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The Cable Guy (Jim Carrey) enjoys the power and freedom that his profession provides him.  He gets to meet new people and hook up only the chosen few with the coveted free premium channels.  When Steven Kovacs (Matthew Broderick) calls to get his new house set up with cable service Stevens friend Rick (Jack Black) convinces him to test the waters and see if he can get the free movie channels.  As is standard in the cable industry the Cable Guy shows up hours late to get Steven's pad connected.

Within minutes of meeting the Cable Guy we quickly come to the conclusion that he is not all there as he feels the walls of Steven's apartment looking for the sweet spot.  After he completely rearranges Steven's apartment for better reception the Cable Guy agrees to hook him up with free premium channels and a friendship is born.  He invites Steven to check out the satellite dish with him the following day and the uncomfortable relationship begins.

As the two get deeper into their friendship Steven learns more about the Cable Guy, who goes by Chip Douglas, and his social inadequacies.   Steven's first clue that Chip is a little off balance is discovered when Chip knows far too much about Steven's ex-girlfriend Robin (Leslie Mann).  Chip sees a friendship opportunity with Steven if he can help get the two of them back together so he tries his best to provide his services.

Chip is introduced to Steven's friends in the outrageous basketball scene where Chip joins their pickup game.  The group is not quite sure how to take Chip with his tight shorts, tank-top and mouth guard as Chip takes the game far too serious.  Chip brings the game to a screeching halt when he jumps off of Rick's back for a power slam and breaks the backboard.

Unfortunately for the film it ends up taking a dark spin as Chip becomes obsessed with getting revenge against Steven and his evil side really shows.  Elements of Steven's life begin changing for the worse and he soon suspects that Chip is responsible.   Steven realizes that these events cant be a coincidence and when he discovers that Chip is to blame he discovers more about the Cable Guy than he wanted to know.  Chip ended up being a delusional con-man who was so messed up from childhood that he couldnt cope with real life.

The Cable Guy is not one of the best Jim Carrey movies of his career.  Although he played the character of Chip Douglass brilliantly the writing and storyline of the film were a bit more than comedy fans were ready for.  The Cable Guy has some brilliant comedy scenes but fails to put together a great storyline behind them.