96) Fletch

Fletch (1985)

Director: Michael Ritchie

Starring: Chevy Chase, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Joe Don Baker, Tim Matheson, Richard Libertini, Geena Davis, George Wendt, M. Emmet Walsh, Kenneth Mars


For some reason, over the last year or so I've become quite intrigued by the American comedies of the 1980s. I think it started with an interest in Steve Martin. He is a guy who is held in quite high regard by a lot of comedians as one of the real greats, but that greatness is not so evident in The Pink Panther or Cheaper by the Dozen. I hadn't seen many of his earlier films which cemented his reputation. From there that interest extended to guys like Chevy Chase, aided by the fact I've quite enjoyed watching him in Community. About a year ago a friend of mine said he had watched Fletch and quite enjoyed it, so I'd stored it away on my mental things-to-do list. Saturday morning, Kate is out for breakfast, perfect time for something short and light.

Irwing Fletcher (Chase), Fletch to his friends, is an investigative reporter. In the middle of an undercover assignment trying to blow the lid off the Los Angeles beach drug trade, Fletch is approached by a wealthy young man, Alan Stanwyck (Matheson), with an unusual proposal. Stanwyck has bone cancer and has been told he has only a short while to live, and that his death will be a very painful one. Thinking Fletch is a hobo who could easily disappear, he offers him $50,000 to come back later in the week and murder him, so that his family can claim the generous life insurance policy that he has taken out, a policy which would be voided if he committed suicide. Smelling a rat, Fletch agrees to the arrangement, but sets about investigating things for himself.

I didn't know a great deal about Fletch before sitting down to watch it and it wasn't quite what I expected. When you look at the DVD cover and you see lots of images of Chevy Chase in all manner of different goofy costumes you assume that it is going to be some sort of Peter Sellers-like, though slightly more crass, comedy. Instead, what you get is quite a decent story. The premise itself is not at all comic, and neither are any of the supporting characters. The only comic feature in the film (if you discount the synth heavy 80s soundtrack) is the wise cracking Chevy Chase in the lead. The storyline of Fletch actually works quite well as a thriller. It was adapted from Gregory MacDonald's novel, with the comedy played up a bit to play to the strengths of Chase. You could very easily change the director and the lead actor and make a very good thriller out of the same premise.

The film was very obviously a star vehicle for Chase. In terms of characterisation, Chevy Chase is very much playing himself. He uses the persona he invented for himself on Saturday Night Live, with most of the film's comedy coming from cynical asides and wise cracks from Fletch. Some of those wise cracks hit the mark, others miss, but that is very much the nature of that style of comedy. If you don't like Chevy Chase you aren't going to like this movie. Actually, that may be going a bit far. If you don't like Chevy Chase you are going to find this film frustrating because his character will seemingly undermine what would otherwise be a very enjoyable film.

Gregory MacDonald had casting approval over the film and apparently rejected both Mick Jagger and Burt Reynolds for the title role before approving Chase. It would have been a very different picture if either of those guys had been playing the lead.

I'll admit, I quite enjoyed Fletch, precisely because it wasn't what I expected it to be, falling in between being a comedy and being a thriller. Because Chevy Chase plays the lead it is always going to be considered a comedy, and it you'll find it in the comedy section of your DVD store, but I'm not convinced it is that cut and dry generically. The fact that there was a bit more depth, and thus a bit more interest, in the central narrative than I'm used to in a comedy meant that there wasn't that pressure to be constantly making gags and I was more forgiving of those moments when the comedy fell a bit flat. It also made for a nice alternative to recent comedies which tend to lean towards the more comical and ridiculous premises, in which you have a comic lead surrounded by comic support characters, spouting comic lines and gags in comic situations which arise from a comic narrative. It's a bit one dimensional. Good comedy needs a straight guy, and in Fletch that straight guy is played by everyone and everything other than Fletch himself.