Confess, Fletch - Movie Review

Confess, Fletch is a comedy directed by Greg Mottola, starring Jon Hamm.

A comedic murder mystery sequel to the 1985 neo-noir movie starring Chevy Chase.

Premise

Fletch, Fletcher, Ian Maurice Fletcher, is a freelance journalist who tries to be cleared of suspicion of committing a murder, while he tries to track down an the thief of a Picasso.

Review

The suave Jon Hamm, playing the role as the suave art-loving freelance journalist – former investigative reporter – Fletch, Fletcher, full name Irwin Maurice Fletcher, is the highlight of this movie. He pulls off delivering absolutely absurd lines with a nonchalance few can get away with. Chevy Chase could in this same role back in the 80’s. Had the script been more overt and exaggerated in its humor, Leslie Nielsen would have been a perfect cast for the role. The combination of having a self-contented demeanor while shamelessly spewing out so matter-of-factly ridiculous comments and retorts is the humorous element of Hamm’s role.

It is the characters and the dialogue that make the movie work. Besides Hamm, Kyle Mclachlan is fantastic in his role as the art professor, gallery owner, who happens to really like EDM – electronic dance music – that was an unexpected appearance.

The story develops at a good pace, not so slowly as to make you fall asleep, and not too fast as to be dizzied by it. It is simply a comedy that parodies many and every type it drags into the story, and lightens the viewer’s mood in its deliberate lack of consequence. The storyline is just another murder mystery, but that murder barely serves as a peripheral detail to bring a variety of characters into the mill, from the grumpy “boomer” chief editor of the Boston Sentinel played by John Slattery, to Slo-Mo Monroe, the sleepy detective who takes long in solving cases, “but gets them solved”, well portrayed by Roy Wood.

With its funny dialogue, it does not shy away from satirizing everything, for example the half Brazilian/half Italian/half French; the world beautifying art connoisseurs turned curators who have the good fortune of having all their art pieces “bespoke”, as in it “beteaches us something about ourselves”, or Fletch’s fantastic Italian, which he is so convinced he speaks as suavely as he himself is.

Well, this farcical number is amusing in the classic way, funny, and of no greater transcendence. It’s perfect for a gloomy weekend. The Pink Panther – yeah, the 1963 comedy with Peter Sellers – in its style with the jazzy score it is a good option for those wanting a lighthearted murder mystery, with a silly but funny dialogue, and some slapstick here and there.