Fletch
★ ★★
Fletch has always been a blindspot for me. Even as a big Chevy Chase fan, I had never seen this cult comedy until now. After this viewing, I can see why it is so loved, but I'm also a little confounded by its legacy. Chase truly is perfect as this character. He exudes the confidence of this investigator who seemingly never thinks before he acts. It's what makes the character both relatable and hilarious at the same time.
I'm not quite sure what the fascination was with mixing action with comedy in the '80s, but the overall mechanics of the action scenes never quite worked for me. My attention started to wane during long moments of exposition, but thankfully Fletch's sarcasm and backhanded comments save the scenes. At times the movie seems extremely low budget and though I've never read the novels that this is based on, it seems like the filmmakers struggle with the balance of plot, comedy and action from the source material.
I can't say Fletch is a movie that will I come back to, but I enjoyed myself in the moment. And if anything, it's inspired me to see how Jon Hamm interprets the character in the recent release, Confess, Fletch. The character is completely memorable. The screenplay itself, not so much.
