On My Shelf: So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
After watching all those Wayne's World movies, I thought I should probably watch the copy of So I Married an Axe Murderer that I bought last Halloween.
Not that there were going to be a lot of surprises for me: I've seen this movie a billion times, but not one of those billion has been in the last fifteen years. So I guess I was due for a viewing.
Plot: Mike Myers is a... guy... who enjoys beat poetry and is deathly afraid of commitment (apparently because of the bad example his parents set). He always comes up with feeble excuses not to get involved with the ladies. But then he meets a very lovely lady butcher and begins to consider the notion that she might be "the one" -- until clues are dropped that she might be an axe-murderer.
If you like the 1990's, and Mike Myers, you'll probably enjoy this film, because there's plenty of both in it. This movie also features all the things that Mike Myers likes best: Scottish accents and showing his butt to people.
It's a thing.I can't confirm that an enthusiastic appearance of Mike Myers' posterior happens in every Mike Myers movie (because I haven't seen either The Love Guru or The Cat in the Hat) but I think there is at least a moderate level of butt exposure in every Mike Myers film I've seen. Mike Myers, if you're out there reading this -- could you confirm or deny this pattern?
STORY: Overall, despite involving axe-murder, the plot is light and harmless, and the film is substantially less obnoxious than you would think. In its time, I thought it was a fairly average movie with a few good jokes -- and, now, I think it stands out because it's an original story. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it's just nice to watch something that isn't a re-boot or pre-boot or fe-boot (you take a successful film franchise and re-cast it with the basically the same story but women in the lead roles) -- or a "soft reboot" or an outright ripoff. It's not any of those things. It's its own story (a mystery/romantic comedy -- a genre-mix which really saw its heyday in the 1940's and is more or less ignored today) with its own unique plot, its own unique beats and its own unique characters. And it deserves some credit for that.
I mean, how many rom-coms can you think of where the lead male
makes the lead female fall in love with him by doing comedy bits
with raw meat?VERY MINOR POINTS: This is a petty, niggly question, but I must ask it: Do they ever say what Mike Myers' character's profession is in this movie? Surely he doesn't make a living doing beat poetry on open-mic night at coffeehouses? I kept waiting for them to clarify at some point that he's a writer and the beat-poetry thing is just a hobby... but they never really do. They simply never show him working.
Speaking of niggly points, I find it very odd that this movie features not one, but three "jokes" about a person getting hit in the crotch in very quick succession. (Mike Myers gets hit in the crotch. Then he gets hit in the crotch. Then someone else gets hit in the crotch). I guess he was obeying the "rule of 3"... but, I mean, getting hit in the crotch isn't really a "joke" joke of the type you would repeat. I'm having trouble explaining what I mean, because when I try to put it in words, it sounds like I'm saying it's too low-brow a chuckle to repeat three times.... That isn't quite what I mean, because (if I was really worried about how low-brow something was) would I watch half the movies that I do watch? But I guess it's as close as I can come. Something just feels off about putting those three crotch injuries right next to each other.
I don't know why this happens in this movie. Apparently
Mike Myers just thought ThighMasters were funny.
(And, of course, it was another opportunity not to wear pants.)Final niggly point: I'm a little unclear about why Mike Myers' character is so deathly afraid of commitment. I guess it's implied that his parents' relationship has turned him off the idea -- but, in spite of being weirdos, his parents are basically treated as harmless eccentrics who essentially love each other... So... why the intense "terror" of commitment? (I guess the answer is, "because he has to be scared of it to advance the plot.")
OVERALL: The plot is fine and the performances are fine; special nods to Phil Hartman as "Scary Alcatraz Guard" and Michael Richards as "Offended Newspaper Man". Mike Myers in dual roles as Mike Myers and Scottish Mike Myers are... pretty typical Mike Myers.
Let me put it this way. The deciding factor on whether or not you will like this movie is if you like other Mike Myers movies. If you like Austin Powers and Wayne's World, I can tell you to watch this movie in good conscience for a harmless story with some pleasant laughs. If you don't like those films... Well, I don't know why you would consider watching this, the most Mike Myers-ie of all Mike Myers movies, but it's still pretty harmless. My main complaint about this movie? It's just... not... really... quite as funny as I remembered it being. Not BAD, not UNFUNNY, just... kind of average. But it does make a nice break from endless reboots.
RECOMMENDED... WITH (mild) RESERVATIONS
Not that there were going to be a lot of surprises for me: I've seen this movie a billion times, but not one of those billion has been in the last fifteen years. So I guess I was due for a viewing.
Plot: Mike Myers is a... guy... who enjoys beat poetry and is deathly afraid of commitment (apparently because of the bad example his parents set). He always comes up with feeble excuses not to get involved with the ladies. But then he meets a very lovely lady butcher and begins to consider the notion that she might be "the one" -- until clues are dropped that she might be an axe-murderer.
If you like the 1990's, and Mike Myers, you'll probably enjoy this film, because there's plenty of both in it. This movie also features all the things that Mike Myers likes best: Scottish accents and showing his butt to people.
It's a thing.I can't confirm that an enthusiastic appearance of Mike Myers' posterior happens in every Mike Myers movie (because I haven't seen either The Love Guru or The Cat in the Hat) but I think there is at least a moderate level of butt exposure in every Mike Myers film I've seen. Mike Myers, if you're out there reading this -- could you confirm or deny this pattern?
STORY: Overall, despite involving axe-murder, the plot is light and harmless, and the film is substantially less obnoxious than you would think. In its time, I thought it was a fairly average movie with a few good jokes -- and, now, I think it stands out because it's an original story. It's nothing ground-breaking, but it's just nice to watch something that isn't a re-boot or pre-boot or fe-boot (you take a successful film franchise and re-cast it with the basically the same story but women in the lead roles) -- or a "soft reboot" or an outright ripoff. It's not any of those things. It's its own story (a mystery/romantic comedy -- a genre-mix which really saw its heyday in the 1940's and is more or less ignored today) with its own unique plot, its own unique beats and its own unique characters. And it deserves some credit for that.
I mean, how many rom-coms can you think of where the lead malemakes the lead female fall in love with him by doing comedy bits
with raw meat?VERY MINOR POINTS: This is a petty, niggly question, but I must ask it: Do they ever say what Mike Myers' character's profession is in this movie? Surely he doesn't make a living doing beat poetry on open-mic night at coffeehouses? I kept waiting for them to clarify at some point that he's a writer and the beat-poetry thing is just a hobby... but they never really do. They simply never show him working.
Speaking of niggly points, I find it very odd that this movie features not one, but three "jokes" about a person getting hit in the crotch in very quick succession. (Mike Myers gets hit in the crotch. Then he gets hit in the crotch. Then someone else gets hit in the crotch). I guess he was obeying the "rule of 3"... but, I mean, getting hit in the crotch isn't really a "joke" joke of the type you would repeat. I'm having trouble explaining what I mean, because when I try to put it in words, it sounds like I'm saying it's too low-brow a chuckle to repeat three times.... That isn't quite what I mean, because (if I was really worried about how low-brow something was) would I watch half the movies that I do watch? But I guess it's as close as I can come. Something just feels off about putting those three crotch injuries right next to each other.
I don't know why this happens in this movie. ApparentlyMike Myers just thought ThighMasters were funny.
(And, of course, it was another opportunity not to wear pants.)Final niggly point: I'm a little unclear about why Mike Myers' character is so deathly afraid of commitment. I guess it's implied that his parents' relationship has turned him off the idea -- but, in spite of being weirdos, his parents are basically treated as harmless eccentrics who essentially love each other... So... why the intense "terror" of commitment? (I guess the answer is, "because he has to be scared of it to advance the plot.")
OVERALL: The plot is fine and the performances are fine; special nods to Phil Hartman as "Scary Alcatraz Guard" and Michael Richards as "Offended Newspaper Man". Mike Myers in dual roles as Mike Myers and Scottish Mike Myers are... pretty typical Mike Myers.
Let me put it this way. The deciding factor on whether or not you will like this movie is if you like other Mike Myers movies. If you like Austin Powers and Wayne's World, I can tell you to watch this movie in good conscience for a harmless story with some pleasant laughs. If you don't like those films... Well, I don't know why you would consider watching this, the most Mike Myers-ie of all Mike Myers movies, but it's still pretty harmless. My main complaint about this movie? It's just... not... really... quite as funny as I remembered it being. Not BAD, not UNFUNNY, just... kind of average. But it does make a nice break from endless reboots.
RECOMMENDED... WITH (mild) RESERVATIONS
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