Fletch cardboard Gregory MacDonald’s series of comedy detectives about investigative journalist Irvin Fletcher is not the first time becoming the literary basis for the film adaptation. In 1985 came the film 'Fletch' Michael Ritchie, in which the title role was played by Chevy Chase. He immediately fell in love with the public, and over the years received the status of a kind of classic of the genre. Over the next thirty years, there was a lot of talk about sequels, rebuts, the names of actors capable of trying on a cult role, various directors were considered (at some point, it was seriously discussed that Kevin Simt would do the picture), but something substantive matter never came to light. And after all this time, Fletch's return did happen.
The tandem of John Hamm and Greg Mottola, who worked on the project, looks very promising on paper. The first has repeatedly proved its worth in the comic genre (SNL, ' Studio 30', ' Curb Your Enthusiasm'), the second after 'Superperpertsev', ' Park of Culture and Recreation' and 'Paul: Secret material & #39; seemed the optimal candidate for a triumphant restart. Moreover, the presence of as many as 9 novels provides the option of creating a mini-franchise in the event of the success of the first film. But something went wrong.
New Fletch is already a former investigative journalist (in his words, the profession has sunk into oblivion in the age of digitalization, along with, for example, the post of president), who undertakes to uncover the theft of famous canvases from a certain count. Soon the count is kidnapped, but instead of ransom, the criminals need one of the stolen paintings. At the request of his daughter Angela, he goes to Boston, where he traces the masterpiece. Here on the first day in the cottage she rented, he finds the corpse of an unknown girl. Now Fletch must not only find the painting to save the count, but also clear his name.
The investigation in the stories of Irvine Fletcher acts primarily as a frame, the basis for comedy. Humor is primal, but it resonates much more strongly if a slight plot tension persists throughout the narrative, tying it together. New 'Fletch' is a mechanical set of scenes, not always consistently strung together. The two intrigues are slowly revealed, not intertwined, taking turns coming to the fore and trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to grab the attention of the bored viewer. The action is so clearly stalled that by the hour of viewing you can forget, because of what the main character was in Boston. This disunity affects the comedic component of the picture, turning it at best into a weak episode of SNL - a sequence of surface gags connected only by the figure of John Hamm.
Greg Mottola and co-writer Zach Borow never caught the tempo of the source material. Most jokes and comic situations are tense and superficial. The ease with which Mottola worked on organic material for himself is completely absent. And no matter how hard Hamm tries to play back, this does not save the situation. The very gallery of images (the Count’s wife, constantly reproaching the hero for imaginary seduction, a cocky gossip neighbor, ignoring a burning plate, a germophobe professor, etc.) that Fletch encounters is so straightforward in its hypertrophy that subtle mockery of millennials, pseudo-intellectual snobs or post-pandemic suspicion are impossible. Each line of the script falls exclusively in the eyebrow.
These problems are crowned by the image of the main character. Fletch is represented by an extremely charming and sneaky person. He has a light heart for the world, and the world reciprocates him. In some episodes, this, however, can cause a slight smile. But throughout the distance of the picture it looks ridiculous, Fletch turns into a monosyllabic cardboard figure, which does not overlap, but only emphasizes narrative roughness and impermanence. For any inaccuracy, one answer is given:'. It's just Fletch'.
'Confess Fletch' is an Amazon product that isn’t designed for big screens, and that irons out its flaws. But even if you turn on the film after a hard day at work, you still run the risk of getting bogged down by a half as much as Hamm and Mottola. Only in this new 'Fletch' and can confess.