Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

In today’s franchise-oriented Hollywood it its increasingly rare to find a film that depends almost solely on strengths and weaknesses of its lead actor. Decades ago, that wasn’t the case. One of such examples is Fletch, 1985 crime comedy directed by Michael Ritchie, known primarily as the most successful film in the career of its main star, popular comedian Chevy Chase.

Film is based on the eponymous novel by Gregory Mcdonald, first in the series about investigative reporter Irwin Maurice Fletcher a.k.a. Fletch. The plot begins on Los Angeles beach where Fletch (played by Chase), trying to pass as a junkie, tries to gather material about article about rampant drug dealing. He is approached wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyck (played by Tim Matheson) and given unusual offer – he is, in exchange for hefty sum of money and ticket for Rio, to kill Stanwyck. Businessman explains this with terminal illness and desire to spare himself from physical agony, as well with large insurance policy to be claimed by his loved ones in case of violent death. Fletch agrees, but only because he is intrigued by the story and starts to investigate. It soon becomes obvious that Stanwyck isn’t ill, that he and his family are involved in all kinds of dodgy real estate and financial deals. He also meets his attractive wife Gail (played by Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) with whom he falls in love. His investigation gets complicated when he is summoned by Jerry Karlin (played by Joe Don Baker), police chief who wants Fletch to stop writing article about drug dealing.

Chevy Chase told that Fletch was his favourite film because “it allowed him to be himself”. In many ways, the script and character look tailor-made for an actor who had built his career on dry humour and deadpan delivery. The film also benefited from the script that required for title character to take various disguises or improvise false identities, which allowed Chase to deliver broad range of his acting ability. Although Chase delivers impressive performance, he still can’t solve serious problem – script often isn’t funny enough. Director Ritchie, known for successful satires and comedy, solves this problem by employing couple of interesting action scenes and adding Fletch’s voice over narration that brings some sort of “noirish” atmosphere to the plot. Another problem with script is in weakness of villains that isn’t helped by cast – Matheson is too bland, while Joe Don Baker is slightly over-the-top and not entirely convincing. Even worse, two plot strands, unlike the original novel, are tied together in weak and predictable way. Even with those flaws, Fletch mostly works. Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, one of more underrated actresses in 1980s Hollywood, is very good and has effective chemistry with Chase. Harold Faltermeyer provides interesting musical score, very much like the one composed for Beverly Hills Cop. Fletch is entertaining enough and it could be recommended as solid entertainment even for the audience who aren’t Chase’s big fans. Its huge commercial success led to inevitable (and predictably inferior) 1989 sequel Fletch Lives, while its semi-cult status led to years of speculations about remake, which finally began production in 2021.

RATING: 5/10 (++)