The Cable Guy is a 1996 American satirical black comedy thriller film directed by Ben Stiller and written by Lou Holtz Jr.

It stars Jim Carrey as an eccentric cable installer who becomes overly intrusive in the life of a customer (Matthew Broderick); Leslie Mann, George Segal, Diane Baker and Jack Black appear in supporting roles.

When the cable installer, Ernie "Chip" Douglas, arrives, Steven acts on advice from his friend Rick and bribes him to get him free movie channels.

Chip proceeds to intrude more and more on Steven's life, alienating him from his friends, leaving multiple messages on his answering machine and installing an expensive home theater system as a gift.

To make amends, Chip tracks down Robin, who is dating another man who he beats up and tells to stay away, and upgrades her cable, ostensibly as a gift from Steven.

[7][8] The role of the Cable Guy was originally sold with Chris Farley attached to star, but he later dropped out due to scheduling difficulties.

Carrey, Apatow and Stiller liked the setup of "somebody who is really smart with technology invading somebody's life", and opted to add slapstick and darker tones, changing into a satire of thrillers such as Cape Fear, Unlawful Entry and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

[12] Holtz wrote four additional drafts, each one darker than the previous, before leaving the project and giving Apatow the opportunity to take over the writing.

In turn, Apatow declared that the studio did not specifically order removals, "but we took [the scenes] out as part of the natural evolution of our creative process".

The website's critical consensus states, "The Cable Guy's dark flashes of thought-provoking, subversive wit are often—but not always—enough to counter its frustratingly uneven storytelling approach.

[21] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on scale of A to F.[22] The Cable Guy has been regarded as having a darker tone than most of Carrey's previous work.

[24] Roger Ebert included The Cable Guy in his worst of the year list for 1996,[25] though colleague Gene Siskel disagreed, calling it "a very good film.

[26] Ebert found Carrey's "bizarre" and "creepy" performance undermined the entire story, and felt the movie was more of a dark comedy than was necessary.

In spite of its mixed reception, the film has achieved a cult following,[5][4] and has been credited for helping Carrey pursue more serious roles such as The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

It consists of previously unreleased songs, largely of alternative rock and heavy metal bands, and includes the first solo recording by Jerry Cantrell of Alice in Chains fame.

It also includes a song from $10,000 Gold Chain, a side project of Pearl Jam lead guitarist Mike McCready.

[37] While the album as a whole was not well received, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted that "Leave Me Alone" positively "rocks as hard as any Alice in Chains track".