Captivating movie !

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

FLETCH is a comedy for long-forgotten 1980s star Chevy Chase, who had a string of hits to his name in that decade before being consigned to history by the onset of the 1990s. It's a surprisingly funny little movie in which the star plays an inept investigative reporter who finds himself involved in a bizarre case of drug smuggling after a wealthy man asks to be murdered! I thought I'd be on for a dumb, lowbrow comedy throughout, and while some of the humour is indeed in the gutter, at other times this is a witty and intelligent movie. As with most films of this ilk (like THE JERK, etc.) much of the fun comes from seeing the central character getting into various mishaps and attempting to extricate his way out of them. Chase is in his element and his enthusiasm rubs off on the viewer; the cast of the cast effectively plays it straight, highlighting the main character's inanity. It's a solid film, and one I enjoyed.

Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher (Chase) is the best journalist reporter around. He's got all the best disguises, all his passports up to date, and is just as good as any police detective in his comedic investigations. And little does Fletch know he would also make a great comedian - he's that funny. Yes the movie Fletch is a great mystery-crime comedy that is worth viewing. The movie has a feeling of being a comedic police film so if you like that type then give Fletch a viewing.If you liked movies like: "The Naked Gun", "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", "Spies Like Us", "Turner and Hooch" or Chevy Chase's famous film "Vacation" then you will most likely enjoy the movie "Fletch".8.5/10

What can I say? Great movie that belongs to the same category as The Naked Gun and Airplane. Chase carries it with his charm, charisma and cockiness. And the anal examination and the morgue scenes are absolutely hilarious. Think Chase was born to play Fletch, it's seems to be tailor made for him.The movie hasn't aged in 30 years since it's creation. It's still as fresh and funny as back in 1985.I know that its not the most compelling review ever but don't know what to write except for: you just need to see it. Go on now - put it on... You will not regret it!!

It takes a strong central lead in the role of a movie like Michael Ritchie's Fletch to make the end product one of a worthy status and, thankfully, Chevy Chase capably handles the task at hand, playing the title character, who is a typical journalist, penning articles under the pen-name "Jane Doe" by day, and a crafty disguise artist by night, carrying his deadpan cynicism with him like a lawyer and his briefcase.While Fletch is undercover one day he runs into Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson), who gives him a generous offer; $50,000 if he would be willing to murder him. He states to Fletch that he is suffering from inoperable bone cancer that will slowly eat away at him like a virus and desperately wants out of this misery. Suicide will nullify his insurance, while murder would give his family the whole package. Fletch accepts the job, but can't help but sense there is something shady here, so he conducts an investigation on Stanwyk and discovers his connections with drug trafficking, as well as local police chief Jerry Karlin's (Joe Don Baker) involvement run a mile deep. This leads Fletch to pose as a number of disguises to get where he needs to be.Director Michael Ritchie directs this picture with the kind of energy it needs, and screenwriter Andrew Bergman (who would write the fabulous It Could Happen to You roughly a decade later) drums up several different sketches that never seem to tread the line of strenuous parodies or a compilation of something resembling Saturday Night Live skits; one of the biggest problems that could've plagued this project as a whole.Yet it's easy to say that if a viewer is searching for Chevy Chase's best performance, they may have found it. Chase is a master at deadpanning humor, and nearly every few seconds, spouts off a shamelessly cynical one-liner that would live on in the hearts and minds of Fletch cultists everywhere. To see him relaxed and confident on screen is one of the many pleasures of the picture, and it gives me reassurance of his possibilities after, not long ago, watching the dry and scarcely funny Three Amigos, which totally shoved his character to the background, where he was lucky enough to get a smile in.Fletch works in large part because of Chase's incredibly sophisticated energy, but is sustainable because not only is it an enjoyable piece of comedy, but also a devilishly entertaining crime drama, that sports a simple, yet effectively handled mystery that one could call fulfilling and worthwhile. Composed of its inherently basic material, delivered in a fittingly unassuming way, with a terrific central performance, a script efficiently written by an underrated comedic talent, direction that stays alive, and a supporting cast (comprised of people like Tim Matheson and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) that work well with the Chase's detached title character, as a quick and spontaneous romp, this one carefully constructs its entire setup to make for favorable entertainment.Starring: Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson. Directed by: Michael Ritchie.