Jon Hamm revives 'Fletch'

[Michael Knight 12977]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

That’s a whole lotta meh. 
 

Kinda like the original

[Prepuce of Doom 21056]

5 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

Kinda like the original

Heretic. 

[rage-a-holic 4382]

7 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

Kinda like the original

You are beyond stupid.

Chevy Chase turned a pretty basic amusing detective novel into a comedy classic.

If Steve Guttenberg or any other "funny mid 80's" actor had been cast, no one would even remember this thing.

[Dutchrudder 11136]

They should have used the budget for this movie to remodel the garage instead. 

[henrygandorf 29189]

25 minutes ago, Dutchrudder said:

They should have used the budget for this movie to remodel the garage instead. 

that would’ve cost them hundreds. 

[Bogeywon 2519]

16 hours ago, Michael Knight said:

Kinda like the original

seriously fletch with Chevy is awesome 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

On 8/26/2022 at 3:27 PM, bschoolprof said:

I made it 1:18 through the trailer.  Looks like total dogshit.  

About the same.  
 

I’d kill for a macchiato.  Not literally.  That’s just comedic gold. 

[Nivek 16923]

Moooon Riverrrrrrr

[Surly Bevo 24908]

2 minutes ago, Nivek said:

Moooon Riverrrrrrr

Based on that trailer it does look like they will be using the whole fist.

Edited August 28, 2022 by Surly Bevo

[Nivek 16923]

23 minutes ago, Surly Bevo said:

Based on that trailer it does look like they will be using the whole fist.

just send up the bat signal for you know who why don't you.

[Ten Bears 2480]

2 hours ago, Nivek said:

just send up the bat signal for you know who why don't you.

Nowthis?

[Deej 76756]

This movie isn't for us. It's for the young morons who don't know of anything but what has been released in the past 10 years. We have a bunch of 21 year olds at the office. None of them knew who the Beastie Boys were. 

[Nivek 16923]

2 hours ago, Ten Bears said:

Nowthis?

OK bat signals...

[Parliament 14249]

1 hour ago, Deej said:

We have a bunch of 21 year olds at the office. None of them knew who the Beastie Boys were. 

Wish I was that lucky.

[bschoolprof 6252]

4 hours ago, Deej said:

This movie isn't for us. It's for the young morons who don't know of anything but what has been released in the past 10 years. We have a bunch of 21 year olds at the office. None of them knew who the Beastie Boys were. 

Nah, it’s for us. 21 year olds won’t give two shits about some investigator movie with a 50 year old lead. They wanna see avengers part 12. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by bschoolprof

[Michael Knight 12977]

This movie is for people that were stupid kids when the original came out not for the current stupid kids.

[tx 3 putt 76875]

this looks horrible 

[oSuJeff97 3435]

I know that the knee-jerk reaction is to not like "re-makes" but has anyone read the Fletch books?

I haven't; and, from what I understand the original films were *very* loosely based on the books, because the books were really more straight-forward detective stories instead of the more farcical versions that the movies where because it was mostly just Chevy Chase being Chevy Chase... which is fine... I celebrate 1980s Chevy Chase as much as anyone...

But I do think it's not a terrible idea if they want to do something more faithful to the books, which is what I understand they are trying to do... but yeah the trailer seems like they are just trying to re-create the originals or at least sell the film that way, which is probably a very bad idea if it's a different animal than the originals.

[Viper 12105]

1 minute ago, oSuJeff97 said:

I know that the knee-jerk reaction is to not like "re-makes" but has anyone read the Fletch books?

I haven't; and, from what I understand the original films were *very* loosely based on the books, because the books were really more straight-forward detective stories instead of the more farcical versions that the movies where because it was mostly just Chevy Chase being Chevy Chase... which is fine... I celebrate 1980s Chevy Chase as much as anyone...

But I do think it's not a terrible idea if they want to do something more faithful to the books, which is what I understand they are trying to do... but yeah the trailer seems like they are just trying to re-create the originals or at least sell the film that way, which is probably a very bad idea if it's a different animal than the originals.

I'll give an outside chance that the movie is trying to be more like the books but that the marketing department that made the trailer is just trying to redo the Chevy Chase movie.

[oSuJeff97 3435]

2 minutes ago, Viper said:

I'll give an outside chance that the movie is trying to be more like the books but that the marketing department that made the trailer is just trying to redo the Chevy Chase movie.

Yes exactly. 

And if so, that's a terrible, awful, horrible idea. 

 

[dcbc 14465]

1 hour ago, oSuJeff97 said:

I know that the knee-jerk reaction is to not like "re-makes" but has anyone read the Fletch books?

I haven't; and, from what I understand the original films were *very* loosely based on the books, because the books were really more straight-forward detective stories instead of the more farcical versions that the movies where because it was mostly just Chevy Chase being Chevy Chase... which is fine... I celebrate 1980s Chevy Chase as much as anyone...

But I do think it's not a terrible idea if they want to do something more faithful to the books, which is what I understand they are trying to do... but yeah the trailer seems like they are just trying to re-create the originals or at least sell the film that way, which is probably a very bad idea if it's a different animal than the originals.

I, without a doubt, will catch this on Netflix, Prime, or whatever, and probably will thoroughly enjoy it.  The Vacation reboot sounded like a terrible idea too, but I eventually gave it a chance, and not only is it perfectly fine existing along side the Chevy Chase perfection that are the original Vacation movies, it's funny as hell.

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

2 hours ago, Viper said:

I'll give an outside chance that the movie is trying to be more like the books but that the marketing department that made the trailer is just trying to redo the Chevy Chase movie.

every now and again an actual novel idea for a movie will come out and be cool and people won't know how to sell it in ads, so they'll try to make it look like whatever came before it or they'll try to add spice that look cool in 30 seconds even though it isn't representative of 2 hours.  no country for old men, which captured the slow west texas aesthetic, had these action packed die hard previews.  big lebowski had all these great lines, but they are only great because of the overall feel of the movie that they exist in, or the knowledge of the character that is saying it, so a trailer for something like that does nothing.

if this movie is any good, it is because there is some background  genius at play that cannot be captured in a two minute bit designed to maximize ticket sales.  i give it 10-1 odds against.

[oSuJeff97 3435]

3 hours ago, dcbc said:

I, without a doubt, will catch this on Netflix, Prime, or whatever, and probably will thoroughly enjoy it.  The Vacation reboot sounded like a terrible idea too, but I eventually gave it a chance, and not only is it perfectly fine existing along side the Chevy Chase perfection that are the original Vacation movies, it's funny as hell.

Yeah but that's a little bit different in that Vacation didn't really have any source material like the Fletch books. They were purely made as a Chevy Chase vehicle.

The Fletch movies were also that, in that they (apparently) more or less disregarded the source material other than the name and a very rough outline.

That's why I was kind of intrigued by the Jon Hamm version... was curious if it would be something different... more akin to like an Elmore Leonard vibe or something. I don't get that vibe from the trailer at all though... like we've said they are basically selling it like the original Fletch but with Jon Hamm instead of Chevy.

[oSuJeff97 3435]

1 hour ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

every now and again an actual novel idea for a movie will come out and be cool and people won't know how to sell it in ads, so they'll try to make it look like whatever came before it or they'll try to add spice that look cool in 30 seconds even though it isn't representative of 2 hours.  no country for old men, which captured the slow west texas aesthetic, had these action packed die hard previews.  big lebowski had all these great lines, but they are only great because of the overall feel of the movie that they exist in, or the knowledge of the character that is saying it, so a trailer for something like that does nothing.

if this movie is any good, it is because there is some background  genius at play that cannot be captured in a two minute bit designed to maximize ticket sales.  i give it 10-1 odds against.

Yeah Office Space is the classic example.

They basically had no idea how to sell that movie in a way that captured the vibe of the film so they tried to sell it as a "sitcom-y" "Work sucks!" kind of a thing with not a hint of the actual satire in the film, and thus nobody saw it in the theater and it only got popular via word of mouth once it hit video.

[mchookem 16323]

yeah i want Hamm to do well b/c i want to see more of him and he's a really good versatile actor and he happens to be damn sexy, but that trailer looks...not good 🥴

[DougO 5243]

Is there some kind of law forbidding an original concept?

[Neonmoon 38129]

20 minutes ago, DougO said:

Is there some kind of law forbidding an original concept?

Yes. The money doesn’t go on trees law. 

No money for original concepts. 

[Herpa Derpa 6124]

On 8/28/2022 at 4:09 PM, Deej said:

This movie isn't for us. It's for the young morons who don't know of anything but what has been released in the past 10 years. We have a bunch of 21 year olds at the office. None of them knew who the Beastie Boys were. 

They're not morons*. They just don't care for your stories about dinosaur music and Turner Classic movies, Grandpa. And no one is laughing when you leave the room. They swear.

 

*actual moronic level not measured

[Surly Bevo 24908]

On 8/29/2022 at 2:29 PM, oSuJeff97 said:

Yeah but that's a little bit different in that Vacation didn't really have any source material like the Fletch books. They were purely made as a Chevy Chase vehicle.

Not  entirely accurate

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/read-john-hughes-original-national-811591/

 

[rage-a-holic 4382]

Not the worst movie this year, but also not terribly funny either.

Hamm tries pretty hard, but the quips are just flat.

[bschoolprof 6252]

The script in the original Fletch was top notch; I think many people attribute the quips to Chevy, but when I read the screenplay, about 80-90% of the famous lines that everyone quotes were already in there for him. He did have some great ad libs that weren't in there (e.g., moon river, John Coctosan), but the script was key to that movie. I could tell from the trailer the script for the new one was shit.  

[RPM 26318]

I liked it. Hamm was excellent. He didn't have all the pratfalls Chase added and frankly I liked it better that way. 5 stars.

[Brandywine 1316]

13 hours ago, RPM said:

I liked it. Hamm was excellent. He didn't have all the pratfalls Chase added and frankly I liked it better that way. 5 stars.

Did you see it at the theater or can you stream it?

[Viper 12105]

8 minutes ago, Brandywine said:

Did you see it at the theater or can you stream it?

[TommyGufano 6021]

Heard it was a v faithful adaptation of the novels and not nearly as bad as the trailers. 

But also that it's nothing great

[HiggyBaby 2529]

I liked it. Hamm was excellent. He didn't have all the pratfalls Chase added and frankly I liked it better that way. 5 stars.

Really enjoyed it as well, especially Hamm’s performance. I thought the overall movie could have been better but if we’re honest so could have the original save for Chevy Chase. Hope there’s future iterations with Hamm.

[RPM 26318]

4 hours ago, Brandywine said:

Did you see it at the theater or can you stream it?

Are you a cop? You have to tell me if you're a cop.

[Chopper 17230]

Okay well now i'm looking fwd to it

 

[mchookem 16323]

aww good to see the positive reviews, critics even seem to like it (84%)

love me some Jon Hamm, he's good in everything he does, always want to see him succeed. we'll give this a watch for sure. 

[BehoId, The Underminer! 11669]

The reviews make it seem like it would be worth seeing because it is something different.  They talk about a slow paced, lose stakes mystery, so that sounds a little different than most of what we are exposed to.  I like that someone is trying something different. I'll see it . . .

 

. . . But that 85% rotten tomatoes score seems like it is rounding up.  The following are all reviews that are counted as positive:

Quote

Hamm is charming as hell, which helps overcome some of the film’s more clumsy bits.

Quote

It's an objectively middling movie, but one that seems born to be a pleasant low-key weekend streaming binge

Quote

Genial and unbothered, Confess, Fletch never climbs higher than mere adequacy.

Quote

Confess, Fletch is a film that has all of the pieces it needs to be great, but its short run time and a few baffling creative choices make it feel like it is juggling too many plot threads, too many characters, and too much ambition.

 

Basically, a bunch of people saying 'it's fine' results in this really high score.

[rage-a-holic 4382]

17 minutes ago, BehoId, The Underminer! said:

The reviews make it seem like it would be worth seeing because it is something different.  They talk about a slow paced, lose stakes mystery, so that sounds a little different than most of what we are exposed to.  I like that someone is trying something different. I'll see it . . .

 

. . . But that 85% rotten tomatoes score seems like it is rounding up.  The following are all reviews that are counted as positive:

 

Basically, a bunch of people saying 'it's fine' results in this really high score.

Yep, those reviews are spot on. It's not terrible, but it's not great or all that funny.

[RPM 26318]

The script is complex. There's a lot of moving pieces and they're hard to track or even figure out. But it's part of the big picture that eventually comes back later when the pieces start fitting together. Oh yeah, remember this thing that made no sense, just kinda disappeared from the story earlier and you forgot about? Here's the payoff. It's a smart film that happens to have humor.

[billfromlaketravis 11448]

I'd watch Sterling and Draper at a bar for 12 one hour episodes. So yes, I enjoyed this. 

That said, very strange to see them drinking beer. 

[Neonmoon 38129]

I stand by my original assessment. That being said, I would watch another one. Hell, I watched Murder Mystery 2 this weekend. I got free time. 

[Augustus 3061]

I was going to give this a shot, simply because 100% of the world's population thought Top Gun Maverick was going to be a disaster and it wound up being incredible.

But if Sepinwall is singing its praises, then I'm definitely in.

 

 

[Viper 12105]

Hamm isn't as sarcastically funny as Chevy, but I certainly find all the women throwing themselves at him more believable 

[Red Five 40847]

Where can one watch this?

[Viper 12105]

3 hours ago, Red Five said:

Where can one watch this?

Paramount+ or showtime 

[Stringer 1438]

It can be a bit of a mixed bag but I ultimately really liked it. When it was on its Showtime run, I found myself tuning into large chunks of it. Any scenes with Roy Wood Jr, Slattery or Marcia Gay Harden were great. Not as quick witted as the original but still a very likable movie.