cable guy

right at the height of his popularity, jim carrey made this strange gem.  before this one he was known for straight comedies, light hearted silly stuff like ace ventura, dumb and dumber, and the mask.  with this film he took his humor to a very dark place.  directed by ben stiller, this movie was not a hit, carrey's first miss as a lead actor.  i always took issue with that though, i saw this one in the theater and have loved it ever since.  yes, its a lot darker than his previous stuff, but now we know this is more in line with who he is as a person that those other films.
this one follows a man as he reluctantly befriends the cable guy who hooks him up with free pay channels.  their friendship becomes something much darker as carrey begins to stalk him and make his life hell.  the unexpectedly dark twists and turns in this one are interesting and take this comedy from your standard fluff and turn it into a commentary on our tv obsessed culture.  my one problem with the film is that they didn't completely commit to it and pull back at the end by giving it a happy ending instead of the dark conclusion that the film truly leads up to.