So I Married an Axe Murderer

source: So I Married an Axe Murderer

The title is kind of emblematic of the entire film. "So I Married An Axe Murderer." We can visualize the minimal shrug that goes with it. It's a statement that befouls any logic. If you marry an axe murderer, you should be anything but casual and resigned. But the title suggests a lot of funny events and assumptions without being in itself funny. It has an A cast. Mike Myers is a young man in San Francisco, an admirer of the Beat poets, who's always found reasons not to marry any of the girls he dates. Myers plays his own father too, with an outrageous Scottish accent which he uses as an instrument of vituperation. One of his sons has a head of hair so voluminous that it turns his head into "a virtual planetoid. It has its own weather system!" Myers meets Nancy Travis, a local butcher, and they wind up married. She acts kooky at times, while he comes across more and more hints that she is the notorious axe murderer who has disposed of four husbands by the usual means used by notorious axe murderers. It all leads to a perilous chase across the roof tops of their remote honeymoon motel, which looks like a haunted old mansion. The writer, Robbie Fox, gets off a lot of cracks about Hollywood conventions, some good, some routine. In some ways, the most impressive of these (and it may have been unwitting) is when Nancy Travis has just taken a bath in the mysterious hotel and wants to check her face in the fogged-up mirror over the sink. So she clears a spot. And do you know who we see standing behind Travis in the reflection? Absolutely nobody. Travis is oddly beautiful, with a wide face, broad smile, eyebrows that would have to look up the word "curve" in the dictionary, and a sassy figure that, alas, we see too little of. Gee, she looks good. Any normal man would have been proud to be seen standing behind her in that mirror. There are amusing moments, including Charles Grodin as an uncooperative motorist and Phil Hartman as a self-important Park Service employee. The problem is that the laughs are scattered throughout a screenplay that doesn't itself promote amusing situations and the laughter that should follow. (For an example of a truly well-integrated comedy plot with embedded comic moments, I offer "Some Like It Hot.") Myers is kicked in the family jewels and makes a twisted face. A good five-second laugh, but then what? Nothing much. He has to have the same part of his anatomy assaulted again a minute later. Another five-seconds, and we're back to a frenzied pursuit. It's not a bad movie, not insulting in any way, and Myers and the other players are quite good, but it would have been nice had more effort been put into blending the jokes into the narrative instead of making them stand-alone gags, like Myers' reading poetry to a jazz group

I still don't know what's really to say about this movie. It starts off trying to be interesting, but doesn't do a great job. I though it was nothing, and still watched. The story is mainly about Charlie Mackenzie, who's looking for the right woman, but he's relationships always goes wrong be course, Charlie don't trust any of his girlfriends. When he meets Harriet he decides, he will trust her, but again he stars thinking a lot. This times he's new girlfriend, knows things and do things that makes her look likes a murderer. Now Charlie needs to find out if it's his imagination (again?) or is it true. I have to say this is a great plot, but I still found myself looking at other things, and didn't really pay much attention to the movie, and at some point I felt disappointed in the movie. But when we're at the end and see what it all really was about, I was happy again, and happy that I saw the ending. The ending ROCKED, but it's not enough to make a whole movie good, unfortunately. Do like Mikes Myers...? If you do, then you'll get entertained others should find another movie, to watch.

Charlie Mackenzie (Myers) is a San Francisco coffee house poet whose poems are about all of his failed relationships with women and he's scared of commitment. Things change when Charlie meets Harriet Michaels (Travis) a local butcher who isn't just beautiful but has a heart of gold, their relationship is going great until he suspects Harriet of being Mrs. X a woman who kills her husbands on their wedding night. His friend Tony (Lapaglia) thinks he's just being paranoid but the story reaches a climax when the real murderer is revealed and tries to kill Charlie. The cast includes Brenda Fricker, Amanda Plummer, Alan Arkin and a cameo appearance by Charles Grodin. So I Married An Axe Murderer is one of the funniest yet scary romantic comedies of 1993. Mike Myers also plays the role of Stuart Mackenzie Charlie's father. 8/10 Stars

I hate to be the turd in the punchbowl here, a role to which I am accustomed, but just what is it with all the enthusiasm for this lame flick? I just don't find Mike Myers funny at all. I don't know whether it's his comic persona (or lack of same) or the heavy-as-lead "comic" writing. Whatever (then again I can't figure out why people think Leslie Nielsen is such a hoot, either). Myers is lame enough in the role of Charlie, but his portrayal of his dad, Stuart, is head-scratchingly incomprehensible. I didn't find Anthony Lapaglia as the cop very funny either, and his lines also seemed lame. And I'll never figure out why the great Alan Arkin signed on to this dog; he must have needed the work at the time. This is supposed to be some sort of "cult classic." Go figure.

For a first (and I know it's not his absolute first but close to it) this movie was fantastic. The more I watched, the funnier it got and the best are the small nuances. After following his work and being a fan of his other films I appreciate the humour he's written into this movie even more. If there's any doubt that this is a masterpiece, bring up the scene where he visits his parents in any crowd and watch the quotables start flying. When asked what my favorite movie of all time is (a supremely tough question for a movie buff) this one always pops out first. It's cute, smart, hilarious, and no body gets hurt! Watch it! Love it!

Probably one of Mike Myers' finest films. The film is the story of Charlie MacKenzie, a commitment phobic who performs in a coffeehouse as a poet. Charlie is looking for the right girl of which he finds in Harriet, an attractive butcher whom Charlie falls head over heels for. The two begin to date but Charlie begins questioning his relationship when clues pointing to an serial killer show up and point directly to Harriet. Funny performances from Mike Myers pulling double duty as sarcastic Charlie and his Scottish dad Stuart MacKenzie, Brenda Fricker as Charlie's horny mother who's got the hots for Tony, Anthony LaPaglia as best friend Tony, and Nancy Travis as girlfriend Harriet. Look for a few surprise cameos from the likes of late great Phil Hartman, Michael Richards, Alan Arkin, Charles Grodin, Steven Wright, and Debi Mazar. Definitely a good rent on a Saturday night.

I'll be the first to admit that I loved Mike Myers on SNL and hated him ever since. So I am more favourably disposed to this movie than I have been the Austin Powers franchise. What makes this movie is Myers' rendition of the family patriarch. I still quote the scenes when he riffs on "Heed", which is purely hysterical. The rest of the movie, in comparison, drags and is notoriously unfunny. If you're prepared for a movie that is intermittently funny, then by all means, watch it. If you're looking for a movie with memorable parts, then by all means, watch it. If you hate Austin Powers with a passion, and can't remember why Mike Myers is famous to begin with, watch it. If you're looking for something that's laugh-out-loud funny beginning to end, take a walk past this one.

I have wanted to see this film for years.I always seemed to miss it.The story of Charlie and his love life are fun.The story is well laidout.The plot keeps you on your toes.The family is alot of fun to watch.Harriet is very well played by this actress.Further,the story is fresh and differant than most black comedies.The city by the bay is a nice setting for the movie. I give it 7 out of ten today.