The Cable Guy Blu-ray Movie 
Sony Pictures | 1996 | 96 min | Rated PG-13 | Dec 17, 2019
Movie rating
|
| 6.6 | / 10 |
Blu-ray rating
| Users |  | 0.0 |
| Reviewer |  | 3.5 |
| Overall | | 3.5 |
Overview click to collapse contents
The Cable Guy (1996)
A lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.
Starring: Jim Carrey, Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black, George SegalDirector: Ben Stiller
| Comedy | Uncertain |
| Dark humor | Uncertain |
Specifications click to expand contents
Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish
Discs
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Playback
Region A (B, C untested)
Review click to expand contents
Rating summary
| Movie |  | 4.0 |
| Video | | 4.0 |
| Audio | | 3.5 |
| Extras |  | 3.0 |
| Overall | | 3.5 |
The Cable Guy Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 30, 2019With Sony's 2011 issue of the Jim Carrey/Matthew Broderick Comedy 'The Cable Guy' out of print and fetching a pretty penny on the secondhand market, the studio has reissued the film as part of its pressed MOD (Manufactured on Demand) line of Blu-ray discs. This release carries over the exact same supplemental content minus previews and BD-Live functionality. Video and primary audio presentations are unchanged.
Steve Kovacs's (Matthew Broderick) television is on the fritz, or, at least, his cable box is. He's all but given up on waiting for the cable guy to show, and of course he arrives four hours late while Steve is in the shower. It's a routine fix, but the Cable Guy (Jim Carrey) is anything but an Average Joe. He passionately caresses the wall behind which the cable rests, rearranges Steve's furniture just-so to ensure perfect reception, laments in an off-the-cuff sort of way that he never really gets to "know" his customers, and chums it up with Steve, even going so far as to give him his personal pager number in case of a future cable emergency. The Cable Guy offers to take Steve out to the satellite array to give him a glimpse of how cable really works; Steve takes it as a kindly throwaway remark and brushes it off, but the creepy Cable Guy is deadly serious. A play date is set and the two form an uneasy friendship, with the Cable Guy making like they've been lifelong pals and Steve wondering how far this oddball Cable Guy creature will take things and how to politely break it off. When the Cable Guy begins to dig into his new friend's personal life and offers relationship advice that gets Steve his girlfriend Robin (Leslie Mann) back in his good graces, Steve begins to feel that, just maybe, his new friend isn't all that bad. As the relationship awkwardly grows, Steve realizes that his initial instincts may have been correct. The Cable Guy isn't so easy to lose and not exactly the man to make mad; not only does he have the power of the cable company at his fingertips, but he has a more sinister knack for making life a living hell.
For a full film review, please click here.
The Cable Guy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Sony's 2019 MOD (Manufactured on Demand) Blu-ray release of The Cable Guy includes the exact same 1080p, AVC encoded transfer as the previous 2011 issue. For a full video review, please click here.
The Cable Guy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Like the previous issue, this version of The Cable Guy includes a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The new track clocks in at a
lower average bitrate but appears to offer no significant alterations in the actual listening product.
Note that for this release the French language track has been demoted from lossless DTS to lossy Dolby Digital. Several subtitle options have also been
removed.
The Cable Guy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
This 2019 release of The Cable Guy includes all of the same supplements found on the previously issued 2011 release. There's nothing new
and nothing of value has been taken away. See below for a list of what's included and please click here for full supplemental coverage. As is tradition with Sony's
MOD line, no DVD or digital copies of the film are included. There is also no slipcover.
- Audio Commentary: Ben Stiller, Judd Apatow, and Jim Carrey.
- Gag Reel
- Deleted & Extended Scenes
- Leslie Mann Audition
- HBO First Look: The Making of The Cable Guy
- Comedy Central Canned Ham Presents: The Cable Guy
- Rehearsals
- Nightmare Camera Test
- "Leave Me Alone" Music Video by Jerry Cantrell
- Theatrical Trailer
The Cable Guy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Other than a new menu screen, a change in French audio, and a few dropped subtitles, there's nothing new to be found on Sony's MOD Blu-ray that wasn't on the 2011 issue. There's no real reason for owners of that older pressing to upgrade, but newcomers not willing to pay inflated secondhand market prices for the older disc should find this one to be a completely acceptable alternative. It's too bad Sony didn't re-release the film on UHD, but the Blu-ray's A/V presentation is fine. Recommended.
