Becky Soto

+8 clout

Sep 8, 2026

Okay so I put on Fletch last night because I needed something that felt like summer and dumb decisions and I laughed so hard I scared the cat. Chevy Chase just wanders through this whole movie like he borrowed somebody else's life and keeps forgetting to give it back. He's Irwin Fletcher, investigative reporter, hanging out on the beach pretending to be a junkie so he can write about the drug scene, and some rich guy in a tennis outfit (Tim Matheson looking suspiciously wholesome) walks up and offers him fifty grand to murder him. Just like that. Ha! "Kill me so the wife gets the big insurance payout, no hard feelings." And Fletch, being Fletch, goes "sure buddy" and then immediately starts digging because the whole thing smells like week-old seafood. I love how he never stops moving. One minute he's undercover in those ridiculous beach shorts, next he's crashing a fancy dinner as a doctor named Rosenblatt or whatever name he invents on the spot, then he's rooting through files in some aerospace company dressed like a maintenance guy who definitely does not work there. The disguises are pure 80s chaos. He steals a uniform, puts on glasses, drops a fake accent, and people just... believe him? It should not work and yet every single time it does and I lose it. I kept yelling at the screen "they're gonna catch you this time!" and they never do. Classic. The plot gets twisty fast. Stanwyk's wife is this icy blonde who may or may not be sleeping around, there's crooked cops, a real estate scam, some heartbreaking kid stuff that sneaks up on you, and Fletch bouncing between all of it like a pinball that talks back. Geena Davis shows up as the newspaper researcher crush and she's delightful, all sharp elbows and zero patience for his nonsense. I have a soft spot for the sidekick energy though. His editor is this long-suffering guy who just wants copy on time and keeps getting "I need two more days, trust me." And that poor cop friend of his who keeps trying to warn him and ends up covered in the mess. Dopes who stick around anyway always get me. You root for them even when they're useless. The dialogue is the real star. I know I'm going to butcher the lines because I only half-remembered them between laughing fits, but there's the bit where he's pretending to be an airline pilot and says something like "I'm flying the big bird, yeah, 747 full of ball bearings" and the guy just nods. Or when he walks into the hospital and starts examining charts like he owns the place: "Looks like you've got a mild case of the Mondays, better rest up!" I was cackling. The way he delivers every lie with complete sincerity while his eyes are already planning the next one. Pure gold. And the car chases feel loose and fun instead of polished, like somebody actually got scratched up filming them. Is it perfect? Nah. Some of the drug plot threads wander off and never quite pay the rent, and there's a romance beat that feels a little tacked on at the end like they remembered the movie needed a girl to kiss. But none of that matters when Chevy is doing that half-lidded smirk and improvising his way out of handcuffs. I forgot how physical he is here. Falling over furniture, sprinting in loafers, diving into pools fully clothed. It has that sweaty summer energy that modern comedies sandpaper off. You can almost smell the suntan lotion and the cheap beer. I rewound the scene where he infiltrates the country club like three times just to watch him bluff the membership guy. "My name's... uh... Ted Nugent? No wait." Something close. Anyway the point is he commits so hard to every ridiculous persona that you start believing maybe this guy really could talk his way into the White House if he felt like it. And the ending pays off without getting preachy or sticky. Just Fletch, sunburned and victorious, typing the story of the year while the bad guys scramble. Ha! Watched it with leftover pizza and zero regrets. If you need a reminder that movies used to let charisma do the heavy lifting instead of speeches, this is it. Chevy never apologizes for being smarter and lazier than everybody else in the room and somehow that feels like a superpower. Going to force this on my brother next weekend so I have somebody to quote the bad lines with. "It's all water buffaloes nowadays," or whatever he actually said. I already regret how many exclamation points I used in my notes but whatever. Four stars easy. Go find it and waste an evening the right way.

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Becky Soto
+8 clout
Sep 8, 2026
Okay so I put on Fletch last night because I needed something that felt like summer and dumb decisions and I laughed so hard I scared the cat. Chevy Chase just wanders through this whole movie like he borrowed somebody else's life and keeps forgetting to give it back. He's Irwin Fletcher, investigative reporter, hanging out on the beach pretending to be a junkie so he can write about the drug scene, and some rich guy in a tennis outfit (Tim Matheson looking suspiciously wholesome) walks up and offers him fifty grand to murder him. Just like that. Ha! "Kill me so the wife gets the big insurance payout, no hard feelings." And Fletch, being Fletch, goes "sure buddy" and then immediately starts digging because the whole thing smells like week-old seafood. I love how he never stops moving. One minute he's undercover in those ridiculous beach shorts, next he's crashing a fancy dinner as a doctor named Rosenblatt or whatever name he invents on the spot, then he's rooting through files in some aerospace company dressed like a maintenance guy who definitely does not work there. The disguises are pure 80s chaos. He steals a uniform, puts on glasses, drops a fake accent, and people just... believe him? It should not work and yet every single time it does and I lose it. I kept yelling at the screen "they're gonna catch you this time!" and they never do. Classic. The plot gets twisty fast. Stanwyk's wife is this icy blonde who may or may not be sleeping around, there's crooked cops, a real estate scam, some heartbreaking kid stuff that sneaks up on you, and Fletch bouncing between all of it like a pinball that talks back. Geena Davis shows up as the newspaper researcher crush and she's delightful, all sharp elbows and zero patience for his nonsense. I have a soft spot for the sidekick energy though. His editor is this long-suffering guy who just wants copy on time and keeps getting "I need two more days, trust me." And that poor cop friend of his who keeps trying to warn him and ends up covered in the mess. Dopes who stick around anyway always get me. You root for them even when they're useless. The dialogue is the real star. I know I'm going to butcher the lines because I only half-remembered them between laughing fits, but there's the bit where he's pretending to be an airline pilot and says something like "I'm flying the big bird, yeah, 747 full of ball bearings" and the guy just nods. Or when he walks into the hospital and starts examining charts like he owns the place: "Looks like you've got a mild case of the Mondays, better rest up!" I was cackling. The way he delivers every lie with complete sincerity while his eyes are already planning the next one. Pure gold. And the car chases feel loose and fun instead of polished, like somebody actually got scratched up filming them. Is it perfect? Nah. Some of the drug plot threads wander off and never quite pay the rent, and there's a romance beat that feels a little tacked on at the end like they remembered the movie needed a girl to kiss. But none of that matters when Chevy is doing that half-lidded smirk and improvising his way out of handcuffs. I forgot how physical he is here. Falling over furniture, sprinting in loafers, diving into pools fully clothed. It has that sweaty summer energy that modern comedies sandpaper off. You can almost smell the suntan lotion and the cheap beer. I rewound the scene where he infiltrates the country club like three times just to watch him bluff the membership guy. "My name's... uh... Ted Nugent? No wait." Something close. Anyway the point is he commits so hard to every ridiculous persona that you start believing maybe this guy really could talk his way into the White House if he felt like it. And the ending pays off without getting preachy or sticky. Just Fletch, sunburned and victorious, typing the story of the year while the bad guys scramble. Ha! Watched it with leftover pizza and zero regrets. If you need a reminder that movies used to let charisma do the heavy lifting instead of speeches, this is it. Chevy never apologizes for being smarter and lazier than everybody else in the room and somehow that feels like a superpower. Going to force this on my brother next weekend so I have somebody to quote the bad lines with. "It's all water buffaloes nowadays," or whatever he actually said. I already regret how many exclamation points I used in my notes but whatever. Four stars easy. Go find it and waste an evening the right way.
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