Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jon Hamm, Lorenza Izzo, Marcia Gay Harden, Kyle MacLachlan, Roy Wood Jr.,
John Slattery
Novelist Gregory Mcdonald's signature character, the wise-cracking
investigative reporter I.M. Fletcher, aka "Fletch", was first brought to the
screen in a couple of 1980s movies starring Chevy Chase in the lead role.
Those films were an attempt to ape the success Eddie Murphy had found with
genre comedies like 48 Hrs and Beverly Hills Cop. What made Murphy's films work was how they adhered to the classic Bob
Hope formula of dropping a comic protagonist into an otherwise straight
genre piece. The comedy thus arises from Hope/Murphy being the only one who
knows they're in a comedy, while the rest of the characters play it
straight.
Director Greg Mottola's reboot of the series,
Confess, Fletch, flounders because every single character seems to be fully aware they're
in a comedy. Taking over the role from Chase, Jon Hamm is given a
role tailor made for his Cary Grant-esque combination of handsome looks and
comic goofiness, but with everyone else in the movie similarly cracking wise
and acting goofy, he struggles to shine.
This adventure sees Fletch fall for Angela (Lorenza Izzo), a young
Italian society girl who hires him to find her father and his art
collection, both of which have mysteriously vanished. After a brief trip to
Italy, the rest of the movie takes place in the less scenic surrounds of
Boston, where Fletch finds himself the prime suspect in a murder case when
he arrives to find the corpse of a young woman on the floor of the home
where he's temporarily staying.
Another key reason the likes of the Bob Hope and Eddie Murphy movies worked
was in creating genuine stakes for their protagonists. While their leading
men made wisecracks, they were in actual danger with various villains out to
get them. Fletch breezes through this mystery without ever coming up against
any real threats. His interactions with the police are particularly
difficult to swallow. From my brief dealings with American law enforcement,
I can tell you they're not known for their sense of humour. If anyone mocked
the police in the smartass manner of Fletch here, I don't think it would end
well for them.
While Hamm does his best, Mottola and co-writer Zev Borow struggle
to define the character. Treating the discovery of a young woman's corpse as
a joke doesn't exactly endear us to Fletch from the off, and Hamm's nice-guy
routine is always in conflict with the cold-hearted nature of the character
as written on the page. There are some witty retorts and one-liners, but too
many of them are of the Dad joke variety. Supporting characters occupy tired
stereotypes like the ditzy heiress, the horny older woman, the sloppy stoner
etc, with only Hamm's old Mad Men co-star
John Slattery given an interesting character. He plays Fletch's old
newspaper editor Frank, a grizzled throwback to the likes of Simon Oakland
in Kolchak. At best, Confess, Fletch plays like a serviceable pilot for
a TV show, and Slattery's Frank would make for a welcome recurring
character. As a standalone movie, there just isn't enough substance to this
endeavour.
Confess, Fletch is in UK/ROI cinemas
from November 18th.
