SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER (director: Thomas Schlamme; screenwriters: Neil Mularkey/Mike Myers/from a story by Robbie Fox; cinematographer: Julio Macat; editor: Richard and Colleen Halsey; music: Bruce Boughton; cast: Mike Myers (Charlie Mackenzie and father Stuart), Nancy Travis (Harriet Michaels), Amanda Plummer (Rose Michaels), Brenda Fricker (May Mackenzie), Matt Doherty (Heed), Anthony La Paglia (Tony), Debi Mazar (Tony’s girlfriend), Phil Hartman (Alcatraz Guide), Alan Arkin (Police Captain), Steven Wright (pilot), Charles Grodin (Car commandeered), Michael Richards (Obit Writer) Runtime: 89; MPAA Rating: PG-13; producers: Cary Woods/Robert N. Fried; TriStar; 1993)
“Funny spoof on serial killers.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Thomas Schlamme(“Miss Firecracker”/”Mambo Mouth”/”Spalding Gray – Terrors of Pleasure“) helms this funny spoof on serial killers. But his direction is often clueless as to what direction he wants to take things, as he clumsily juggles the narrative from a romantic comedy to a serial killer tale. It never rises to anything more than a slight trifle, even if it reaches modest success. It’s lighthearted enjoyable, gets a fine star performance by Mike Myers and is deftly written by Robbie Fox.

Charlie Mackenzie (Mike Myers) is a San Francisco-based aspiring Beat poet and a swinging bachelor with hard luck in finding a mate, who can’t make a marital commitment because he suspects his lady friends are all criminals. His best friend is undercover cop Tony (Anthony La Paglia), who worries about his friend’s paranoia to women. Charlie’s traditional Scottish family are eccentrics. His mom (Brenda Fricker) reads the trashy tabloid World Weekly News to get her news, where Charlie will learn of the black widow axe murderer of three husbands across the country. Charlie’s loony dad, also played by Myers, shoots for off-the-wall wisecracks. Charlie meets the attractive Harriet (Nancy Travis) when buying haggis at a butcher shop, and falls in love. He also meets her bizarre sister Rose (Amanda Plummer). Suspicions are raised that Harriet might be the axe murderer of three men killed during their honeymoons. But Charlie marries her when Tony tells him the murderer confessed. Their honeymoon meal turns out to be a lark, featuring slapstick and old-time gags, but doesn’t have the eloquence to lift it to a higher level

REVIEWED ON 1/13/2016 GRADE: B

Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”

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