Fletch

It was awful. Not only was it awful, I was shocked at how awful it was. This movie is viewed favorably, right? One of Chevy Chase's "good" movies? Every inch of it pissed me off. And I'm a BIG fan of the Fletch Mystery Series. Which is probably why it pissed me off.

I kept trying to decide if Chevy Chase was miscast as Fletch or not, and while I guess he's not completely terrible, I DO believe the movie is MUCH worse than it should be because he was involved. The movie's idea that Fletch is some quick change artist and master of disguise is asinine. In the books Fletch goes by different aliases. But he doesn't dress up in make-up and costumes and do funny voices because none of the people he's lying to have ever met him, and will never see him again. He's simply a pathological liar. Because Chase was cast they turned Fletch into some shticky character I don't recognize. Also, the joke aliases he comes up with here suck so bad because he's simply using names of famous people or fictional characters. The characters buying it is only half the stupidity. Fletch doing that at all in pretty stupid in and of itself.

The first Fletch book is the best. It is also very problematic. Fletch has sex with an underage junkie and author Gregory McDonald plays that as an example of Fletch's irreverence and irrepressibility. He also says some shockingly misogynistic comments to a female coworker he hates. But all that being said, the mystery itself is pitch perfect, and the ending with Fletch running off with Stanwyck's cash, (and whose newfound fortune is a part of future books), while humiliating both his ex-wives, is a pitch-perfect ending. And the reason it's especially great is I believe all of the other Fletch and Flynn spin-off novels had very unsatisfying endings. McDonald is writing mysteries. You'd figure he'd do better wrap-up for the characters and scenarios. But all of the other books end suddenly and unsatisfyingly, even the good ones like "Confess, Fletch" or "Fletch's Fortune". The first novel wows me because basically every word of that last page is a Crowning Moment Of Awesome for Irwin Maurice Fletcher's debut in literature.

The movie is sloppy as hell and there are SO many things to complain about. Not just that Fletch's lovesick exes don't appear and say they want to get back together. But the mystery at least starts off correctly with the right level of astonishment at the high-concept idea of a dude asking Fletch to murder him. It unfortunately just turns silly soon after. If Chase weren't cast, we never would have had to have suffered through that lame dream sequence of Fletch in blackface with an Afro on the basketball court. Not only is it not funny, it has nothing to do with anything, and if I know Chase, it was probably inserted into the script because he bored with it. Which is probably why all of the dumb disguises and stupid aliases exist too. Community has taught me that Chevy Chase believes the purpose of all comedy, and all projects Chevy Chase participates in, is to make Chevy Chase look good. Or at least funny. The fact that Chevy isn't funny in this movie is something Chase is too stupid to understand. This is taking a great and unique book series and turning it into a vanity project for an unfunny comedian who probably needed to hear the word "No," a lot more often than he did at this stage of his career. He might still have a decent one today if he hadn't spent decades believing comedy began and ended with himself. It makes me angry.

Let's complain about individual things.

The movie is so badly written Fletch gets out of a scrape with a guy holding a gun on him by claiming his shoes are untied.

The movie has Fletch explaining basketball to Gail at the end as if it's cute instead of the stupidest thing ever.

Scratch that. The stupidest thing ever is Fletch fleeing an angry dog that opens closed doors by biting the doorknobs. They REALLY didn't feel the need to even try during the 1980's, did they?

The music in the movie is awful. And part of me was about to quip "even for an 80's movie" but the truth is movies back then had great soundtracks. Which makes the tinny disco here even MORE inexcusable.

People LIKED this movie? This was a GOOD comedy? The 1980's was a messed-up as hell comedy decade where this could pass for acceptable. Of course, both The Naked Gun and UHF are similarly beloved comedies of the era, so maybe I shouldn't be TOO surprised.

But in fairness to The Naked Gun AND UHF, both of those movies put in a serious effort. As bad as The Naked Gun actually is in hindsight, all of the details and Easter Eggs show it was made with love and care, and despite UHF containing a LOT of sloppy continuity errors, I believe "Weird Al" Yankovic actually did his best there too. "Fletch" is lazy. "Fletch" is soulless. And despite the fact that The Naked Gun and UHF are bad movies, they ARE genuinely funny. And this is not. I feel bad for people who grew up loving this movie. I'm glad I wasn't one of them and came to it this late. If I HAD previously unwisely loved it, I'd probably actually be furious this time out. And trust me, I'm already plenty pissed. *.