Now; from what you may know of me and my loves, one might assume that Confess Fletch may automatically become my favourite film of the year if it was in any way good at all. Well, that would be a fair assumption. Not only am I a devoted lover of the original Chevy Chase Fletch outing, but I am also a fan of Gregory Macdonald’s original drier and less slapstick books, and then when it comes to the team working on this film, I am a huge fan of Greg Mottola and his work directing two of the great comedies of the 00’s with Adventureland and Superbad, but of course with Jon Hamm as our lead, my Mad Men obsession spurs up once more… Take this even further with John Slattery appearing as Frank Jaffe for a Don and Roger reunion, via way of Fletch and Frank – Well, as aforementioned, if this movie was anything close to fine then it would be a sure-fire hit with me. Well, yes, it sure was. In fact Confess Fletch in many ways has been the movie I have been asking for all year.
Greg Mottola, directing and writing (with Zev Borow also credited on the screenplay), has brought the wise-cracking, witty, dry, sometimes stupid, frequently clever, ex-investigative reporter I.M Fletcher to the screen once more and has brought with him a solid level of quality. This is in many ways a more together and sleeker affair than the first film, but of course this is going for something entirely different. Mottola has crafted a tale here that allows for the mystery to be at the forefront of the film rather than Fletch himself. Now that is not to say that Fletch is anyway a side character here to the plot, nor that Hamm is not allowed to utilise his comedic sensibilities that have wowed us prior. No, it is instead to say that this film does indeed allow for the mystery to be a real intriguing one, a real arching plot with many different twists and possible suspects, rather than a simple vehicle for its lead to crack wise. Now lord knows that I do still prefer my original Fletch, but this film was so refreshing in its absolute sincerity. There is no winking, no meta-ness, no fourth-wall breaking, none of that tired and grating crap, instead a film whose script is funny by using real jokes and real wit and having a variety of great comedic performances and multiple great sequences. Set ups and pay offs, varying forms of comedy ranging from mild slap-stick, to one-liners, to running gags. A real nice balance that makes this film if not a film filled with belly laughs, still one filled with an awful lot of chuckling. Leading all this of course is Hamm as the titular Fletch and Hamm really does do a great job here, he’s almost the natural continuer of the Chase schtick of boundless charisma whilst also being a little stupid, however also managing to make the role his own. It’s a great turn and is a little more subdued than Chase, which leads to the other chief difference that makes this film a success in a different way.
There is a
chief difference between this and the original film that for me is one of Confess’s
strongest suits. The original film has Fletch as a central character with
Chase being hilarious and always changing, whilst everybody else around him
looks on, smirks, falls for him or ignores him. Here the opposite is true. The
wild characters are not personas of Fletch but instead characters that populate
the film for Fletch to come up against, and this leads to the film having a
real joyous ensemble quality to it that the first film just doesn’t have at
all. Now having Hamm and Slattery appear together again in a somewhat familiar
relationship is intentionally playing on what we love about these two together,
whilst also managing to make a somewhat fresh and different dynamic too.
Slattery is great here and has a great vulgarity to him that’s effective as
much as it’s humorous. Kyle Machlachan appears as an EDM loving art connoisseur
with hygiene issues. Yes. Indeed. And
he's of course just as funny in performance as the character is in creation.
Annie Mumolo probably appears in the funniest sequence in the film and is just
the right side of ‘funny randomness’ that usually turns me off comedically.
Lorenza Izzo is sublime as Fletch’s love interest and effectively client in
this film, a wonderful balance of sexual and romantic chemistry, whilst still
having many very funny argumentative moments. However… let us all bow down to
Marcia Gay Harden, once again. This absolutely hilarious performance as an
Italian countess is the stuff comedic masterclasses are made out of, so
wonderfully funny, so incredibly over the top whilst also indelibly subtle and
realistic. It’s brilliant, hilarious stuff and she doesn’t once say a line that
didn’t make me laugh. As a matter of fact the laugh rate on every joke in the
film was incredibly high, with very few misses. This really is a very funny
film, while still being a very solid mystery outing.
A funny and sincere 8/10 that is a wonderful balance of whatever Fletch you prefer, whether it be the dryer and slightly more serious original novels, or the beloved Chase of the first film. Mottola has managed here to make a great mystery story filled with great performances and the best use of Hamm since Draper. It could be seen as light and somewhat dispensable fun, but that’s to overlook the quality of Mottola’s direction and handling of this film, which all so clearly works towards the goal of making a slick and tight 1hr 40 dark comedy that honestly I could watch at least four more of. And despite the character of Fletch indeed being a huge winker, the film never winks once. It’s sincere and very well judged fun – a boring way of saying the film is great and exactly what it says on it’s tin.
P.S. Final killer reveal was a little rushed for my liking and somewhat felt out of pace with the rest of the film, and was somewhat predictable, however with a clinical eye and not a fan one, much the same can be said for my beloved original Fletch.
- -Thomas Rosen-Penis
0 Comments