steven@ism70.UUCP (06/07/85)
FLETCH Starring Chevy Chase, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson and Tim Matheson. Also starring Joe Don Baker, Richard Libertini, Geena Davis, M. Emmet Walsh, George Wendt and Kenneth Mars. Directed by Michael Ritchie. Written by Andrew Bergman. Based on the novel by Gregory McDonald. Produced by Alan Greisman and Peter Douglas. Photographed by Fred Schuler. Production Designed by Boris Leven. Edited by Richard Harris. Music by Harold Faltermayer. From Universal Pictures. (1985) For non-Los Angelenos who will see _F_l_e_t_c_h: Pup n' Taco is a chain of fast food stands in the Los Angeles area. Now do you get it? If you told me before the summer started that I'd be liking Chevy Chase and Sylvester Stallone more than James Bond and Steven Spielberg, I'd have said you were crazy. But that's the case. I.M. Fletcher, Fletch to his friends and whatever alias strikes his fancy to anyone else, stumbles onto a perfect story for his investigative reporter column when Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson) approaches the unsuspecting Fletch and asks him do Stanwyk a favor: to murder him. Chase passes himself off as Don Corleone, Mr. Poon, Arnold Babar, amongst other people, as he digs into Stanwyk's life. It's a pretty good role for Chase, who has had a lot of trouble in pictures making his essentially smug persona fit into the stories he acts in. It works this time because writer Andrew Bergman (_T_h_e _I_n_-_L_a_w_s, _S_o_ _F_i_n_e) gives Chase a lot of really good comebacks and one-liners to wisenheim his way through the story. I think without those jokes being that strong, this thing would have gone in the crapper but quick. It's a breezy, amiable tv sort of movie that passes for big screen entertainment these days, kind of a low-wattage _B_e_v_e_r_l_y_ _H_i_l_l_s_ _C_o_p. Dana Wheeler-Nicholson turns in an appealing debut performance (to me) as Stanwyk's wife. Aside from her fresh face, _F_l_e_t_c_h is filled with the overfamiliar faces of tv character actors, perhaps to make the story less threatening. It seems to work well enough. Joe Don Baker, M. Emmet Walsh, Richard Libertini and George Wendt go through their paces like the seasoned pros they are. Two and a half stars out of four.
geoff@denelvx.UUCP (Geoff Baum) (06/10/85)
What do other people think of this movie? I'd appreciate a quick review, as I have been thinking of going to see it. Thanks.