That previous incarnation of Fletch, a freelance, countercultural journalist with a penchant for getting into trouble was famously played by Chevy Chase, who created a great character that ran parallel to the literary Fletch but eroded too many rough edges and made him way too goofy, with elaborate disguises and the sort of silliness you'd expect from a hungry young comedian trying to make a post-SNL name for himself.
This new movie adapts the second Fletch novel and is also perfectly happy to make any number of changes - the book's police antagonist had to be excised for rights reasons, for example, because he got his own spinoff series. But while he still has his rough edges sanded down a bit, this new Fletch is much closer to the low-key, overconfident, professional meddler depicted in the books. Even if he's no longer kind of a scumbag.
Now played by John Hamm - who is, if we're going to pick at nits, at least two decades too old to play the part faithfully, and way too charismatic - the goofiness is dialled down, leaving most of the humor in this noir comedy to smartass quips, ill-judged decisions, and character interactions. It's the sort of film that's too slight to leave a deep impression, but it's expertly carried by everyone involved.
Now played by John Hamm - who is, if we're going to pick at nits, at least two decades too old to play the part faithfully, and way too charismatic - the goofiness is dialled down, leaving most of the humor in this noir comedy to smartass quips, ill-judged decisions, and character interactions. It's the sort of film that's too slight to leave a deep impression, but it's expertly carried by everyone involved.
The Fletch here is maybe a little bit better treated by people at large than in the books, and has gained a measure of respect in the art world. Enough that he's hired by a rich family to track down a number of stolen paintings. Complications quickly ensue: As soon as he gets to Boston to follow up on some clues, he finds a dead woman's body in the living room of his rented house.
Now a prime suspect in a murder investigation, not that he's too worried about that, he goes off to investigate the best way he knows: by going around stirring shit, seeing what comes out.
Director Greg Mottola mostly keeps out of the way - any stylistic flourishes are over and done with after the credits, leaving the actors and the mystery to do most of the heavy lifting here. Despite having all of Boston and a chunk of Rome to play around in, this is not a movie with any real visual flair.
The characters fare a lot better: most go a little too broad at times, but since the only real comedy here is character-based, that's understandable. The funniest, arguably, are the two police officers assigned to Fletch's case (Roy Wood Jr. And Ayden Mayeri), who had to be invented whole-cloth for the movie; but they perfectly portray the antagonistic relationship that Fletch had with any and all authority figures in the books.
Because the mystery isn't all that great (it's reasonably involving but doesn't end up making all that much sense) it's all about those characters. Besides the police inspector and his assistant, you get Marcia Gay Harden as a very funny European countess, John Slattery as a newspaper owner who can barely stand Fletch, Lorenza Izzo as the rich heiress/girlfriend, Kyle McLachlan as an art dealer who's into EDM... Most of them get at least a few solid jokes in. Even incidental characters get some colorful personality traits. And while the story isn't very compelling, it's well told and things keep happening at a decent pace.
It's damned to be considered as 'pleasant', and to be honest, it's laid back and languid enough that I can't really say that's an unfair assessment. But dammit, some of the dialog and situations here are so funny and true to the books I really wish we'd get another opportunity to see Hamm and Mottola get another go at the character.
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