The much-maligned 1996 black comedy The Cable Guy was viewed by critics as the first misfire in Jim Carrey’s career, after a series of mega hits including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, Batman Forever, and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls. Carrey was paid a then-record salary of $20 million to star as the eponymous Cable Guy, a deranged cable repairman who becomes obsessed with one of his customers, Steven M. Kovacs (Matthew Broderick), and begins systematically ruining his life. The film performed below expectations, earning just $60 million in the U.S. and …