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March 28, 2024, 11:12:23 PM

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Fletch

Started by Famous Mortimer, August 10, 2022, 09:32:53 PM

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Famous Mortimer

I notice that Jon Hamm is set to star in "Confess, Fletch", due out later this year.

I read a bit about the series - like, the bloke who wrote the books negotiated a clause where he had final casting rights over the character, and turned down Burt Reynolds and Mick Jagger before agreeing to Chevy Chase. The two Fletch movies are fine, but I can't imagine wanting to watch either of them again, but clearly a few powerful people in Hollywood are big enough fans of the books and movies to have kept it in development hell for 20 years.

Kevin Smith got close enough to making "Fletch Won" in the early 2000s for it to have an IMDB page, but that never went ahead, and plenty of other directors and writers were attached at one point or another. But it looks like "Confess, Fletch" is good to go, directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad, Adventureland, Dave).

Perhaps the books weren't much of a thing in the UK. Or maybe everyone involved is lying when they said they liked them (very possible). But, as I like Jon Hamm and am glad he's getting a comedy starring role, I hope this is good.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth


Bad Ambassador

I like them a lot, but I've never read the books. A fan page on Instagram posted a mute version of a trailer months ago, which has not cropped up anywhere else, which is weird.

cacciaguida

I like the first film a lot, and can see why it has generated a cult following.

Chase brings some real fun to the role and hits all the right notes comedically.

Interestingly, I read the book afterwards and it's a very different beast.

OK, a somewhat different beast.

The novel is played much straighter, and while Fletch is still a master of disguise and dissimulation, he's not the wisecracking funster of the films.

I think that probably helped, though, as it's presumably easier to take a well-paced and tightly scripted crime Neo-noir and then punch it up (rather than create, from scratch, a comedy with genuinely interesting narrative)

Either way, I love the first film and the book is quite good.

Not sure why it needs to be remade.


phantom_power

Quote from: cacciaguida on August 10, 2022, 11:55:52 PMNot sure why it needs to be remade.

I don't think it is a remake. More an adaptation of a different Fletch book

I watched the Chase films recently. The first one is pretty great and one of Chevy's less obnoxious performances, though he is still a smug twat. The second one is a misfire, moving him to a country estate with some shit fish-out-of-water jokes, a bit like Funny Farm

I think Hamm would make a good Fletch. He has the charm, and also the goofiness, to pull it off


Shaky

The second Chase film is godawful, but I remember being highly amused by a couple of his disguises.

niat

As long as the new one has the Harold Faltermeyer theme of the original, I'm in.


Brundle-Fly

"Moooooon River" still cracks me up.

Replies From View

Always preferred the Ronnie Barker original meself

Dex Sawash


Saw first 2 when new, only recall they were odd

Butchers Blind


famethrowa

If this new Fletch isn't assuming a bewildering variety of disguises, then I'm out

C_Larence

Well that looks like shit to me

samadriel

I don't remember the originals (apart from this scene, for some reason:
), but that was disappointing.

phantom_power

This is getting great early word reviews from TIFF. Apparently Hamm is excellent and plays Fletch much closer to the original books

Small Man Big Horse

Not that they're reliable anymore but the only review I've seen is from The AV Club, which is mildly positive but also slightly disappointed overall.

beanheadmcginty

Quote from: Butchers Blind on August 26, 2022, 01:07:34 AMTrailer



That cop really reminds me of Senator Clay Davis. I was waiting for him to say "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit"

phantom_power

Quote from: Small Man Big Horse on September 15, 2022, 12:15:01 PMNot that they're reliable anymore but the only review I've seen is from The AV Club, which is mildly positive but also slightly disappointed overall.

I have seen it now and as expected the AV Club review is bollocks. Their main criticism is the lack of stakes but that is actually one of the best bits of the film that generates a lot of the humour. I really enjoyed it. A very 70s film in feel, not unlike The Long Goodbye in some ways. Hamm is excellent, as are the two police officers he interacts with. The mystery sort of bubbles away rather than twisting and turning but I don't see that as a problem

13 schoolyards

I kind of wonder if this kind of film might be too slight - or too "low stakes" - for an audience that expects world-shattering conflict in much of what they see at the movies.

If so, their loss: this was a lot of fun. Best work from Hamm since Mad Men.

phantom_power

It didn't get a cinema release, which you would think would lower expectations. And Knives Out was a big hit

monkfromhavana

Quote from: Shaky on August 11, 2022, 10:42:05 AMThe second Chase film is godawful, but I remember being highly amused by a couple of his disguises.

Fletch Lives is great, and probably better than the original. The scenes with R. Lee Ermey are great.