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That might have been the end of it except that Steve, being kind of a whiny creampuff, spills a little about his problems with Robin. Chip gives him some fairly solid advice - which works - and the next thing you know, Steve is a preferred cable customer AND back in the saddle with Robin again. Between the free HBO and complimentary sex-ed, you’d think this would skyrocket Chip straight to BFF status. But when Steve’s private life and Chip’s constant need for attention and validation come into conflict, strange things start to happen. When Steve fails to return Chip’s calls, his cable mysteriously goes out. A game of pickup basketball between Steve and his friends comes to an abrupt end when Chip shows up and pulls a Darryl Dawkins. Little by little, the cable guy starts appearing everywhere, becoming an uninvited fixture in Steve’s life. He makes friends with Steve’s friends, invites himself to family functions - all to Steve’s increasing bewilderment.

The Cable Guy is basically a stalker comedy, which is what makes it so simultaneously hilarious AND frustrating. At times, the story plays like a lighthearted fish-out-of-water comedy. Carrey is at his over-the-top best (or worst, depending on your level of appreciation) as someone who’s never really learned how to be a human being. And Broderick was put on this earth for many things, but one of them was to play exasperated yuppies. The movie makes much of the fact that Chip had inattentive parents who allowed him to be raised by the television. I guess that’s supposed to be a jab at the majority of the film’s demographic. But the movie never commits to the idea beyond a handful of obvious gags.

But let’s get back to that stalker-comedy thing. This movie’s namesake is a seriously maladaptive cable guy who becomes obsessed with a customer because they were (reluctantly) kind to him. If you make Broderick’s character Sarah instead of Steve, this is a whole different movie - and it’s the “creep” factor of being stalked by a dangerously deranged individual that gives the movie an edge - sometimes.

The scenes involving Steve’s family are played for laughs and for ick, and it really works. And then there’s the famous Medieval Times scene that you really have to be a Star Trek fan to truly appreciate. For that, and other reasons, it’s one of the most hilarious and moderately horrifying things you’ll ever see in a movie starring Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick.

But again, the film never commits. And it’s that damned inconsistent tone that makes people rip on this movie so much. It’s funny, it’s dark, and it really does work well in a lot of places. The Cable Guy starts out a conventional comedy, but never really settles on what kind of story it wants to be. It flails at this all the way to the end, but in between is a somewhat satisfying, mostly entertaining, well cast comedy. It never quite catches stride, but never entirely falls flat on its face, either. Maybe that’s tepid praise, but compared to the hate this movie usually gets, it’s almost like getting $20 million for three months’ work.

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