr. Hand is the cable guy. Mr. Hankey. Mr. Hankey the Christmas. Mr. Hand the puppet.

[48:44] Alan: Garrison's or Garrison's hand puppet. Mr. Garrison's hand puppet as the whatever gender Garrison is now.

[48:51] Jess: Yeah, this movie is kind of bad, but it's also kind of good, so I'm on the fence.

[48:57] Alan: Understandably kind of good. I mean, it has elements. It looks great. The plot isn't bad, but the structure is bad, and the tone is so uneven. I blanked out. I looked down, and all of a sudden it was a horror movie. Like come on, you got to ease me into the horror. So I'm going to agree with Alan. Very light no spank you. I'll take it, but it's not a fine line. This movie is really bad. It's not watch it for yourself. This is not everyone's cup of tea, but if you like weird dark shit, give it a try.

[49:34] Jess: The thing is, I think I like it because it's probably gonna be seven or seven P, or was it two people's favorite thing? Yeah, and everyone else will probably hate it. Some people out there really like this movie. I've read their thoughts. They generally engage with it, but I've read so many people say it's garbage. So you check it out for yourself because don't trust what we think because we all have different experiences with movies and stuff. Like check it out for yourself. Like my favorite movie of all time besides The Fly is a dark comedy about heroin addicts, so like I engage with dark shit sometimes. It's just this I don't engage with, so this is like The Number 23.

[50:17] Alan: Well, I love The Number 23 too much.

[50:24] Jess: Fair enough. Any other thoughts before we wrap this up, Alan? I think Alan's gonna die.

[50:30] Alan: I mean, the face, my disgust face is permanently affixed to my face for the rest.

[50:35] Jess: Yeah, you're gonna leave the record. The state of your parents' kids will be like, "Dad, what's wrong?"

[50:40] Alan: God, people are gonna think I'm such a contrarian, but I do just legitimately enjoy watching this movie.

[50:46] Jess: Yeah, no, I don't agree with that. I'm contrarian to your contrarian, and it just feels like Chad's a final project for sophomore film class.

[50:56] Alan: The thing is, I a hundred percent agree with you about that. I find it charming 'cause I've sat through a lot of fucking film festivals.

[51:08] Jess: Yeah, Chad, do better. You gotta be.

[51:14] Alan: Speaking of Chad, this was not your best work. Speaking of not your best work, thank you for listening. Please follow us on iTunes and Spotify, Carrey'd Away with Jess and Alan. We're on Twitter at Carrey'd Away Pod, Instagram Carrey'd Away Pod. Email us at Carrey'd Away Podcast at gmail.com. Our title card is created by Grace Aki. Go follow them on Instagram at itsgraceaki, and also, they will be performing for the first time in the UK at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. Edinburgh, Edinburgh. I'm sorry, I'm bad at words.

[51:43] Alan: And that'll be this August, so go check that out if you can.

[51:49] Jess: This show is produced and edited by Elizabeth Esten, and they're doing a great job. Our theme song is "I Choose You" by the band Thanks. Thank you for the Broadway Podcast Network for fragments of the platform and for not kicking us off for talking so much shit about Jim Carrey's passion project, The Cable Guy. I don't know why we're so negative all the time. We watched porn at the beginning of this, so it's kind of permeated our brains.

[52:05] Alan: Porneated our brains, and we will see you next time, kids. Bye-bye.

[52:12] Jess: I would like to exit this room, please.