26 - The Babysitter

Connection To THE CABLE GUY - George Segal.

Adolescent Confession Time #1 - I remember watching this in bits and pieces (probably seeing it all) in the 90s in what I call for me personally - The Puberty Years - hoping to catch some Alicia Silverstone breast, the internet hadn't really come to my town properly at that point to be be to log on and tell me Silverstone does not show any boob during the course of the movie (despite there being a scene with her in the bath), so yeah my memory of The Babysitter is that it's underwhelming because I wanted me some Cher Horowitz skin!

Anyway, my memory of it that it was called a thriller but I couldn't really remember anything thriller about it, and yeah it's a series of males fantasizing about the babysitter - the father of the kids she's babysitting, her boyfriend and his bad boy friend - it wouldn't be out of line to say all these fantasies are a few notches even below soft core, which is perhaps the way the film should have gone, which I guess could have mean't losing Silverstone for more prudish reasons and the other actors such as George Segal because they don't want to be linked to something a bit more soft core but all that's left is tame.

So from one point of view, Silverstone is well cast, because you can easily see her as this object of affection for these pervs but it's a film that lacks any real bite, the entire film is basically just when it might get cut like out of the fantasy or lets cut away to another character.

Overall, a disappointing experience that would probably not have got noticed if it wasn't released in the same year (1995) as Clueless, I wouldn't recommend it because it's mostly a limp affair.

25 - The Cable Guy

 Connection To 3 NINJAS KNUCKLE UP - Charles Napier

America, The World whatever... was just not ready for THIS Jim Carrey in 1996. The audience still wanted him bending over talking out of his butt and much was made of Carrey's $20 million fee for the movie, his run of movies before starting from the first Ace Ventura certainly showed he was bankable but a black comedy like this wouldn't have attracted the same audience even if Carrey took scale. In a different (later) time a movie directed by Ben Stiller and starring Carrey with roles for Jack Black and Owen Wilson and produced by Judd Apatow would sound like such a winner but it just wasn't to be.

I saw this initially in 1997, when I would have been 14/15 and I was one of the small number of British people who knew Jim Carrey was even before Ace Ventura, I knew him from In Living Color, Earth Girls Are Easy and because of them knew who he was when I saw him in his small role in The Dead Pool, so yeah when super-stardom came it was cool seeing it happen.

Anyway I digress and back to 1997, I'd seen all the stuff Carrey was doing post-Ace Ventura and this was a film I was going to see, but by the time I'd seen it, it had already flopped and being slated and in spite of that I enjoyed it, I recall watching it again around 2000 and still liking it, but haven't seen it since then so I'm curious to see if I still will enjoy a film I will defend some 14 years (maybe a touch more or less) as misunderstood and actually a really good black comedy. (all this first bit was actually written before the re-watch)...

Watching it now, I'm still on the side it's a good film - a good film with flaws, the overriding fact is to everyone watching is that Carrey's character is lonely but unhinged, Broderick really shouldn't have let it get that far even after the initial scenes with each other but it's still fun seeing Broderick let the all situation get out of control.

However one of my little problems is I don't think Broderick's character stands out enough, though you could argue he's another actor overshadowed by a force of nature in Carrey performance (I genuienly think the first actors to steal the show from Carrey where Cary Elwes in Liar Liar and Steve Carell in Bruce Almighty), but to be fair Owen Wilson in a smaller scene leaves an impression, Ben Stiller himself and Eric Roberts also pop in enjoyable bits.

There's it fair share of memorable scenes such as the karaoke scene or the jousting or even the aforementioned Owen Wilson scene and it's pace is not too bad. I'm not picking on Broderick here (because I've enjoyed him in plenty) but his scenes without Carrey tend to be some of the less interesting ones though if he shares the scene with Leslie Mann you have at least her to look at.

Overall a film that still as anchor of Carrey's price tag on it but still a film with enough redeeming qualities about it, no question about it though it's Carrey's film.