Confess, Fletch

Don’t let the industrial tones of EDM and the fleeting mention of white privilege fool you: Confess, Fletch is an old-fashioned sort of crime romp – an uncynical, delectable slice of cinematic amusement whose slick, smooth surface is enough to see it through. Not only is it enough, but it seems, refreshingly, to be the point. Even the film’s poster seems to recall the frivolous romanticism of the 1950s.

It follows, therefore, that this hark back, whose disposability is attractively wrapped up as self-aware intentionality, comes in the form of a reboot of the classic Chevy Chase vehicle of the 1980s (itself derived from the Gregory Mcdonald Fletch series of novels) – that much revisited cinematic decade whose optimism decisively broke, for better or worse, with the gruff cynicism of the 1970s. In place of Chase, Jon Hamm fulfils the role of the titular journalist, who has swapped the dangerous, pulpy environs of criminal investigative journalism for the (apparently) safer field of art journalism that has brought him to Rome. There, he meets Angela De Grassi (Lorenza Izzo), daughter of an Italian billionaire who has recently had his lavish art collection stolen. When Fletch and Angela begin a romance, they are imparted with the news that Angela’s father has been kidnapped, the ransom identified as a $20 million Picasso that belongs to the purloined collection.

Angela books a townhouse in Boston in order for Fletch to follow a trail that leads to Ronald Horan, a germaphobic, EDM-loving art dealer, played by Kyle MacLachlan, who puts his characteristically chaotic energy to suitable use. Upon arrival at the townhouse, however, Fletch is greeted by the dead body of a young woman, Laurel Goodwin. Fletch immediately calls the police, but the act is not enough to stop him becoming the case’s prime suspect in the judgement of inspector Monroe (Roy Wood Jr) and junior detective Griz (Ayden Mayeri), whose scenes brim with an unlikely yet charming chemistry. 

What follows is a pleasantly inconsequential, low-stakes murder mystery that has more in common with Agatha Christie’s cosy brand of crime than its streetwise, hardboiled successor of which the world of Fletch is ultimately a spoof. Hamm’s performance preserves Fletch’s cheeky, wisecracking nonchalance, maintaining his refined comic timing while stamping his authority on the character. The actor never once falls into pastiche, leaving the door wide open for a franchise that unfolds with greater loyalty to the original Mcdonald novels, while maintaining the screwball sensibility of the Chase entries. 

None of this would work, however, without director Greg Mottola and Zev Borow’s sharp, succinct screenplay, serving the plot with precise due diligence while constructing the perfect platform for Jon Hamm’s dry comedic timing to win viewers over. Confess, Fletch is about as inoffensive, quaint and blissfully distracting as murder gets.

Matthew McMillan

Confess, Fletch is released nationwide on 18^th November 2022.

Watch the trailer for Confess, Fletch here: