Confess, Fletch review: Jon Hamm finally finds a great comedy role

The spring has sprung a mystery-comedy Fletch or ConfessJon Hamm has to face his most difficult acting role: that of a man who hates shoes. Don Draper was a well-known actor. Mad Men hasn’t always been as well-dressed in movies as he was on that near-perfect show. In Fletch or Confess, as “investigative reporter of some repute” Irwin Maurice Fletcher, he’s still further afield than usual from Hamm’s smooth image. Hamm was a comedian in comedies. Saturday Night Live sketches, and he’s parodied his own image as Gabriel in Good Omens. In movies, however, he is often unflinching, weary and sometimes a bit menacing. He is also known for his insipid and irritable demeanour. Fletch or Confess, he takes off his shoes and socks at every opportunity and makes a pet issue out of what he sees as society’s pro-footwear propaganda — all as he’s suspected of murder.

The running gag about Fletch’s perpetual barefootedness is one of the few moments where Fletch or Confess It imposes a burden on its star actor by giving him material that is too stiff for his comic instincts. The movie, however, is an unexpected cinematic breakthrough for a star who tends to choose his supporting roles rather than trying to achieve George Clooney-esque TV-to-movie fame. Maybe Hamm’s movie career hasn’t actually been as underdressed as it looks. Maybe it’s just been missing the kind of insight writer-director Greg Mottola brings to building a story around what Hamm does best.

Mottola directed Hamm in the funny, but rarely seen comedy “Hamm” once before. Staying on the Right Side of the Joneses. There, the star leaned into his man’s-man image, playing a super-spy improbably posing as a suburban neighbor to a genuinely mundane couple played by Zach Galifianakis and Isla Fisher. JonesesThese slapstick scenes are what make this type of neighbor comedy so funny. Fletch or ConfessThe pace is more casual, which suits Mottola and Hamm better. After flying into the U.S. from a jaunt (and whirlwind romance) in Rome, Fletch arrives at a Boston townhouse rented on his behalf — and finds a corpse there.

Robert Clark/Miramax

He immediately calls the cops, but this doesn’t absolve him from suspicion. Detective Monroe (Roy Wood Jr.), who is honest, but too flip at interrogation, has trouble patience. Fletch is told to abstain from the case of the murder, but he continues to conduct an amateur investigation while trying to find the locations of valuable paintings for Angela (LorenzaIzzo). As if it were a comedy mystery, the story is filled with colorful characters.

Fletch or ConfessThe story is inspired by the Gregory Mcdonald book of the same title, which was part of a long-running series of books. Many comedy fans will recall Chevy Chase’s role as Fletch in an 80s sketch.Fletch) and one ill-regarded sequel (Fletch Lives). Numerous actors and directors had considered reviving this role.

The way Hamm’s revival of the series is receiving a halfhearted dual release in some theaters and on VOD suggests how little faith Miramax has in the project. However, the movie says it all. It’s fleet and amusing — the kind of comedy grown-up moviegoers used to see a lot more regularly than they do today. Comedies have fallen out of favor in a cinematic landscape that’s more devoted to Liam Neeson-style revenge movies, but Fletch or ConfessThis is refreshing not only for its comedy use, but because it also uses Jon Hamm.

Mottola, also known as Superbad And Adventureland) has a knack for shooting comedies as if they’re real movies, rather than overlit sitcoms. He doesn’t sacrifice visual humor for the sake of aesthetics. He works here together with Sam Levy as cinematographer. The cuts and reactions shots are a warm, dusky glow. The movie sometimes needs to be more focused on its story and enjoy the atmosphere more. Long GoodbyeIn its bizarre comic characters, it might be called: The Big Lebowski. Then again, some of the movie’s broader interludes fall a little flat — chiefly the role for Marcia Gay Harden as Angela’s cartoonishly accented mother, an irrepressible character who could stand to repress a little more.

Miramax

Hamm, on the other hand, seems to be right on Mottola’s wavelength. It might not be as important to find the middle ground between mystery or farce than it is to make jokes. Hamm has long telegraphed his interest in comedy roles, and in this film, he proves equally capable of slapstick silliness and reacting to his co-stars’ silliness, as he does when BridalmaidsAnnie Mumolo is a writer-actress who bounces off of him one scene. He can also handle quips and irreverence (“The emergency part is over,” he tells the cops about the murder) without turning into a Ryan Reynolds-style smarm machine.

Hamm’s movie career has existed largely in the shadow of his brilliant long-term work as Don Draper, and Fletch or Confess wasn’t designed to change that. In fact, Mottola went so far as to engineer a brief, crackling reunion with Hamm’s Mad Men co-star John Slattery. The director’s willingness to actively remind viewers of Hamm’s TV masterpiece, even as the star bumbles around sporting a Lakers cap and solving a fuzzy mystery, suggests Mottola is confident about Hamm’s draw as a comedian, even if few other directors seem to be on board. Mottola and Hamm don’t seem like they’re trying to rewrite Hamm in Fletch’s image, or vice versa. They look more like they’re making exactly the half silly, half sly movie they personally want to see.

Fletch or ConfessLimited release available in theatres September 16th. Also, on demand and for digital premium rental the next day. Amazon Vudu.