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Fletch Details

1985 DVD Certificate PG.gif
  • Rated:
  • 70
  • from 3670 members

Loosely based on the book by Gregory McDonald, director Michael Ritchie's FLETCH is a laugh-out-loud comedy that features a classic performance by Chevy Chase, who stars as Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, a crack investigative journalist who goes undercover for a story about possible connections between the L.A. police department and .. Read more

Starring Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, Joe Don Baker, Richard Libertini
Director Michael Ritchie
Genres Comedy

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Fletch

Loosely based on the book by Gregory McDonald, director Michael Ritchie's FLETCH is a laugh-out-loud comedy that features a classic performance by Chevy Chase, who stars as Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, a crack investigative journalist who goes undercover for a story about possible connections between the L.A. police department and the local drug trade. He gets derailed when a Santa Monica businessman, Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson), mistakes him for a homeless man and offers him $50,000 to commit a murder. The man claims to have terminal bone cancer but can't commit suicide if he wants his family to collect on his insurance policy, so he wants Fletch to do his dirty work. Fletch pretends to accept the offer and finds that it leads him deeper into the heart of his own investigation. Working from a crackling script by Andrew Bergman, Chase relishes every line of dialogue written for his goofy, master-of-disguise character, making FLETCH one of the most influential and oft-quoted comedies of the 1980s.

Starring Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, Joe Don Baker, Richard Libertini
Director Michael Ritchie
Studio 4 FRONT VIDEO
Run time DVD: 1 hr 34 mins
Certificate DVD Certificate PG.gif
Collections 100 Eighties Greats
Genres Comedy
Language English
Subtitles Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish
Released DVD: 02 Feb 2004
Production year: 1985
Format DVD

  • Critics' reviews (4) of Fletch

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  • 3 stars out of 5

    Chevy Chase, one of the original Saturday Night Live team and the embodiment of laid-back Los Angeles 1980s humour, stars in the first of two outings as the investigative reporter with a sideline in disguises and witty repartee. Seized from Malibu beach (where he is disguised as a beach bum) by a millionaire who orders his own murder, Chase stumbles and bumbles through a corkscrew plot that fits his comic frame like a bespoke suit. Sleek, glossy and often very funny indeed, it also features Joe Don Baker, M Emmet Walsh and Geena Davis. The inventive script is by Andrew Bergman, who cut his teeth as a co-writer on Blazing Saddles and went on to direct The Freshman and Honeymoon in Vegas.

    • Radio Times
    • Posted 29 Jan 2006

  • Two fairly routine plots (who is the Mr Big in the drug supply chain and Lady from Shanghai's 'I want you to murder me... read more on Time Out

    • Time Out
    • Posted 04 Nov 2008

  • Most helpful member's review of Fletch

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  • 6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Light-hearted fun, but not as great as it could have been

    Saturday Night Live vehicles are a funny old bag. They can be pretty terrible a lot of the time (see virtually any other Chevy Chase film) but, very occasionally, something like 'Wayne's World' will pop out. 'Fletch' is definitely better than average, but it's not quite got the appeal of Wayne.

    Part of the problem is the character - Fletch is an investigative reporter with lots of sassy one-liners and the ability to talk rings round anyone. This is great fun, of course, particularly when he is given a hilariously thorough medical examination (don't ask), but it becomes clear halfway through that the comic possibilities are far from limitless.

    The movie also suffers from a typically 80s thriller plotline: a rich businessman, dying from cancer, has employed Fletch to assassinate him. Rolled up in all of this is a drug-smuggling operation, a corrupt police force and insurance fraud. Intriguing stuff, sure, but it does mean that 'Fletch' errs often on the side of tense villain-chasing rather than out-and-out comedy.

    But it IS funny, which is what matters at heart, and is guaranteed to raise more than a few belly laughs. Just don't expect anything more!

      • Lionel Laurent from London
      • Posted 27 Jul 2004 02:31

  • Most recent members' review of Fletch

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  • 1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

    Rated - 3 stars

    Light hearted comedy

    I remember watching this movie around 10 years ago. It was funny for its time. Could have imagined myself laughing all through this movie, but I didn't - humour has changed so much. Despite this, the storyline is good and it is an easy watch.

      • A customer from Oxfordshire
      • Posted 12 Sep 2005 11:00

  • News and features

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    Fletch

    Chevy Chase could return to Fletch role

    • 10 Oct 2009

    Comedy legend Chevy Chase has hinted he's set to return to the big screen in one of his most famous movie roles - playing Fletch in a forthcoming sequel. Chase played the womanising journalist in two movies in the 1980s, based on the books of author Gregory McDonald. Studio bosses have been trying to take McDonald's novel Fletch Won to the big screen for more than a decade with a number of directors including Kevin Smith linked to the film, and several actors including John Cusack, Zach Braff, Read more

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3,670 Member ratings
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  • 90
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791
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407
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243
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140
  • 20
101
  • 10
53

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      • Loosely based on the book by Gregory McDonald, director Michael Ritchie's FLETCH is a laugh-out-loud comedy that features a classic performance by Chevy Chase, who stars as Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher, a ...