Starring: Mike Myers, Nancy Travis, Anthony LaPaglia, Amanda Plummer, Brenda Fricker
Director: Thomas Schlamme
Producers: Robert N. Fried and Cary Woods
Screenplay: Robbie Fox
Music: Bruce Broughton
Released by TriStar Pictures
Charlie MacKenzie (Mike Myers) hasn't had the best luck with women, although the problem has more with him than his dates. He can't commit, so, whenever a relationship starts to get serious, Charlie finds an excuse to dump his latest girlfriend. Hey, if she smells like beef vegetable soup, that's a good enough reason. This time, however, Charlie is really smitten. There's only one problem -- an increasing amount of evidence points to Harriet (Nancy Travis) as being the mysterious Mrs. X, a woman who is suspected of having married, then killed, three men.
P.D. James need not worry. The creative team behind this film is not poised to steal away her title of the "Queen of Crime". Mysteries are supposed to be complex, intriguing, and beguiling, with the audience unsure of the truth until the very end. That's defnitely not the case in So I Married an Axe Murderer, one of the most lame comedy whodunnits ever to make it to the screen.
Any movie can rise above flaws if it's funny enough. Humor is often the best paint to hide the cracks in the story. John Cleese's A Fish Called Wanda is an excellent example. Unfortunately, So I Married an Axe Murderer isn't. Not only is the humor banal, it's only fitfully amusing. For every joke that works, there are half a dozen that fall flat. Apparently, Mike Myers thinks he's a lot funnier than he actually is. The whole Scottish shtick with Charlie's father (also played by Myers) wears thin quickly, but the actor keeps ramming it down our throats.
There are three nice cameos. The best belongs to Alan Arkin, who plays a mild-mannered police chief trying to act tough to please one of his detectives. Arkin is only in a few scenes, so the gag doesn't get overused. Also good is Charles Grodin as a car driver who refuses to let his vehicle be commandeered. Finally, although not quite as good as the other two, but still worth a mention, is Phil Hartman's Alcatraz security guard. Excepting perhaps Leslie Nielsen, few actors do deadpan better than Hartman.
There's nothing in So I Married an Axe Murderer to recommend the film, even to die hard Saturday Night Live and Wayne's World fans. This uninspired, completely forgettable mystery satire is bursting with the brand of juvenile humor that only a select few seem to find funny. When it comes to guys named "Mike Myers", it's debatable who's less watchable: the ex-SNL actor or the mass murderer who keeps surfacing in the seemingly-endless series of Halloween films.
© 1993, 1996 James Berardinelli