After three years out of circulation, one of the funniest movies of the 1980s has been re-released on DVD in the form of Fletch: The Jane Doe Edition. The hit 1985 film from 1985 starred Chevy Chase as Irwin M. "Fletch" Fletcher, a wise-ass investigative reporter who gets results through an assortment of pseudonyms and disguises.
As the film opens, we learn that Fletch is posing as a junkie, researching the proliferation of drug trafficking on the Los Angeles beaches. He is staked out and approached by Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson), a wealthy executive who tells Fletch that he is dying of bone cancer. Rather than have his family watch him go through a painful death, Stanwyk will pay Fletch $50,000 to murder him in a week's time. Fletch agrees and, in a matter of only two scenes, we learn both the A and B stories, indicative of the breezy pace employed throughout the movie.
Fletch uses his journalistic prowess to learn more about Stanwyk, posing as doctor, SEC agent, airplane mechanic, insurance claims adjuster, among others, to get the information he wants. This distracts him from the drug story, much to the chagrin of his editor, played by the always great Richard Libertini. But both stories are neatly resolved at the end.
Because it's a mystery, I don't want to give away the plot, but chances are you probably already know it, as well as about 85% of the dialogue. Fletch is one of the most quotable comedies of all time. Watching it for the first time in many years, I was struck by not only how many of the jokes I remember, but also how many of them have worked their way into my own repertoire, among them, "So you're saying she moved out," "How's the herpes?" and "No thanks, I'm trying to quit."
Movies starring former Saturday Night Live cast members are usually a mixed bag. For all the comedic talent, the plots are too often little more than putting the star in flimsy situations and having them act like idiots (yes, Will Ferrell, I'm looking at you). But in Fletch the source material is Gregory McDonald's award-winning novel, and it was adapted for the screen by the great Andrew Bergman (Blazing Saddles, The In-Laws). All the laughs come from watching Fletch use his quick wit to extricate himself from one difficult situation after another, and there is little profanity and no crude humor.
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