DIRECTED BY: Ben Stiller
STARRING: Matthew Broderick, Jim Carrey, Leslie Mann, Jack Black, George Segal, Diane Baker and Ben Stiller
BUDGET: $47m
EARNED (Worldwide): $102.8m
AWARDS: None
SYNOPSIS
A lonely and disturbed cable guy raised on television just wants a new friend, but his target, a designer, rejects him, with bad consequences.
Steven Kovacs has recently moved out of an apartment he had been sharing with his girlfriend. At his new apartment he awaits for The Cable Guy to arrive. Once he does, Steven slips him $50 for free cable, as recommended by a friend to do, which he does and he is thankful for. As Chip gives Steven tips on how to win his girlfriend, Robin, back, Steven attempts to act like he has an interest in Chip’s line of work but Chip takes this to heart and tries to become his best friend. When Steven claims that he doesn’t want a new friend, Chip goes on an assault to ruin Steven’s life in more ways than one.
In a role that was originally intended for Chris Farley, after this film, you can’t help but see anyone replacing Jim Carrey in the role as he completely makes it his own. It may be a comedy, but the film gets darker the more it progresses, after all it really is a stalker film blended in with film and television references galore, provided by Chip Douglas. One of his darkest comedic roles, I thought Jim Carrey was terrific, balancing off Matthew Broderick’s straight faced Steven (except for the Silence of the Lambs nod), who gets placed in more uncomfortable spots thanks to Chip (including Porno Password at his parents house). Also worth mentioning the sub-plot the trial of a former kid star for murdering his twin brother and the Eric Roberts cameo.
FAVOURITE SCENE: The fight sequence between Chip and Steven at Medieval Times.
FAVOURITE QUOTE: ‘[Tape of his phone call to the police] Oh my God! Oh my God! My twin brother has been shot! I think it was an Asian gang or something… There was this guy, he looked Asian… and he was speaking another language, I’m pretty sure it was… Asian.’ – Sam Sweet
DID YOU KNOW?: During filming of the scene in which the Cable Guy (Jim Carrey) plays basketball, it was discovered that Carrey could barely dribble a basketball, much less make a basket. Director Ben Stiller had Carrey mime the action without a ball and visual effects technicians added the basketball in postproduction.
Irish Cinephile 
I did think the film was odd but not as bad as the critics say. You mentioned the dark humor in your post and as you nailed it.