SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1993 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 4.1
Date Released: 7/30/93 Running Length: 1:33 Rated: PG-13 (Language, dead animal carcasses, brief nudity)
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 is more with him than his dates. He can't commit (the notion of marriage frightens him to death), so whenever a relationship starts to get serious, Charlie finds an excuse to dump her. 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 seems to point to Harriet (Nancy Travis) as being the mysterious Mrs. X, a woman who is suspected of having married, then killed, three men.
A good indication that this movie didn't work for me is that I never cared whether or not Nancy Travis' Harriet was an axe murderer. The characters--and it's not just her's--are so paper-thin that it doesn't make a difference who lives or dies, and who does the killing. There isn't enough life in these people even to consider them caricatures.
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. None of these things is true of SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER. In fact, the solution is so obviously telegraphed that it's possible to have the answer fifteen minutes into the movie. Of course, given the number of logical flaws in the resolution, it's a safe bet that you won't have gotten everything right. It's impossible to predict things that don't make sense.
So, having established that there's no reason to care for the characters and that the murder mystery plot is as feeble as they come, that leaves only the comedy to comment on. As I've said before, any movie can overcome flaws if it's funny enough. Laughter is the best paint to hide the cracks in the story. John Cleese's A FISH CALLED WANDA is an excellent example of this. Unfortunately, SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER is not.
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 Myers keeps pushing it long after it's ceased to elicit more than forced chuckles.
There are three nice cameos in the film. The best of these belongs to Alan Arkin, who plays a nice police chief trying to act tough to please one of his detectives. Arkin is only in a few scenes, so there's not enough time for the gag to 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 make this film worthwhile entertainment. It's about as unspectacular a production as there is, with the typical level of juvenile comedy that the writer, director, and actors think is funnier than those stuck in a theater watching the picture.
Sneak previews of SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER paired this movie with WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S 2. The thought of sitting through these films back-to-back makes me shudder. One at a time is bad enough, but both in four hours? Of the two, SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER is the better production. Not much better, but an improvement nonetheless. Faint praise indeed, considering the competition.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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