San Francisco jazz performance poet Charlie MacKenzie (Myers) has a problem with commitment. Whenever he finds himself getting too involved with a woman he invents something unpleasant about her former girlfriends include a kleptomaniac and a Mafia member which gives him the excuse to end the relationship and write a poem about it.
So when he meets eminently eligible butcher Harriet (Travis), warm, intelligent, attractive and a dab hand with a cleaver, it's not long before his imagination starts to run riot, especially as a series of dark coincidences seem to place her at the scene of three particularly nasty husband murders. Despite his misgivings, Charlie introduces her to his eccentric Scots family gruff, McEwan's Export-swigging father Stuart (Myers again, sporting old age make-up and a spot-on Scottish accent), Bay City Rollers fan mother May (Fricker) and an unfortunate kid brother with an oversized bonce known simply as Heed. Travis comes through the experience unscathed and soon the pair are well on the way to a "till death us do part" situation.
Myers falls into the love-him-loathe-him category of comic actors, but there's no denying his talent whether wooing Travis with his wit or spouting wickedly accurate Scots epithets and, minus his Wayne's World rug and inane grin, makes a credible, though offbeat, romantic lead. Travis is a poised foil to his comic hyperactivity and the is-she-isn't-she tension is eked out right up to the nail-bitingly chop-happy ending. It may not be very sophisticated, but it's a delightfully quirky romantic comedy with an agreeably sharp edge.