CONFESS, FLETCH

The lead role fits Hamm very snuggly, while the script has a pleasing mix of suspense, humour and intrigue. But there is also something oddly outdated about Confess, Fletch.

A Fletch reboot, after two successful Chevy Chase films in the eighties, has been mulled for decades, but now it finally arrives with Confess, Fletch, in which Jon Hamm plays the titular sleuth who gets caught up in a murder linked to an art theft.

Was the film worth the wait? To a certain extent: yes. The role fits Hamm very snuggly for starters, while the script has a pleasing mix of suspense, humour and intrigue. The brisk 98-minute runtime adds to the breezy entertainment the picture oozes and the small character traits of the supporting cast make them all stand out.

Yet there is also something oddly outdated about Confess, Fletch in the way it more closely resembles a Columbo episode than an actual motion picture, right up to the casting of Marcia Gay Harden as an Italian countess, including an accent that nobody in this day and age should ever get away with.

This invokes a silliness, not dissimilar to Glass Onion, that might make the movie entertaining, but could also be interpreted as juvenile laziness.

release: 2022

director: Greg Mottola

starring: Jon Hamm, Lorenza Izzo, Maria Gay Harden, John Slattery