Confess, Fletch (15)

Freelance journalist Fletch arrives in Boston from Rome at the behest of his recent bedfellow Angela de Grassi. Her father has been kidnapped by three thugs with guns and the ransom is the family's stolen Picasso painting worth around 20 million dollars, which is reportedly in the possession of germophobic art dealer Ronald Horan. Unfortunately, Fletch's base of operations in Boston, a rented townhouse, contains a murdered woman and he is the prime suspect for her demise.

LondonNet Film Review

Confess, Fletch (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Over 30 years have passed since Chevy Chase memorably portrayed Irwin Fletcher, lead character in Gregory Mcdonald’s award-winning mystery novels, in the rip-snorting comedy Fletch and its sequel Fletch Lives. The franchise is indeed alive and well thanks to Jon Hamm, who elegantly slips into the loafers of the eponymous investigative reporter in a fizzing crime caper adapted from the second book in the series by director Greg Mottola and Zev Borow. Opening with the dapper Mad Men star zooming around Rome on a cherry red Vespa, Confess, Fletch doesn’t cram as many gags into 95 minutes as its slapstick-heavy predecessors but Mottola’s picture lands the zinging one-liners and a central whodunnit has plentiful twists to keep audiences sleuthing until the satisfying reveal…

An appealing goofy Hamm exercises his comic chops with panache but frequently cedes the spotlight to co-stars, including Kyle MacLachlan gyrating manically to the metronomic beat of electronic dance music and Annie Mumolo preparing an unsanitary chicken dinner as her pet pooch Mignon urinates on the kitchen floor. Dialogue is peppered with bon mots (an embittered ex-wife describes her divorce as “a harmonious disuniting”) and Mottola maintains a brisk, breezy pace that doesn’t pause long enough to seriously scrutinise the plot or Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden’s outlandish cod-European accent.

Freelance journalist Fletch (Hamm) arrives in Boston from Rome at the behest of his recent bedfellow Angela de Grassi (Lorenza Izzo). Her father has been kidnapped by three thugs with guns and the ransom is the family’s stolen Picasso painting worth around 20 million dollars, which is reportedly in the possession of germophobic art dealer Ronald Horan (MacLachlan). Unfortunately, Fletch’s base of operations in Boston, a rented townhouse belonging to Owen Tasserly (John Behlmann), contains a murdered woman. Prime suspect Fletch assures investigating officers Sergeant Monroe (Roy Wood Jr) and rookie detective Griz (Ayden Mayeri) he is above suspicion – “Writing for in-flight magazines is as unsavoury as it gets” – but they tail him as Fletch gathers evidence to unmask the killer.

Haphazard enquiries lead to Owen’s ex-wife Tatiana (Lucy Punch), pothead neighbour Eve (Mumolo) and Fletch’s foul-mouthed former boss, Frank Jaffe (John Slattery), who is now editor of the Boston Sentinel. “If you did murder that girl, do the right thing… and give me the exclusive,” growls Frank. Meanwhile, Fletch turns on the roguish charm to curry favour with Angela’s half-Brazilian half-Italian half-French stepmother, the Countess (Harden).

Confess, Fletch is a gently effervescent tonic that skips between the murder and ransom plots with the same carefree attitude as its leading man. Hamm exudes an old-fashioned playfulness reminiscent of Cary Grant that is difficult to resist and the script gifts him a full arsenal of bone-dry wisecracks. I freely confess, I thoroughly enjoyed Mottola’s film.

– Sarah Lee