So I Married an Axe Murderer is a 1993 film starring Mike Myers and Nancy Travis. Rounding out the main cast are Anthony LaPaglia (Myers' best friend, who works as a San Francisco police officer), Brenda Fricker (playing Myers' character's mother Mae), and Myers himself in a dual role also as the main character's Scottish father, Stuart. Myers' portrayal of the Scottish father was derived from a Saturday Night Live sketch, and would later reemerge in the animated character Shrek.
| So I Married an Axe Murderer | |
|---|---|
| File:So I Married An Axe murderer DVD Cover.jpg DVD cover for So I Married An Axe Murderer | |
| Directed by | Thomas Schlamme |
| Written by | Robbie Fox |
| Produced by | Robert N. Fried Cary Woods |
| Starring | Mike Myers Nancy Travis Anthony LaPaglia Amanda Plummer Brenda Fricker |
| Cinematography | Julio Macat |
| Edited by | Colleen Halsey Richard Halsey |
| Music by | Bruce Broughton |
| Distributed by | TriStar Pictures |
Release date | July 30 1993 (United States) |
Running time | 93 min |
| Language | English |
This was Myers's first movie after achieving success in the Wayne's World franchise. It was not well-received at the box office, but managed to earn somewhat of a cult following on video, with many of its lines and strong Scottish dialects repeated by then-current as well as future fans of Myers' work.
Set in San Francisco, California, the film features many famous sights and neighborhoods of the Golden State metropolis, including the Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts and Alcatraz.
The movie also features cameos by Charles Grodin, Phil Hartman, Michael Richards, Debi Mazar, and Steven Wright. Alan Arkin appears in an uncredited role as Tony's sensitive boss.
Plot
Template:Spoiler Myers plays Charlie McKenzie, a beat poet with Scottish roots with a fear of making a big commitment like marriage. He even proceeds to create outlandish reasons to break up his relationships ("She smelled like soup," or "she was in the mafia" as some of the memorable reasons). This of course, gets a skeptical reaction out of his wisecracking best friend, Tony (Anthony LaPaglia), a San Francisco cop. This all changes when Charlie meets the wonderful Harriet (Travis), a butcher whose first date with Charlie has him assisting Harriet on a busy day at her store. This is important to Charlie, allowing him to temporarily work the same job as his Scottish father (also played by Myers). Eventually, Charlie continues to date and ultimately marries. However, upon learning from several sketchy, ambiguous sources (namely the tabloid rag, The Weekly World News) that Travis' character could indeed be a killer on the loose famous for butchering her husbands on the night of their honeymoon, Charlie wonders if he has made a grave mistake.
Soundtrack
- The La's - "There She Goes"
- The Bay City Rollers - "Saturday Night"
- Big Audio Dynamite II - "Rush"
- The Spin Doctors - "Two Princes"
- Suede - "Insatiable One"
- Chris Whitley - "Starve To Death"
- The Darling Buds - "Long Day In The Universe"
- Sun-60 - "Maybe Baby"
- Soul Asylum - "The Break"
- Ron Gonnelia - "A Touch of Gaelic"
- Toad the Wet Sprocket - "Brother"
- Ned's Atomic Dustbin - "Saturday Night"
Reaction
Roger Ebert in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times criticized the film for being "a mediocre movie with a good one trapped inside, wildly signaling to be set free." Rolling Stone magazine's review felt that "Juggling mirth, romance and murder requires a deft touch -- think of Hitchcock's Trouble With Harry. Axe is a blunt instrument." Hal Hinson in the Washington Post praised Myers with "the rare accomplishment of upstaging himself. Other than that, the film's most hilarious moments belong to Alan Arkin, who plays the infuriatingly understanding officer in command of the police station where Charlie's undercover cop friend, Tony (Anthony LaPaglia), works." Janet Maslin's review in the New York Times said that it came as "a welcome surprise that "So I Married an Axe Murderer," which might have been nothing more than a by-the-numbers star vehicle, surrounds Mr. Myers with amusing cameos and gives him a chance to do more than just coast."
So I Married an Axe Murderer holds a 50 percent "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.1 rating at the Internet Movie Database with 9,207 votes.
Box office
In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $3,466,930 in 1,349 theaters. As of December 7 2006, the film has grossed a total of $11,585,483 domestically.
Trivia
- Early releases of the poster had Harriet (Nancy Travis) holding an axe behind her back, mirroring Mike Myers holding flowers behind his back. For whatever reason, the axe was then removed, creating a noticeable amount of empty space behind Harriet on both posters and the DVD cover, thus ruining the gag.
- Mike Myers was not originally set to play his character's father. He simply read the part during early script-reads and rehearsals because an actor had not yet been cast, but the filmmakers enjoyed his interpretation, so they decided to have him play both parts (Which he would later do more frequently in the Austin Powers films). Myers based his performance on the mannerisms of his own father.
- The restaurant where Mike Myers and Nancy Travis double date with Anthony LaPaglia and Debi Mazar is the Fog City Diner.
- The butcher shop used for "Meats of the World" was Prudente Meats on Grant Street in the North Beach Section of San Francisco. Prior to being Prudente Meats, it was known as Jacobi Meats, the oldest Kosher butcher in San Francisco. Today, the building houses an art gallery.
- Sharon Stone was initially going to play Harriet.
- The maroon Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible driven by Mike Myers is the same vehicle driven by Robert Redford in Sneakers, parts of which were also filmed in San Francisco the previous year.
- The film's sets were actually constructed on warehouses in San Francisco.
- Part of the film was inspired by the experiences of producers Robert N. Fried, Cary Woods and writer Robbie Fox, who all talked about how they had trouble dating women.
- Myers had contributed extensively to the script but his name was omitted from the final credits because of WGA rules, Myers is reported to have asked Fox "Do you think this is fair?"
External links
