Thirty Years Ago, So I Married an Axe Murderer Foretold Mike Myers’ Cinematic Oeuvre

https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/mike-myers/so-i-married-an-axe-murderer-foretold-mike-myers-career

If your brain jukebox just conjured a jazzy accompaniment to that poem, then you’re an honorary member of the Roads Appreciation Club, a.k.a. those who still hold a warm place in their hearts for the ridiculous Mike Myers rom-com So I Married an Axe Murderer. Three decades ago, it opened in theaters on July 30 and promptly became a box office flop. It wasn’t until home video and cable airings that the movie found its tribe of goofballs who can hurl, “There’s a piper down!” or “Hellooooooo” at each other and instantly understand.

Looking back at So I Married an Axe Murderer today, it stands out for being directed by frequent Aaron Sorkin collaborator Thomas Schlamme; for its a killer cappuccino oner; for its an earworm soundtrack anchored by The La’s “There She Goes;” and for its random rogues gallery of comedian cameos, from a prescient Michael Richards bit to Steven Wright as a narcoleptic pilot. But what really pops about the movie now is that it plays like a workshop for Mike Myers’ ideas to come.

For context, Axe Murderer was Myers’ follow-up to the massive hit Wayne’s World, which was based on his Saturday Night Live sketch. That film put Myers’ cache on the rise, which put more pressure on Axe Murderer to keep up the momentum. The screenplay wasn’t a Myers original, and evolved over time into the wacky story of San Francisco poet and commitment-phobe Charlie MacKenzie who is fearful that his fiancée Harriet Michaels (Nancy Travis) is actually a serial killer known as Mrs. X. By all accounts, there was a lot of tinkering and tension on the set during its making. Myers punched up the shooting script with his buddy Neil Mullarkey, and improved it heavily during the production. The final film has got his voice all over it, including the seeds of his future bits and characters to come.