Confess, Fletch

Spoiler

I am a big fan of The Fletch Mystery Series by Gregory MacDonald. The first Chevy Chase film was all right, I guess, but that seemed more of a showcase for Chase's wackiness rather than a showcase of the unique character of Irwin Maurice Fletcher. The fact that Chase used the role to mug and do a bunch of quick-change disguises is quite nonsensical. Fletch does not need to put on wigs or false teeth when conning people because it's the first time they've ever met. The disguises in the Chase films are a gimmick and a poorly thought out one as well. Irwin Maurice Fletcher isn't a Master of Disguise or a Chameleon. He's simply a pathological liar. When this movie has him ask the youth he hired to paint his van to repeat back what he told them his name was, and they're incredulous he wants to know his own name, even if that scene is not in any of the Fletch books, it's the character at its essence. And the movie can't entirely give us the Fletch from the books. In the books he DOES sleep with the Contessa, and it's portrayed as no big deal by either Fletch or Andi (which is insane). And that's not something audiences would stand for. Even in a movie back in the 1980's I would find that a stretch. Fletch does a LOT of crap (particularly in the first book) that crosses the line from lovable to despicable and outright criminal. If they don't tone that down, they'll at least need rethink what is and isn't acceptable for viewers of a film that a reader of a book would let slide.

I'm not 100% down with Monroe. Francis Xavier Flynn was a memorable enough character, MacDonald spun him off into his own mystery series, but Monroe isn't doing it for me. In fairness to the film, because it's set in the modern age they very well couldn't have given Flynn his sketchy WWII backstory from the book. But Flynn was great because he was so freaking sarcastic, Fletch is almost the straight man in their scenes together. Fletch runs rings around Monroe. Flynn runs rings around Fletch. Monroe cockily states HE (and Grizz) solved the case, but in the book, Flynn does it behind Fletch's back, and it's an afterthought and anticlimax. Like the film, every lead Fletch had turned out to be wrong, but Fletch is entirely missing from the climax of the art dealer's arrest and it's a total surprise. Bad idea for a movie, granted, but Monroe doesn't impress me as much.

Also I don't like the movie giving Grizz so much of the solve. She's a stand-in for Grover and while her buddy-cop dynamic with Monroe is different than Flynn's with Grover (Grover detests Flynn on every level, and we learn Grover isn't his name but a derogatory insult Flynn calls him). I understand she's a different character and that Monroe is too. But man, Flynn being the only guy in the Fletch Mysteries who ever had his number was kind of a cool thing.

I'm wondering if there were rights issues involved as to why Flynn and Grover weren't used. That might be it.

Another thing: Flynn never arrests Fletch in the book. Why? Because Fletch isn't guilty, and Reluctant Flynn would never make that mistake. What's the point of giving Slo-Mo Monroe a similar moniker while utterly ignoring the selling point of the character?

I'll tell you what I don't like about the books. Almost all of them end abruptly and unsatisfyingly. The movie does not and perhaps teases the next case in "Fletch's Fortune". But really while "Confess, Fletch" is arguably the second best Fletch book after the first (it notably won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel the year after the first book), if they were gonna reboot the franchise, I would have liked to have seen a better take on the novel "Fletch" itself. If they were gonna play fast and loose with the Flynn stand-in, I would have preferred starting entirely over instead of one book in. Hell, I would have accepted "Fletch Won" as a good first installment for the reboot (Kevin Smith wanted to make that for awhile I think, although Jon Hamm would have been too old for that one).

The good news is the Fletch books themselves hop around Fletch's timeline and are mostly NOT told in the order they happened. If they DO wind up making more Hamm Fletch movies, they can redo the first novel with zero problems.

John Slattery was a riot as Frank. The old editor from the book (I believe his name was Jack) was nowhere near as memorable or hilarious as this.

I liked it. It was truer to the source material than the Chase films (particularly the awful second one based on an original story) but I still wish we had gotten a version of Flynn. And if that wasn't possible, I wish Monroe hewed a bit closer to Flynn's selling points. ****.

Topic starter 09/08/2025 1:24 am

Confess, Fletch

Spoiler

Got around to rewatching this on Blu-Ray. I don't have my old review in front of me but I recall liking it a lot and (majorly unusual for me) that opinion is unchanged.

I love The Fletch Mystery Series. The Chevy Chase movies are appalling pieces of shit that I hate unreservedly and Chase absolutely sucked in the role. It amazes me how much those movies (and Chase) got wrong.

And as good as John Hamm and this film is, the truth is Fletch is a very hard character to interpret for modern audiences. He's a cad who commit statutory rape in the first fucking book and that is treated as "Fletch bieng Fletch". I thought by necessity they'd need to tone things down.

They kind of did, but the I think them doing that (he cheats on Andi with the Contessa in the book and rejects her here) proves an interesting thing. None of that lechery stuff was actually necessary, and not the actual reason Irwin Maurice Fletcher was an interesting character.

I do need to note the biggest thing the Chase movies got wrong. Aside from Chase not actually being funny, and turning the entire thing into a vanity project, the quick-change master of disguise bits Chase did were fucking bullshit. Not only is that not what Fletch does, but if you see the context for when Chase does it, he never actually needed to.

Fletch in the books (and here) DOES do a lot of effortless impersonating. But that's because he's a pathological liar, not a master of disguise. He doesn't need to be. Most of the people he cons in the books he only meets or talks to the once and is rarely found out by the people he's conned. The movie making that a huge mess with everyone finding out they were lied to at once was not dramatically uninteresting, but it's outside of the books themselves. Notice anything odd about the disguises Chase used in the old movies? Like the books he sees almost NONE of the people he's conned ever again, so the wigs and fake mustaches are entirely pointless. When Fletch Lives opened with Chase in a dress pretending to be the maid I could pretty much pinpoint right there why those movies sucked and why Chase is one of the worst people who ever lived.

Do you know the most fucked up thing about that scene? The movie (and Chase) actually thought it was funny. I know the 1980's were an EXTRREMELY low bar for comedy, but if that got a laugh in the theaters back then I'd be surprised.

Here, he's bullshitting a couple of graffiti artists, and when they ask him what he said his name was again, he asks them what he said it was before. And they're like "You're asking US your name?" Sketchy White dude is Sketchy. That specific scene was never in ANY of the books, and it's a quintessential Fletch scene anyways. It says the movie was made by the right people.

I'm pretty sure I expressed disappointment in Inspector Monroe compared to Inspector Xavier Francis Flynn, and also the changed ending. I am still not entirely sold on Monroe, but I think the ending is right now. Again, my old review is NOT right in front of me but I think my Monroe gripes are down to the fact that he simply isn't funny enough. Flynn's dance with Fletch in the book is magnificent because it's two snarky characters insulting each other back and forth. And they also had a scene where Fletch goes home with him and meets his wonderful family (because they both secretly like each other). Flynn was such an important and memorable character Gregory MacDonald spun him off into his own mystery series. Fletch annoys Monroe (which is right) but it's entirely one-sided. A good Flynn stand-in ought to utterly annoy Fletch. In those books Flynn was probably one of the two or three characters where Fletch met his match (the others being his father and his son). Monroe just does not have comedy chops or the intelligence to go one on one with Fletch. For Christ's sake GRIZ of all people solves the actual case, and she's the GROVER stand-in whom Flynn famously detested (and vice-versa). Here both cops get along which isn't necessarily a bad thing but it makes giving Griz the solve very unsatisfying.

Monroe actually arrests Fletch at one point. Flynn never would have. Why? Because Fletch didn't didn't do it, and Flynn is never wrong. "Reluctant Flynn" impresses me far more than "Slo-Mo Monroe". I think that was probably the film's biggest mistake.

Fletch's one phone call was pretty funny though.

Flynn solved the case in the book. By himself. Fletch was absolutely NO help. And we're led to believe it's possible Flynn was onto Fletch stealing the paintings and whether he got away with that part of it at the end was actually an open question.

I think the movie's ending is right now. With the exception of the very first book, The Fletch Mystery Series always has famously shitty and underwhelming endings, Confess Fletch included. There is a lot more wrap-up here, probably because that's what movie audiences demand, and if it's outside of the book, the truth is it's an improvement.

I do actually enjoy Griz. Like Flynn, I detested Grover, and there is something nice about me actually liking Griz. I bust out laughing at her reaction to looking up the thing about pig orgasms. And while she's not an equal wit combatant with Fletch (like Monroe is not) like Monroe she's got a sarcastic edge and can at least keep up (which Grover could not).

John Slattery is a hoot as Frank Jaffey. Utterly and delightfully profane character.

Speaking of movie endings, the end is clearly setting up the third book in the series Fletch's Fortune. That one is probably my favorite Fletch book and I hope it someday happens. But to be honest, it never made sense that they started Hamm's run adapting the second book. The first book is even better and I would LOVE to see a great movie based upon it (which the Chase film was not). I suspect the producers went straight to Confess, Fletch because they didn't want to start off repeating themselves, but the truth is that awful movie is absolutely NOTHING like the book. I would have LOVED to have started off with a real adaptation. I bet they would have absolutely nailed the final scene (again, it was the only Fletch book with a great and satisfying ending).

I am very pleased as a Fletch fan and it's the ONLY Fletch movie I have ever been pleased with. 4 1/2 stars.

Blu-Ray Menu

Kind of disappointing. Still and no music. 1 star.