You know, people just weren't ready for Jim Carrey to play a character that wasn't a zany, fun-loving good guy. Now that he's done movies like Truman Show, Eternal Sunshin Of The Spotless Mind, Me Myself, And Irene, et al., we get it. He can be funny, he can be strange, or he can be dark. If Cable Guy came out now, it would probably be more readily accepted (although I doubt it would be a blockbuster). But in 1996, people wanted him to be Ace Ventura in pretty much every movie.