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So I Married an Axe Murderer Blu-ray Review |
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So I Married an Axe Murderer Blu-ray
Sony Pictures | 1993 | 93 mins | Rated PG-13 | Jun 17, 2008
So I Married an Axe Murderer Blu-ray ReviewWill this movie butcher your collection?Reviewed by Martin Liebman, July 1, 2008 I'm smitten. I'm in deep smit. There are fates worse in life than marrying an axe murderer. You could marry a bad cook, Lorena Bobbitt, a Cleveland Browns fan, a reality show addict, or someone still holding out hope for an HD DVD comeback. There are also worse fates than watching So I Married An Axe Murderer on Blu-ray, like suffering through other "comedies" like Meet the Spartans, License To Wed, and Daddy Day Camp. Mike Myer's 1993 hit comedy, fortunately, isn't quite as intolerable as these comedic duds, but it comes close. I'm just not a fan of Mike Myer's brand of comedy, and while there are a few somewhat funny moments in the movie, nothing stood out as side-splitting funny, especially in regards to the film's primary characters.
Mike Myers (Shrek the Third) plays Charlie Mackenzie, a man who is afraid of marriage and commitment. On the prowl for another short-term relationship, Charlie meets a local butcher named Harriet (Nancy Travis, Three Men and a Little Lady) with whom he becomes "smitten." Charlie begins to suspect that Harriet may be quite a bit more than a simple butcher; through a story in the tabloids his mother takes as gospel, Charlie begins to piece together clues that lead him to believe that his girlfriend may very well be a famed killer who marries and murders her husbands on the same day. Armed only with his gut instinct, some tell-tale signs in Harriet's apartment and elsewhere, and his friend and police officer Tony (Anthony LaPaglia, Happy Feet), Charlie must choose between love and the possibility of sleeping not with Harriet, but with the fishes! So I Married an Axe Murderer offers audiences an A-list concept with B-movie execution. Mike Myers delivers mostly unfunny lines and participates in sight gags that are more likely to leave your jaw agape in bewilderment rather than your side split open in laughter. I'm generally not a fan of montages, but the first of two as seen in So I Married an Axe Murderer is one of the finest and funniest I've seen. The butcher shop montage in chapter four features nonstop laughs and sight gags that are as likely to gross you as as they are to make you laugh. Later in the movie, we get another montage, this one your more standard-fare variety, played to "There She Goes" (again!) that seems to be the running theme through the movie. Admittedly, Myers plays the best character in the movie, just not Charlie. He also portrays Charlie's father, the Scottish-proud father, Stuart, who provides plenty of comedy to every scene he is in, and livens up the film by a country mile. Phil Hartman (Small Soldiers) is the other standout performer in a brief appearance as a former prsion guard and now tour guide at Alcatraz. The always pleasant Charles Grodin (Taking Care of Business) appears for a brief cameo at the end of the film as well. Unfortunately, these characters and scenes cannot save a movie that offers a nice twist ending, and ending that might have left me yelling "wow!" had I been more engaged in the story for the first 80 minutes of the film. Instead, the ending elicited only a "ho-hum" reaction; I was more pleased that the movie was coming to an end than I was to see the film's surprise ending. Video  So I Married an Axe Murderer hacks Blu-ray with a fairly bland 1080p, 1.85:1 transfer. Saawariya this is not, but for a 15-year old comedy, the results are acceptable. Despite a few niceties, this transfer is mostly uninteresting but seems fairly accurate to the source material. Flesh tones appear to be on the pinkish side of the scale, and black levels, while generally decent, sometimes exhibit a bit of crushing. Detail is moderately strong. One of the strengths of So I Married an Axe Murderer is its set design. Both the exterior cityscapes of San Francisco and the various interior locales all feature quite a bit to look at. Although much of the image is flat, these exterior shots around the city are impressive, featuring solid depth and clarity. Among the fabulous set pieces, the butcher shop and the Mackenzie house are fun to examine under 1080p scrutiny. There are many odds and ends to distract you from the movie, but these interiors are a joy to discover. Some scenes are noticeably soft, and not just in the background. Characters who appear center-frame and up front sometimes have both a soft edge and a halo around them, notably as they contrast with black backgrounds. Colors are never overly rich, save for the end of the movie. Harriet's red dress stands out well, and we can only wonder if the color signifies what may be to come the first time we see it on her. The rest of the hotel's nooks, crannies, and rooms, particularly the restaurant, are fairly colorful and interesting to look at as well. Finally, a fine layer of film grain adds a pleasing early 1990s cinematic feel to the picture. This high definition image from Sony won't leave too many viewers in awe of its quality, but fans should be pleased enough with this video offering. Audio  So I Married an Axe Murderer isn't a painful listen that will leave you longing to slice off your ears, but like the image, it's a mostly vanilla listen. Presented in a lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sound mix, the film is mostly front-heavy with a few discrete sounds, many of which sound unnatural and forced. The movie revolves around the song "There She Goes," as heard here performed by The Boo Radleys. I've only ever heard the song as performed by Sixpence None the Richer. This version is good, but I came to tire of the song by the end of the movie seeing as its played several times throughout. Neither this song, nor the film's music in general, offer an authoritative presence, but they all get the job done. Some of the discrete sounds across the front soundstage (and some in the rear) sound phony and out of place, almost like the sound engineers desperately wanted something to happen in a speaker other than the center channel, and there is sometimes an unsettling artificial sound oddly placed here and there that fits the scene, but doesn't fit the atmosphere. The film's opening sequence in the comedy club offers a bit of ambience in both the front and rear channels, but it is reproduced a bit too low in volume to feel natural. The dialogue is fine, and is probably the finest aspect of this listen. The thunderstorm at the end of the movie features some solid imaging. It's certainly not the best-sounding thunderstorm I've heard on Blu-ray, but considering the lackluster sound that accompanied the rest of the movie, it was a nice pick-me-up for the ears. This soundtrack suits this film just fine, but don't expect to be bowled over and blown away. Supplements  Despite the words "Special Edition" prominently displayed on the cover art for So I Married an Axe Murderer, there isn't anything on the disc save for an option to view Sony's standard BD-Live (profile 2.0) page and a 1080p trailer for Men in Black. Final words So I Married an Axe Murderer is a surprisingly unfunny comedy that never really gets off the ground. Once again, here is a movie with a fine concept that is marred by mediocre execution and unfunny jokes and gags. I'm not sure what happened with this disc, but like the infamous HD DVD Jack Ryan Collection, this one has been billed a special edition on the packaging, but there are no special features to be found on the disc. This was my first viewing of So I Married an Axe Murderer, so I don't know how much of an improvement this disc is over previous editions. Knowing Sony, I'm guessing this one is a cut-above the standard definition release, but I cannot wholeheartedly recommend this package that contains an unfunny movie, mediocre video and audio quality, and is falsely labeled as a special edition. It's worth a rental if you're curious, but is otherwise one to avoid save for the film's most die-hard fans. 
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