Movie Description
Charlie Mackenzie (Mike Myers) is a love-shy "poet" living in San Francisco, who frequents neighborhood coffee houses reciting his tortured odes to unrequited love. Burned by a string of failed relationships, Mackenzie's fear of commitment has intensified into outrageous extremes of paranoia. When he finds himself falling for the sweet-faced butcher (Nancy Travis) at his local meat shop, he sees it as a final chance for love to overcome his painful cynicism. Feeling he has squelched his nagging fears, Mackenzie marries the woman. But his anxiety quickly manifests itself in the conviction that his betrothed is actually an infamous axe murderer whose antics are described in juicy detail in each week's issue of the Weekly World News. Myers also plays his own father, Stuart Mackenzie, a football-loving, Rod Stewart-singing Scotsman who repeatedly refers to Charlie's over-cranial younger brother William as "Head."
| Credits | | Cast: | Debi Mazar, Stephen Wright |
Notes
Shot in Technicolor and Panavision.
Producer Robert N. Fried and writer Robbie Fox originally conceived the idea for the film in 1987, while meeting to discuss possible stories for future movie projects. Fried said of the discussions, "We were talking about problems we'd experienced with women and concurred that most women appeared to be out to destroy us!"
Star Mike Myers and writer Neil Mullarkey reportedly rewrote much of Fox's script on the set during the shooting of the film. Despite these major revisions, the Writer's Guild awarded solo screenwriting credit to Robbie Fox. Myers acknowledges telephoning Fox after the Guild's ruling to ask, "Do you think this is fair?"
Alan Arkin's cameo is uncredited.
Rated BBFC 12 by the British Board of Film Classification.
Editorial Reviews
"...A welcome surprise....Includes a funny assortment of cameo performers..."
New York Times - p.C3 - Janet Maslin (07/30/1993)
"...It's a delightful and unexpected surprise....The comedy is a hip slice of life about the dilemma of martial commitment with just a pinch of Hitchcock providing the cutting edge..."
Variety - Leonard Klady (08/02/1993)
"...Myers proves that his success in WAYNE'S WORLD was not a fluke. He is very capable and funny here..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (07/30/1993)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
All rights reserved.
