Confess, Fletch (2022), Review and Ending, Explained: Greg Mottola’s Fletch revival ends the fans’ decades-long wait with an experience that can only be deemed an entertaining disappointment. There has been a lot of talk about a new movie featuring the ever-charming Irwin Fletcher since Chevy Chase’s one great-one bad set of Fletch movies in the 80s. While some even came close to starting production, the wait has only ended after 33 years, with Jon Hamm starring as Fletch. And sadly enough, even with an actor who has time and again proved his skills, “Confess, Fletch” fails to be anything more than a comedy that would instigate some dry chuckles while falling flat with its murder mystery.
Based on Gregory McDonald’s 1976 novel, this feature follows Fletch as he attempts to find stolen artifacts while trying to prove his innocence in a murder investigation. Mottola’s venture results in a somewhat funny movie that is at no point suspenseful. While it does make Fletcher reasonably likable, it gets nowhere close to giving the beloved pop-culture character the flair he deserves.
Confess, Fletch: Movie Synopsis
Stuck in Boston after discovering Laurel’s (Caitlin Zerra Rose) dead body in the luxurious townhouse he’s staying at, Investigative journalist Irwin M Fletcher (Jon Hamm) finds himself neck-deep in the murder investigation and that too as the primary suspect. He’s been staying at art broker Owen’s (John Behlmann) townhouse that his wealthy Italian girlfriend Angela de Grassi (Lorenza Izzo) claims to have found on a website. Fletch has come to Boston to find the nine paintings stolen from Angela’s father, the Count (Robert Picardo), who is now kidnapped.
When investigating officer Monroe (Roy Wood Jr) and his trainee assistant Griz (Ayden Mayeri) arrive at the crime scene, they’re immediately suspicious of Fletch’s shifty responses and consider him to be the prime suspect of the murder. Fletch, with his secret mission of finding the stolen paintings, gets involved in solving the murder mystery not just to clear his name but also because of his humane instincts.
Fletch looks into the odd art dealer Horan (Kyle MacLachlan), who, according to Fletch, has stolen the paintings and has already sold two. Horan and Fletch’s encounter, consisting of Horan’s extreme germaphobia in all its glory and his rather peculiar love for EDM, leads to Fletch finding out the location of his boat where he keeps the paintings. While his first attempt at retrieving the paintings fails, Fletch is not one to give up.
In his insane pursuit of finding out Laurel’s murderer, Fletch meets a number of strange people starting with Owen’s neighbor Eve (Annie Mumolo), who evidently has a thing for spilling secrets right after saying that she would never. From that weird encounter, Fletch finds out about Owen’s drug problems, his past criminal activity, and his divorce from Tatiana (Lucy Punch). He seeks out his old boss and editor, Frank (John Slattery), and tries to convince him to find the police report on Owen’s crime. He also poses as Frank and meets Tatiana in hopes of finding out if either she or Owen could have anything to do with the murder. On the same night, Owen breaks into his own townhouse trying to steal drugs and ends up attacking Fletch.
While dealing with the Count’s wife (Marcia Gay Harden) in town and would not stop throwing herself at him, Fletch manages to acquire the paintings from Horan’s boat by causing a ruckus with fireworks. He finds out that Owen is, in fact, an old friend of Angela’s, and now he’s not above suspecting his own girlfriend of murder. Caught up in the investigation as a suspect even more after Monroe finds the footage of a man who resembles Fletch walking with Laurel, Fletch ends up getting arrested. Angela bails him out. All the unhinged personalities then participate in a gathering that was supposed to be just a casual dinner but evolved into a crazy mess of conflicts as everyone’s secrets seem to spill out.
Confess, Fletch: Movie Review
Molotta’s Fletch is overly flaky and lacks the charm that usually is one of his more endearing qualities. Despite Hamm’s best efforts, Fletch seems to leave a slightly off and sometimes even annoying aftertaste every time he’s at the center of the scene. His comedic chemistry only seems to work with two other characters, Griz and Angela. Nevertheless, it was undeniably exciting to see Hamm on screen with his Mad Men co-star John Slattery. Perhaps, more of their repartee would’ve given the movie the wit it needed. Every other under-established character and their involvement in any kind of interaction revolves around their own personal, often singular quirk that more frequently fails to induce any lasting laughter or effect. While some scenes would receive some chuckles, the comedy is mostly too clownish to be hilarious.
The writing looks to be pretty lazy when it comes to the mystery aspect as well. There’s barely any effort to cause any kind of confusion that would drive attention away from the possible murderer, and it was a dead giveaway from the start. Trying to establish the other characters that Fletch kept his eye on as legitimate suspects also did not work owing to the lack of any strong motive being present for any of them. As the ever-so-predictable climax takes place, we are left wondering, “where was the mystery?”
Confess, Fletch: Ending Explained
At first, Fletch is almost certain that Owen is most likely the killer. Although he can not establish a legit motive, perhaps the lack of any other clue and, in turn, his hurt ego draw his attention to Owen time and again. However, the footage of the man with whom he shares a physical similarity begins to throw him off. All he knows is that the murder has to be related to art theft.
After the wretched dinner, Fletch follows Angela and is shocked and intrigued to find her with Horan. He was unaware of any connection between the two. He follows them to Horan’s boat, overhears their heated argument, and is certain that Angela is the murderer as she is the one who stole the paintings. As he is trying to record their conversation, his phone falls in the water, and Angela finds him. He is taken inside the boat, and upon finding out that Horan is Angela’s ex and teacher, he accuses Angela of the murder.
To both of their utter shock, Horan draws a gun on them and reveals that it was, in fact, him who murdered Laurel in order to frame Fletch and get him out of the picture. Both of their lives are saved when Griz shoots Horan and kills him. As it turns out, Griz and Monroe had figured out that Horan was the killer from the footage itself. In the footage, the man was seen drawing his arm away when Lauren’s hand touched it. They connected the dots and came to the conclusion that it was, in fact, germaphobe Horan.
It is also revealed that the Count was in hiding, and Fletch has been aware of that since the beginning. He pretended to be kidnapped in order to find the paintings and also to find out whether his wife actually loved him. The Count wants to get rid of the paintings, and Fletch is now possessing them. Out of the wholesomeness of his heart, Fletch gifts the paintings to people who have come to mean something to him. He keeps the “Olga” and sends the rest of the paintings to the Countess, the artists who painted the van he used to move the paintings, Laurel’s boyfriend, and Frank. Fletch is seen relaxing in his boat when he receives a call from Frank and rejects the offer to investigate a case. It is quite an antithesis of the usual detective-Esque behavior when the protagonist ends the movie by going into retirement instead of starting it by coming out of it reluctantly.
