In excess of 30 years is an incredibly long time for any reboot to remain mired in development hell, never mind the proposed reinvention of a comedy franchise that only ran for two installments, the second of which was viewed as significantly inferior to its cult classic predecessor. The perseverance has paid off, though, with Confess, Fletch winning widespread plaudits.
Superbad director Greg Mottola’s breezy crime caper found a perfect leading man in Jon Hamm, with the actor’s comic timing and suave demeanor coming in for high praise. Despite only releasing this past weekend, the third entry in the Fletch saga has already been Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes thanks to an 85 percent score, while it’s also made an instant splash on-demand.
As per FlixPatrol, the tale of Hamm’s Irwin Fletcher trying to prove himself innocent of multiple murders while also attempting to reclaim his fiancé’s stolen art collection has already become the fourth most popular feature among iTunes customers in the United States, proving that decades of false starts and failed resurrections has turned out to be worth it in the end.
A small sampling of the names to have circled the Fletch revival at one stage or another includes Kevin Smith, Jason Lee, Ben Affleck, Brad Pitt, Jimmy Fallon, Zach Braff, Bill Lawrence, Steve Pink, and Jason Sudeikis, while the rights have bounced from studio to studio and production company to production company, with Universal, Gramercy Pictures, Miramax, Warner Bros., Relativity Media, and Paramount all involved at one stage or another.
That’s quite the road to the big screen, but it worked out just fine for Confess, Fletch in the end.