Dating is hard, which you can forget if you’re already in a relationship. Two unknown strangers with their little worlds come clashing together, their hopes, dreams, and secrets are going to have to cohabit to ensure bliss, if all goes well, the rewards can be worth it. In 1993, after Wayne’s World redefined the world, Mike Myers showed us what romantic life is like when your partner has a deadly hobby in So I Married an Axe Murderer. 

Charlie is a Poet, who has a complicated time with his love life, suffice it to say his reasons for ending relationships rival Seinfeld’s. When buying dinner, he meets Harriet, a butcher, and it looks like that Charlie has found his ideal match. The only trouble is she might be an Axe Murderer, who assumes fake identities, and dispatches people with such frequency, the tabloid boogeywoman Mrs. X. How can Charlie live with his new wife, when his own life might be in great peril?

Alongside its love story, which is just as lovely as Harriet appears on the surface. Axe Murderer has a lot of fun ideas. Such as Stuart, offering viewers both an early appearance of Sherk’s iconic accent and Myers’s love of getting into a costumed character. We also get the debut of The Pentaverate, a shadowy cabal of five people who secretly control the world, at least according to Stuart. They will factor into their own, much later down the line, but here they are just a delightful throwaway line. You can see Axe Murderer as a Commonplace book for some of Mike Myers’s earlier ideas, but this is one of Myers’s earliest films, like a comedian demoing their work in a smaller venue.

With the action taking place in San Francisco, the film manages to get a lot out of its location, from the town’s hazy streets and avenues to a trip to Alcatraz. It feels like a love letter to the city at times, or at least the vibes that emanate from it. The film contains some comedy legends, from Michael Richard to Phil Hartman, but the focus is mainly on Myers. The film at times feels like the creative debut of the successful S.N.L star, even though the zeitgeist dominating Wayne’s World films were already released at that point. Here, practically on his own, solely in front of the camera, Myers’s ideas shine.

The wacky world that Axe Murderer creates an unusual backdrop for a romcom, yet Mike Myers delivers in a film that is equal parts off-beat and charming, almost exactly what you want from a romcom. It feels like a comedian’s take on love, with a touch more sincerity than you were expecting. It shows the potential of Mike Myers, no doubt about that, even away from Dana Carvey, the comedy fires can still burn, just before the shagadelic explosion of Austin Powers. Love takes on many forms, and if you can survive the encounter, not even death could separate you.

If you want more positive reviews delivered to the e-mail box of your choice, you can click on that little text bubble at the bottom of the screen. Do you agree or disagree? or have a suggestion for another pop-culture artefact that needs a positive light shone on it? Leave a comment in the comment box below! But remember to keep it positive!