Mike Myers before he started repeating himself. Oh, those were the days.
Not a sharp story, but it still cuts
Charlie Mackenzie is afraid of relationships. He dreads them, tries not to over-commit to them and he pretty much avoids them. Why? He hasn't found that one, true-love yet, then Harriet shows up. Going to get haggis for his father, a bleeding scot with a hilarious sense of humor, he runs into a successful butcher (Harriet). Immediately falling for her, Harriet and Charlie begin to have a wonderful relationship together. Something doesn't add up though, Harriet's past. Knowing Russian, martial arts and various other odd things, Charlie begins to see Harriet's past unfold and it begins to look remarkably like a notorious axe murderer who is on the loose. Charlie panics and has to find a way out before he becomes the next victim.
So I Married an Axe Murderer is a funny movie. It hits on all the right angles. You can see Myers career in this movie unfolding. Playing the father role in the film, Stuart, you can see a mixture of Fat Bastard (Austin Powers) and Shrek. It's like a preview to what he was going to do. With that said, the movie was a more mature route taken after his stint with the Wayne's World franchise. He certainly seemed a lot more comfortable in the role and wanted to do maybe a bit more than asked of him. He made the movie good, though it certainly didn't do as well as people had hoped.
Myers aside, his supporting cast did well. Anthony LaPaglia's Tony Giardino (NYPD officer) and Alan Arkin's Police Chief were a wonderful addition to the film. Seeing them go back and forth trying to be a real-time police station (or something seen in films) was hilarious. Having Amanda Plummer playing Rose Michaels (Harriet's sister) was great, very wacky character that was uncomfortably likable, was a good move on the casting portion. The only person I didn't like, and people will kill me for this, is Nancy Travis as Harriet Michaels. Her character didn't seem attractive enough as a stand-out love interest, even for 1993. She seemed a bit stiff and uncomfortable around Myer's humor and physical comedy.
The story itself certainly lends enough humor and enough Myers to make it work. It's a typical story of love that goes wrong (sort of) in the most monstrous of ways. There's enough humor here to forgive Travis and enough comedy to push the story along. Strong characters and decent storytelling make this movie good enough to rent, at the very least.
Blu about this Blu-ray
The Blu-ray was beautifully transferred from its original format. It certainly isn't the cleanest HD I've seen on Blu-ray, but it is better than DVD quality. I think that Tri star spent some time and money on making this look good, for possibly a small audience. It looks good and sounds great, regardless.
No features, regretfully.
WO! Man......
While it's certainly not going to be in the classic Mike Myers collection when he's remembered, So I Married an Axe Murderer is still going to show his progression from SNL skit to serious actor. Wacky, fun and not too serious, the movie is good and even better on Blu-ray. Too bad there are no special features.
Regardless, if you haven't seen the film, this might be worth a rent.
