Confess, Fletch (2022 movie)

Cafe Society
1

There was this earlier thread for fans of the books, so I’ll state my biases for this thread. I like the first movie a lot, but not so much the second movie which is too over the top silly. I read the first book and, frankly, I think they made a wise decision to go in a different direction for the movie. Book Fletch is a pretty unlikable character and while, you know, there’s nothing wrong with some gritty writing, I just don’t think it would have made an entertaining movie at all. I have not read the book Confess, Fletch, but have it on order now to compare. All that said, on to the current movie and…

This was kind of just… eh. More of a successor to the previous movies than the books, I think, but it’s more like the second movie than the first and that’s not a good thing. Jon Hamm nails the Chevy-like Fletch about 50% of the time, but the rest of the time is more like Mister Magoo than either Chevy Fletch or book Fletch. Which I put more on the writing than Jon Hamm.

What I liked about the Fletch character in the previous movies and books was that it was almost always the Fletch show with Fletch being the, well, maybe not smartest, but something-est guy in the room, even if those around him don’t know it. In the movie, there were a lot of scenes where supporting characters out-Fletched Fletch and, while they were often funny, they just seemed to diminish the Fletch character.

And probably worst of all (to me)… Fletch doesn’t even solve anything! He does a lot of “investigating”, which sort of bumbles him into more characters/suspects and more plot points, but in the end he gets most everything wrong about the mystery, just happens to be in the right place for the criminal (well, lots of them are criminals, but the main one) to reveal themselves, and then is completely helpless but saved by other, more competent people. I mean, why make a mystery movie where the investigator character doesn’t actually figure the mystery out?

Despite all that, I didn’t hate it or anything, but I had hoped for a lot more. Hopefully Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League doesn’t disappoint (someday).

2

It was OK. I wish it had been funnier, but while it had a funny script, it was edited and directed in a very boring way.

3

Fletch is an asshole, for sure, if certainly a “character”. (I have only read the original novel and seen the first movie.) Just chiming in to say that I have recently read the “Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League” novelization and it gets a thumbs-up.

4

It can’t be any more disappointing than the book, which came out in 2021. I apologize to the Dopers that may have bought the book when I started a thread about it. Quite possibly the worst book I ever attempted to read. I gave up after the first 50 pages, which were basically one long fart joke. I can’t believe the same guy wrote both.

5

I’ve read every word Gregory McDonald published multiple times and I hate hate HATED the very idea of Chevy Chase playing Fletch for laughs. It’s bullshit. Besides, Fletch is a blond. And smarter than everyone but quiet about it. He figures shit out, takes his lumps, files his stories and is on his way. When he gets money he’s classy about it. He’s a Cool Character. Chevy Chase is…not.

6

Aw. I really liked that book! I was not disappointed. It is definitely written in a unique style. In the beginning he goes on about Hanoi Xan, but I did not take it as a fart joke.