Movie Review: 'Confess, Fletch' Breathes Fresh New Life Into Mystery Franchise
1/5
Fletch (Jon Hamm) is a case of "Confess, Fletch". Miramax Pictures
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Before Chevy Chase played Fletch in 1985, Fletch was a series of mystery novels by Gregory MacDonald. Confessions, Fletch, in theaters and video-on-demand Friday, is a modern adaptation of the second novel that gives new life to the rogue cop.
Irwin M. Fletcher (Jon Hamm) arrives at his rented house in Boston to find a dead body. Although the police are called, detectives Monroe (Roy Wood Jr.) and Grizz (Aiden Murray) treat him as a suspect.
Fletch is in town to investigate what happened to his Italian girlfriend Angela's (Lorenza Izzo) painting. So Fletch conducts a double-edged investigation while avoiding the detectives.
Hamm nails the role from the first scene. The absurd pull coincided with Fletch's lucky hat trick with the Lakers.
The film even cuts to Fletch's identity when Monroe stops to explain his nickname. Fletch's cooperation with the detectives also has a nice passive aggressiveness to them.
Zev Borrow and director Greg Mottola's screenplay nailed the cunning detective plot. Hamm removes Fletch from any level of contact with any suspicious persons or authorities.
Fletch asks questions and comments about interesting characters, but doesn't show his hand. This gives suspects enough rope to hang themselves, but affects their ultimate vision.
While Fletch is on the run from the detectives, he plays the lovable villain Bugs Bunny who can't be caught. Or perhaps a closer cinematic analogy would be Axel Foley.
The book was first published in 1976, ten years before the film adaptation. this year
One of Fletch's strengths is his ability to hide. He doesn't dress up as fancy as Chase in his movies, but he voices and under any alias he wants.
Admittedly, Fletch is rated R and has enough R language to make it worthwhile. Fletch doesn't want the F-bomb, but his editor Frank (John Slattery) and a few other suspects do.
Well, more cinematic mysteries should begin with Fletch Ham. Writing and acting are Fletch's biggest special effects, so he hopes to maintain a low-cost, high-reward franchise.
Fred Topple, who attended Ithaca College's film school, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001, and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012. Learn more about her career in entertainment.
