Entertainment
Comedy Legend’s Disturbing, Most Hated Film Was Just Ahead Of Its Time
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Jim Carrey rose to fame as a rubber-faced funnyman in films like The Mask and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, but he later showed how serious he could be with films like The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Before those acclaimed movies, however, Carrey starred in a film so dark that it threatened to jeopardize his career as Hollywood’s favorite comic actor. That movie is The Cable Guy (1996), and you can now hop on Tubi to stream an underrated classic that was way ahead of its time.
The premise of The Cable Guy (directed by comedy icon Ben Stiller) is that an architect getting over a nasty breakup (a proposal gone wrong; ouch!) befriends the cable guy who helped him watch movies for free. Unfortunately, that cable guy soon proves to be as obsessive as he is demented, and the toxic friendship he offers begins to ruin the architect’s life. His new “friend” is a one-man social wrecking ball, and it soon becomes clear that his free cable comes at way too high a price.
The Greatest Comedy Cast Of The Decade?
The Cable Guy has a surprisingly all-star cast, including Ben Stiller (best known for Tropic Thunder) and Jack Black (best known for School of Rock). It also stars prolific actor Eric Roberts (best known for Runaway Train). Oh, and to really drive home just how ‘90s this film is, it also features David Cross (best known for Arrested Development) and Andy Dick (best known for getting arrested).
Of course, the primary stars are Matthew Broderick (the ‘80s icon best known for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Jim Carrey (the ‘90s comic legend best known for the Ace Ventura films): the former plays the straight man trying to get his life back together, while the latter plays the chaotic force of nature trying to tear everything down. The movie’s sublimely weird tone (it’s basically What About Bob? mixed with Cape Fear) helps challenge each actor, forcing Broderick into more of a dramatic role and forcing Carrey into a horror role. This nicely subverts our expectations about these characters even as it subverts our very understanding of what is and isn’t funny.
The Movie That Broke The Critics
In some ways, The Cable Guy was a victim of Jim Carrey’s outsized success as a breakout ‘90s comedian. The film earned $102.8 million against a budget of $47 million, making it a certified hit; nonetheless, Carrey was such a box office draw that both the studio and the audience expected his dark comedy to earn more money. As producer Judd Apatow (who would later become a director and tastemaker for early aughts comedy) put it, “people looked at it as a failure because it didn’t make even more money.
The Cable Guy was quite baffling to reviewers when its weird vibes first wired their way into theaters. It has a 57 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics complaining that the movie is frustratingly uneven throughout its runtime. They did admit, however, that the film has some deliciously subversive humor and provocative ideas that are often (though not always) enough to offset the uneven tone.
The Star Who Sang The Movie’s Praises
Interestingly, nobody likes this controversial film quite as much as Jim Carrey, who told LADbible in 2022 that “The Cable Guy is one of my favorite movies.” He went on to claim that his deranged character in the film “is all of us: we were all raised by the TV.” In that way, his character is less of a pop culture anomaly and more of a dark mirror image of an audience that is increasingly obsessed with media.
Dancing Into The Future
Personally, I think The Cable Guy was ahead of its time in presenting someone so obsessed with pop culture back when the World Wide Web was relatively new. Now, we live in an age where some people communicate almost exclusively in memes from movies and TV shows, and influencers make their living by reacting to whatever they have recently watched. Furthermore, the meteoric rise of Comic-Con-style events since this film first came out is proof that everyone is collectively crazier about pop culture than ever before.
While it still provides some wonderfully dark chuckles, the modern state of media obsession makes The Cable Guy a bit surreal to watch. It’s difficult to see the titular protagonist’s crazy antics and not think about some of your friends or family members who freak out over movies and TV shows and develop parasocial relationships with online personalities. This makes the film feel downright prescient at times, even as it introduced us to the darker side of Jim Carrey.
A Movie Ahead Of Its Time
Speaking of which, a fascinating side effect of The Cable Guy is that it opened unexpected doors for Carrey: for example, he almost certainly wouldn’t have landed serious roles in films like The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind if not for this earlier dark comedy. This was the film that proved that Carrey could still be compelling and charismatic even when he’s not doing his rubber-faced Ace Ventura thing. He’s gone on to do even more amazing work since then, none of which would have been possible if he hadn’t starred in the most transgressively hilarious film of the ‘90s.
Will you agree that The Cable Guy is a disturbing film that was frighteningly ahead of its time, or would you rather switch back to cable than stream this film on Tubi? You won’t know until you stream it for yourself and discover just how crazy a film can get. Come for the weird comedy and stay for the weirdest homage to Cape Fear ever made!
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NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 2, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: A Pittsburgh Athlete
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Green: Seen on an MLB Scorebug
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Blue: Teams in the PWHL Playoffs
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Purple: Horse Racing Triple Crowns
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #585 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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A Pittsburgh Athlete: PANTHER, PENGUIN, PIRATE, STEELER
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Seen on an MLB Scorebug: COUNT, INNING, OUTS, SCORE
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Teams in the PWHL Playoffs: CHARGE, FLEET, FROST, VICTORIE
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Horse Racing Triple Crowns: AFFIRMED, CITATION, JUSTIFY, WHIRLAWAY
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for May 2, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 6-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed horizontally.
Less Than (6): Everything in this space must be less than 6. The answer is 1-1, placed vertically.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2. The answer is 0-3, placed vertically.
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 5-5, placed horizontally.
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Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-4, placed vertically.
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally; 2-6, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 2-6, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-6, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for May 2 Pips
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 4-5, placed vertically; 2-5, placed vertically.
Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically.
Number (15): Everything in this space must add up to 15. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 3-4, placed horizontally; 6-3, placed vertically.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically; 1-3, placed horizontally.
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-4, placed horizontally; 1-3, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally.
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0. The answer is 0-6, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally; 0-1, placed horizontally.
Less Than (3): Everything in this space must be less than 3. The answer is 0-1, placed horizontally.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
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