Still, despite the wide-range of his acting skill set and leading-man looks, Hamm had yet to find the ideal big-screen vehicle—that is, until “Confess, Fletch.” Based on the 1980’s film franchise with Chevy Chase in the lead, it provides him with the second role of his career that he was born to play.
What Goes On
Fletch is now, as he repeatedly refers to himself, “a former investigative reporter of some repute.” While whistling his way into a rented Boston townhouse, Mr. Irwin M. Fletcher doesn’t seem terribly surprised to find a dead woman on the living room rug. It would appear this sort of thing happens to him constantly.He calls the local precinct and when the operator asks why he hasn’t called 911 yet, he replies that “the emergency part is kind of over.” He suggests alerting homicide: “They like murders. They’ll be interested.”
All this of course makes Fletch an immediate potential perp to the very phlegmatic and methodical detective Monroe (Roy Wood Jr.), who’s nicknamed “Slo-Mo,” and his young and hilariously slapstick green rookie female partner Griz (Ayden Mayeri).
It also complicates his real Boston mission: to figure out who’s stolen the rare and valuable paintings—a Picasso, chief among them—owned by his Italian girlfriend Angela’s (Lorenza Izzo) dad, who’s been kidnapped. So the body adds to Fletch’s already extensive to-do list.
These two mysteries immediately fur-ball, which forces Fletch (per the character’s tradition) to put on various disguises while tracking down the truth. Further entangling complications include Angela’s plump-but-seductive step-mom, The Countess (a hilarious Marcia Gay Harden, sporting an outrageous faux Italian accent) and a secretly disco-loving germophobe art dealer Horan (Kyle MacLachlan, surprisingly stealing every scene he’s in) who has two cups on his desk, one for unused document-signing pens, and one for dirty pens.
Performances
“Confess, Fletch” hopscotches between Italy and Boston, and Fletch himself bounces between newsrooms, bars, country club parties, yachts, swanky homes, and alleyways. Blending smart-alec intelligence with foolhardiness is a tricky balancing act, not to mention making it all chuckle-worthy and endearing. Yet Hamm pulls it off flawlessly.Instead of Chevy Chase’s Halloween costumed man of many faces, Hamm’s version is a slippery journalist with an uncanny knack for blending in, combined with con-man-level apparent trustworthiness, all of which allow the preternaturally unperturbed Fletch to exploit people’s vanity for his own ends.
From the laid-back, under-the-radar comedy of detective Wood and the constantly prat-falling Mayeri to the nosy, chatty slob of a bohemian neighbor (Annie Mumolo) whose tiny dog pees on the floor whenever it’s hungry (which it always is), to Hamm’s Mad Men co-star John Slattery as a world-weary but still feisty and profane newspaper editor full of insults, “Confess, Fletch” is jam-packed with distinctively amusing personalities.
Ultimately, the conclusion of “Confess, Fletch” is almost beside the point; the pleasure comes from watching Fletch work his magic while narrowly avoiding all manner of lethal outcomes. Miramax may have released “Confess, Fletch” with a lack of fanfare, but this smart and silly comedy is proof that, given the right vehicle, the multi-talented Hamm can carry a comedy the way we always knew he could.
