Seeking out the
5000 greatest films
in a century of cinema
Confess, Fletch
Directed by
Greg Mottola
Produced by Jon Hamm, Bill Block, and Connie Tavel
Screenplay by Greg Mottola and Zev Borow Based on the novel by Gregory McDonald
Produced by Jon Hamm, Bill Block, and Connie Tavel
Screenplay by Greg Mottola and Zev Borow Based on the novel by Gregory McDonald
With:
Jon Hamm, Roy Wood Jr., Lorenza Izzo, Marcia Gay Harden, Lucy Punch, Kyle MacLachlan, John Slattery, Ayden Mayeri, Anna Osceola, Robert Picardo, Annie Mumolo, Noel Ramos, and Eugene Mirman
Cinematography:
Sam Levy
Editing: Andy Keir
Music: David Arnold
Editing: Andy Keir
Music: David Arnold
Runtime:
98 min
Release Date: 16 September 2022
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Color: Color
Release Date: 16 September 2022
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Color: Color
Damn! It's been way too long since I laughed, chuckled, and smiled continuously through a movie whose only purpose is to entertain an audience over the age of twenty-five. Watching Confess, Fletch actually made me question if all the studios had just collectively decided years ago to stop making comedies altogether. So I checked my lists to find the last time I'd gone to a cinema to see a really good light and breezy comedy that wasn't infused with deeper layers of overt import or subtextual significance. I had to go back to 2013, when movies like The To Do List, This is the End, The Heat, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, and I'm So Excited were playing in cinemas—and of them, only The Heat really qualifies as the type of good silly fun movie for adults that I'm talking about. In the last decade-plus, there's not been a single solid smart/silly comedy worth a damn; so this third film adaptation of Gregory Mcdonald’s series of comedic mystery novels about a slick but scruffy, wisecracking yet not exactly wise investigative reporter named Irwin Maurice "Fletch" Fletcher is a welcome return to form.
The original Fletch movie was arguably Chevy Chase's best big screen role. Chase's attractive, goofy, self-centred and self-satisfied persona fit Mcdonald’s character as comfortably as the LA Lakers cap Fletch sports. But what was so effective about 1985’s Fletch—directed by the great Michael Ritchie with a screenplay by the really good Andrew Bergman (with a healthy, uncredited rewrite by Phil Alden Robinson)—was that the mystery plot was totally inconsequential and yet thoroughly engaging. This solid narrative structure came from Mcdonald’s novel, as dis as the protagonist's way of adopting alternate personalities to get what he needs at various moments. Chase and Richie took Fletch's propensity for disguising himself to a broader comedic level, making the movie less sardonic than the book but just as much fun. The lackluster sequel, Fletch Lives (1989) didn't use one of Mcdonald’s plots and suffered greatly for it.
After languishing for decades in development hell, this third Fletch carries on the flippant tradition begun with the first film while staying just as true to the source material. Jon Hamm, looking older and pudgier than we think of him but still devilishly handsome, confidently steps into the title role, embodying the cocksure but bubbling character's tendency to be a little bit ahead of everyone else yet nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is. Hamm has always had a gift for comedy, but most of the opportunities he's had to show it off haven't been worthy of his talents. Now that he's gotten the comedic showcase he deserves, I hope people seek it out—the release of this picture has been so subdued it feels as if Paramount is ashamed to be distributing a comedy about a middle-aged dude whose only superpower is his attitude.
The original Fletch movie was arguably Chevy Chase's best big screen role. Chase's attractive, goofy, self-centred and self-satisfied persona fit Mcdonald’s character as comfortably as the LA Lakers cap Fletch sports. But what was so effective about 1985’s Fletch—directed by the great Michael Ritchie with a screenplay by the really good Andrew Bergman (with a healthy, uncredited rewrite by Phil Alden Robinson)—was that the mystery plot was totally inconsequential and yet thoroughly engaging. This solid narrative structure came from Mcdonald’s novel, as dis as the protagonist's way of adopting alternate personalities to get what he needs at various moments. Chase and Richie took Fletch's propensity for disguising himself to a broader comedic level, making the movie less sardonic than the book but just as much fun. The lackluster sequel, Fletch Lives (1989) didn't use one of Mcdonald’s plots and suffered greatly for it.
After languishing for decades in development hell, this third Fletch carries on the flippant tradition begun with the first film while staying just as true to the source material. Jon Hamm, looking older and pudgier than we think of him but still devilishly handsome, confidently steps into the title role, embodying the cocksure but bubbling character's tendency to be a little bit ahead of everyone else yet nowhere near as smart as he thinks he is. Hamm has always had a gift for comedy, but most of the opportunities he's had to show it off haven't been worthy of his talents. Now that he's gotten the comedic showcase he deserves, I hope people seek it out—the release of this picture has been so subdued it feels as if Paramount is ashamed to be distributing a comedy about a middle-aged dude whose only superpower is his attitude.
Greg Mottola (The Daytrippers, Superbad, Adventureland) forgoes the sledgehammer that seems mandated for any director undertaking a feature comedy these days. He doesn't seem to care if audience members might miss a joke here and there, or maybe not understand a mildly obscure reference, because he knows there are plenty of gags, wisecracks, and funny situations to go around. The nominal story has Fletch visiting Boston in an attempt to locate a stolen art collection, only to become the prime suspect in a murder case. This is one of the few recent movies to shoot in Boston that actually uses the city well. There are some honest-to-goodness Massachusetts jokes that involve geography and local culture rather than just our funny accent. (In fact, there's not one exaggerated Baaaaston accent in the whole picture!) Mottola and co-screenwriter Zev Borow adapt the novel and character to contemporary times in understated but hilarious and insightful ways. Fletch isn't necessarily a character that plays well in today's political climate, but this film updates his persona without watering him down. In many ways, it's actually more fun watching this 50ish version of Fletch navigate a world that resents him a bit than it was watching Chase's fortysomething version effortlessly traverse the world of the mid-80s.
The supporting cast also delights, especially Kyle MacLachlan as a germaphobic art dealer, Roy Wood Jr. as a detective convinced that Fletch is guilty, and John Slattery as Fletch's former boss, Frank Jaffe. Jaffe is now somehow running the Boston Herald, which enables the filmmakers to make a number of pointed jokes about the state of print journalism, life during COVID, and other observations that feel contemporary yet won't seem woefully dated in two years. The only false bit of casting is comedian/writer Eugene Mirman who plays a socially awkward security guard who can't stop talking. It's the kind of exaggerated character that only exists when comics and improv actors are cast in small roles that they try to make bigger. I think Mirman's only function here is to take me out of the movie and make me think, "oh yeah, this is why I've hated nearly every comedy released in the past twenty years. Thanks for clarifying that, Eugene!"
The supporting cast also delights, especially Kyle MacLachlan as a germaphobic art dealer, Roy Wood Jr. as a detective convinced that Fletch is guilty, and John Slattery as Fletch's former boss, Frank Jaffe. Jaffe is now somehow running the Boston Herald, which enables the filmmakers to make a number of pointed jokes about the state of print journalism, life during COVID, and other observations that feel contemporary yet won't seem woefully dated in two years. The only false bit of casting is comedian/writer Eugene Mirman who plays a socially awkward security guard who can't stop talking. It's the kind of exaggerated character that only exists when comics and improv actors are cast in small roles that they try to make bigger. I think Mirman's only function here is to take me out of the movie and make me think, "oh yeah, this is why I've hated nearly every comedy released in the past twenty years. Thanks for clarifying that, Eugene!"
As with the original picture, the climax of Confess, Fletch is a tad anti-climactic. I guess that's par for the course when your plot is secondary to the antics of your protagonist. But still, this is a hell of a treat for those of us who have been longing for an entry in a criminally neglected genre that, once upon a time, was a staple of the American moviegoing experience. I'm glad I caught this during the ultra-brief theatrical window it was allowed before being relegated to the non-homepage graveyard of Paramount+. Let's not wait another 31 years before another sequel, and let's have more movies like this one, please!!!
Twitter Capsule:
A very welcome return, not just of Gregory Mcdonald’s roguishly charming protagonist, but to the lost genre of smart, silly studio comedies about characters over 35. Hamm finally gets a real showcase for his comedic chops.