The Cable Guy (1996)
This movie may have been the victim of poor marketing and Jim Carrey’s superstardom. This extremely dark and twisted comedy directed by Ben Stiller follows Jim Carrey becoming the obsessive cable guy to Matthew Broderick.
Critics truly hated this movie with some memorable critical insults that included TimeOut calling the movie an “honorable failure” and TV Guide wrote that it would test the “devotion” of Jim Carrey’s fans. At the time, the movie was seen as derailing Carrey’s career, but Carrey was also maturing as a comedic actor.
He was going from the zany, physical comedy of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask to a far more sinister comic role. The message of the movie at the time appeared to be about the negative impact of television, but over time the story of an obsessive and lonely person seeking friendship is what rings the most true.