Fletch Lives

1989's FLETCH LIVES is one of many sequels I've avoided over the years.  I was and still am a fan of the original 1985 movie, in which Chevy Chase plays Ross Macdonald's sardonic newspaper reporter, Irwin M. Fletcher.  FLETCH perfectly blended a solid mystery with Chase's near non-stop wisecracks.  Director Michael Ritchie, while certainly contriving a Hollywood product, lent his well established satiric eye in its best moments.  The film was a hit.  Four years later, Chase and Ritchie returned.  The magic largely did not.

But....I didn't hate this.  I was kinda expecting to.  The idea of having Fletch in Louisiana just seemed wrong and silly.  He's an L.A. guy.   Was this to be another lame fish out of water tale?  For some reason, it was decided to go with an entirely new story, despite that there are eleven novels of great material to have been adapted.  Leon Capatanos, whose other work includes DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS, contributes a tepid who/whydunnit that isn't worth recounting, but the emphasis on character is what saves FLETCH LIVES from the Sequels That Never Should've Been muck.

Ah, Chase is still doing his detached wiseass thing.  Some of his one liners are funny.  He even cracks them when we wakes up next to a dead woman.  Many viewers found that distasteful.  Maybe his unflappable demeanor is just how he deals with unpleasantness.  Chase actually conveys a bit of that now and again, even though his "performance" is really him just playing himself.  But the character's penchant for disguises really serves Chase well this time.   Aside from his bit in drag, Chevy creates some really funny moments with them.

I was also surprised at R. Lee Ermey's work as Jimmy Lee Farnsworth, the pastor of a megachurch with a nightly cable broadcast and a theme park.  Remind you of anybody from the late '80s?   Ermey never plays a clown or overdoes it; he's quite believable and even likable.  As is Cleavon Little as the seemingly simpleton caretaker of the crumbling mansion Fletch inherits from his deceased aunt.  And Hal Holbrook as a well connected attorney.  The actors build some nice characterizations, and the film overall shares their quiet amusement.

But ultimately FLETCH LIVES is low energy and slight.   Ritchie adds some spark to a musical number (from SONG OF THE SOUTH!) but otherwise seems as tired as his leading actor.