KallioWeHardlyKnewYe
Hey! We won!
- May 30, 2003
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This is going to be an interesting one. The original Chevy Chase movie is beloved by many BUT it's only broadly representative of the Fletch character from the Gregory MacDonald novels. He's a wise-ass smartest-man-in-the-room type, which Chase got, but the character's not a goofy disguise, improvy, spouter of fake comedic names and whatnot, which is what Chase brought to the character. The on-screen Fletch is more Chevy Chase than it is the Fletch of the books.
This production by all accounts is hewing much closer to the books rather than trying to riff on Chevy Chase.
I'm a fan of the books and would argue this is a good thing! Writer-director Greg Mottola (Daytrippers, Superbad, Adventureland) seems like a good choice to helm this and Jon Hamm is pretty good casting to the Fletch of the books.
All that said I can't help but feel this movie is going to be DOA due to people knowing the movie more than the books. You'll have the mass of folks outraged that uncreative Hollywood is remaking/rebooting a "classic" (though there is an 11 book series many of which pre-date the movie) and then you'll have the folks who go in wanting/expecting zany afro wig costumes and Dr. Rosen Rosen and are inevitably going to be disappointed.
I think this movie is going to be good and entertaining -- but also completely rejected because it's not going to be what most people think.
We'll see.