Cinematic Releases: Confess, Fletch (2022) - Reviewed

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

The first time the movies ever heard of the character Irwin Maurice Fletcher, based on Gregory Mcdonald’s 1974 comic murder-mystery novel that spawned several adjacent sequels and prequels of the bumbling former Marine turned investigative journalist, was in the form of a 1985 Chevy Chase starring comedy Fletch directed by Michael Ritchie.  Something of a neo-noir comedy, the film was an instant success and spawned a sequel in 1989 with Fletch Lives which saw further misadventures with the character while deviating from the original source material.  That was thirty-three years ago.

 
Decades later after languishing in development hell with more than a few big names attached to the on/off project, the first real attempt at rebooting the Fletch series and character with greater emphasis on being truer to the source material this time around, here is Superbad and Adventureland director Greg Mottola’s adaptation of Mcdonald’s 1976 novel Confess, Fletch starring none other than leading actor and co-producer Jon Hamm as the titular Fletch.  Given a limited theatrical run in select cinemas followed by a Paramount+ streaming debut and an upcoming Showtime premiere, this quiet but star-studded murder-mystery whodunit is a delightful romp and honest return to serious neo-noir with a funny edge.
 
Fletch (Jon Hamm) books a rental town house in Boston, leaving behind Italy and his Italian girlfriend Angela (Lorenzo Izzo), to recover her father’s stolen priceless works of art which are in the hands of a wealthy art dealer named Ronald Horan (an always stellar Kyle MacLachlan).  Upon arriving there, he finds a dead woman there and despite calling the police winds up becoming their prime suspect.  From here it becomes an unraveling twisty-turning murder mystery with Fletch’s delightfully bumbling but cocky personality giving viewers rib tickling amid the encroaching dangers and unexpected detours the saga takes.

 
An entertaining modern day neo-noir which moves the 1976 timeline to the present, the film is clearly a passion project made on a tight (for its scale) budget with both Jon Hamm and director Mottola sacrificing portions of their own salaries to keep the project afloat, Confess, Fletch is a welcome return to the modestly sized quasi-comedic detective thriller.  Think of it as Chinatown with a sneaky but foolish protagonist hastily navigating the wealthy art-dealing netherworld mastered by Ronald Horan.  Unlike the Chevy Chase Fletch entries which were more prone to old fashioned slapstick, this is a much more sly kind of humor that’s still amusing but remaining within the confines of the detective story.
 
Visually the film looks lovely, shot by longtime Noah Baumbach cinematographer Sam Levy best known for Frances Ha as well as Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, giving the proceedings a soft warmth.  The score by Casino Royale composer David Arnold is the stuff 1970s jazz-infused band scores set to crime capers are made of.  Right away, the tone and attitude of this “thriller” is relaxed if not a little offbeat, investing you in the story while neither you nor the titular protagonist takes the danger we’re in all that seriously.  For being a shoestring production largely intended for streaming consumption, Confess, Fletch looks and sounds rather nice.

 
The ensemble cast led by Jon Hamm is splendid with the great Kyle MacLachlan clearly having fun with the quasi-Bond villain role.  Another veteran name to show up in the piece is Marcia Gay Harden as the Countess who has more than a little bit of a cougar crush on Fletch, trying to bed him even.  Lorenza Izzo as the girlfriend is a great and fun sexy sidekick in this contemporary neo-noir of double-crossings, red herrings and sneaky detours that keep you and Fletch guessing until the very end.  While fans of the Chevy Chase iterations might be somewhat disappointed at the toned-down comedic aspects, this Jon Hamm film will delight fans of the novels finally getting a chance to show himself onscreen as originally written.  One of the year’s most clandestine cinematic delights that will hopefully spawn further adaptations of his misadventures in the years to come.

--Andrew Kotwicki